Unhackable Computer under Development with $3.6M DARPA Grant

[Megalith]

DARPA has awarded a $3.6 million grant to a team of University of Michigan computer scientists and engineers who are developing Morpheus, a new approach to hardware design capable of creating an unhackable computer. “We are making the computer an unsolvable puzzle,” team leader Todd Austin said. “It’s like if you’re solving a Rubik’s Cube and every time you blink, I rearrange it.”

Under MORPHEUS, the location of s bug would constantly change and the location of the passwords would change, he said. And even if an attacker were quick enough to locate the data, secondary defenses in the form of encryption and domain enforcement would throw up additional roadblocks. The bug would still be there, but it wouldn't matter. The attacker won't have the time or the resources to exploit it.

 

[Hallucinator]

Pentagon, NSA, CIA and other ABC agencies has been hacked before so this can be hacked someday.

Who knows?

 

[Gorankar]

No such thing. Unless you are talking about an abacus locked in a safe covered in concrete and then dumped into the Marianas trench. Maybe not even then.

Maybe they should go with hack resistant instead.

 

[Semantics]

Doesn't matter how good the security is when you give the tech illiterate access to it.

 

[drescherjm]

Sounds like they are trying to avoid buffer exploits by periodically randomizing the location data and code appear in virtual memory. The difficulty with that is to have the hardware adjust all of your pointers after each change.

 

[MrDeaf]

You can never make anything "unhackable" without eliminating the most erroneous and exploitable piece of the puzzle, the human.

Hello Skynet.

 

[TorxT3D]

Probably a good time for everyone to watch the movie trilogy, "CUBE"

pretty sure, thats what this is

 

[SolarisGuru]

All the hackers in the world just said "CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!"

 

[Goodlookinguy]

This is an interesting idea conceptually, but execution will tell whether or not it's a realistic solution.

Also, despite the article calling it an "unhackable" computer, the people developing this computer did not refer to it as such. They simply said it should prevent a handful of common exploit points.

 

[westrock2000]

Just make it have no network access. But that's impossible in today's environment. Why even my toaster has internet access. I don't even know how it would toast bread without it.

 

[QuintLeo]

As long as humans are going to operate it, there WILL be ways to hack it.

There are a LOT of miltary computers that are never hooked into a network of any sort, specifically FOR security reasons.

 

[Deleted member 245375]

So, I provide DARPA with an unhackable computer - basically one built to spec and not powered on encased in Adamantium hence it being unhackable - and I get $3.6 million bucks? No problem.

“It’s like if you’re solving a Rubik’s Cube and every time you blink, I rearrange it.”

Well that's kinda fucking stupid: I can solve a scrambled Rubik's Cube in well under 30 seconds and I can hold my eyes open for a half hour if necessary, or even longer actually. I thought these people working on this shit were supposed to be some intelligent mofos, I can blow holes in all their suppositions.

 

[ChristianVirtual]

and I hear the agencies and politicians screaming: we need a backdoor ... too many (semi) terrorists using it ...

 

[drescherjm]

So, I provide DARPA with an unhackable computer - basically one built to spec and not powered on encased in Adamantium hence it being unhackable - and I get $3.6 million bucks? No problem.

LOL! Not that easy.

Although it was not much DARPA actually paid my first paycheck after I graduated in Dec 1996. I did a little subcontract work with my computer science department on a DARPA funded project.

 

[RealBeast]

Just load a computer with videos of every stupid ass "reality" show starting with Survivor 1.

That would be essentially hacker proof, since once the hacker realized what it was they would shoot themselves, sort of a deadly honey pot.

 

[Jim Kim]

Future headline "Hackers crack Morpheus within 15 minutes at Def Con in Vegas"

 

[BulletDust]

Sounds like they are trying to avoid buffer exploits by periodically randomizing the location data and code appear in virtual memory. The difficulty with that is to have the hardware adjust all of your pointers after each change.

I'm pretty sure most operating systems already do this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Address_space_layout_randomization

 

[lostin3d]

Meanwhile Skynet is patiently awaiting the birth of this lovechild.

 

[oldmanbal]

just don't plug it into anything

 

[theBrownLlama]

i can imagine the scenario of 'accidentally' freezing wallets repeating itself here.
imagine the lulz

 

[Full Otto]

Security vs. Usability.

If you can use it, it's not perfectly secure.

If it's perfectly secure, you can't use it.

 

[viscountalpha]

PEBKAC will ensure everything is hackable.

Social engineering is the NUMBER ONE way to get into any system or setup.

 

[c_porter]

Let me know when they invent an unhackable user.

 

[cyclone3d]

Let me know when they invent an unhackable user.

They can't be hacked if they are dead.

 

[sfsuphysics]

So they make a computer with no USB ports and no ethernet ports... *rimshot*

 

[Neslepax]

People seem to think that DARPA funds possible endeavors. DARPA is usually only interested in the impossible. Most of their funded projects never achieve their original goals. The few projects that do succeed can result in a significant paradigm shift.

 

[Guarana [BAWLS]]

So they make a computer with no USB ports and no ethernet ports... *rimshot*

so they'll include wifi! done!

 

[BloodyIron]

You're all forgetting one scenario. What if the admin creds get lost? How do you break back in yourself?

This just sounds like vaporware to me.

Either it won't live up to the hype, or it will, and no apps will work on it!

 

[Spaceninja]

I have an unhackable computer. It is sitting in my basement. Has no HDD and no power cord plugged in.