Air Force pursues network security research

Officials of the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory Information Directorate in Rome, N.Y., are awarding a $1.3 million contract to BBN Corp. of Cambridge, Mass., to improve security for computer networks. The 18-month contract, called Security Enhancement and Intrusion Detection for the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), calls for BBN experts to develop software to detect attacks on computer networks from unauthorized "hackers." BBN scientists are trying to enhance the security of network management information exchanged between domains by detecting and preventing intrusions in the BGP protocol, which supports the exchange of the management information, BBN officials say.