IBM tech intercepts packets to control apps

Enterprises have lost control of the applications their employees are using. IBM is now developing research that can automatically identify applications and control their access by analysing their data traffic.

The problem is the consumerisation of the enterprise

The problem is the consumerisation of the enterprise, said IBM engineering manager Dr Paul Ashley. Employees now expect that applications they use at home will as well be available at work. This includes Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) applications like Skype.

"A customer was complaining that they continually had to buy more internet bandwidth. Afterwards a bit of analysis, what it turned out was that about 75 per cent of the traffic going over their internet pipe was just people using VoIP."

The problem with that?

The problem with that? "Lots and lots of ways that they can be compromised and provide an avenue, or a vector, to get into the user's PC or their iPad or their Android or whatever they might be using," Ashley said.

Ashley's team at IBM's Gold Coast Security Laboratory is developing research that can intercept the enterprise's internet traffic and, using deep packet inspection, identify the applications being used and control access.

IBM is currently able to identify around 260 applications by the traffic seen "on the wire". One or two new applications are added each week. During this might seem a small number compared with the thousands, or in the case of smartphones, hundreds of thousands, of applications available, the enterprise can simply decide to block access to all unknown applications until a user requests access and an analysis can be done.

The development phase

This innovation is currently in the development phase. Ashley would not be drawn on timelines for when it might be incorporated into commercial products.

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