Finding Focus in the Blur of Moving-Target Techniques

Protecting critical systems and assets against cyberattacks is an ever more difficult challenge that strongly favors attackers. Whereas defenders must protect a large, diverse set of cybersystems containing an unknown number of vulnerabilities of various types, attackers need only find one or a few exploitable vulnerabilities to mount a successful attack. One promising approach that can shift the balance in the defenders´ favor is to create uncertainty for attackers by dynamically changing system properties in what is called a cyber moving target (MT). MT techniques seek to randomize system components to reduce the likelihood of a successful attack, add dynamics to a system to reduce the lifetime of an attack, and diversify otherwise homogeneous collections of systems to limit the damage of a large-scale attack. In this article, the authors review the five dominant domains of MT techniques available today as research prototypes and commercial solutions. They present the techniques´ strengths and weaknesses and make recommendations for future research that will improve current capabilities.