'Endrun' Networks: Help In Danger Zones

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'Endrun' Networks: Help In Danger Zones

Posted by timothy on Monday October 20, 2014 @06:21AM from the pinging-mr-bourne-mr-jason-bourne dept.

kierny writes Drawing on networking protocols designed to support NASA's interplanetary missions, two information security researchers have created a networking system that's designed to transmit information securely and reliably in even the worst conditions. Dubbed Endrun, and debuted at Black Hat Europe, its creators hope the delay-tolerant and disruption-tolerant system — which runs on Raspberry Pi — could be deployed everywhere from Ebola hot zones in Liberia, to war zones in Syria, to demonstrations in Ferguson.

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So, mesh? by TWX · 2014-10-20 06:25 · Score: 2

So just a mesh network with multipath capability then?

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1. Re:So, mesh? by LeadSongDog · 2014-10-20 06:28 · Score: 1
  
  "I sense a great disturbance in the Force..."
  
  --
  Oh, I'm sorry sir, I thought you were referring to me, Mr. Wensleydale.
2. Re:So, mesh? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-10-20 06:28 · Score: 0
  
  Po-Po ain't gonna like the last part of that list. Unless they can have the tech just for themselves and leave the dirty protestors out of it.
3. Re:So, mesh? by Spy+Handler · 2014-10-20 06:33 · Score: 1
  
  So just a mesh network with multipath capability then?
  don't forget the interplanetary capability!
4. Re:So, mesh? by fustakrakich · 2014-10-20 06:37 · Score: 1
  
  I hope you mean multiplex. Usually multipath is a bad thing
  
  --
  “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
5. Re:So, mesh? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-10-20 06:43 · Score: 1
  
  I hear 'delay tolerant' and translate it to 'store forward' system. Basically BBS days of communicating but with encryption! In 'war torn' environments store forward would work 'ok'. Just so long as there are few bottlenecks. Which create choke points for your enemy to cut off communications.
6. Re:So, mesh? by sumdumass · 2014-10-20 06:51 · Score: 1
  
  I don't know why. They aren't jamming the interweb or cell phones. Pgp and email will avoid them listening in for anything subvertive.
  And ferguson is just a silly distraction that mainly only got attention to play the race card in november. There has been plenty of other skmilar instances that has gained little to no attention since then and before it. The location was simply convienient there.
7. Re:So, mesh? by Mr+D+from+63 · 2014-10-20 06:56 · Score: 1
  
  and, evidently, it has special Ebola resistant capabilities as well.
8. Re:So, mesh? by fibonacci8 · 2014-10-20 07:00 · Score: 1
  
  I don't know about you, but all email I get with ebola goes into the spam folder.
  
  --
  Inheritance is the sincerest form of nepotism.
9. Re:So, mesh? by cayenne8 · 2014-10-20 07:05 · Score: 1
  
  Ferguson? Really?
  Isn't that really old news....nothing new going on there after the riots/protests finally ended is there?
  
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  Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
10. Re:So, mesh? by mspohr · 2014-10-20 07:59 · Score: 1
  
  Big mistake... Ebola loves Spam... it's probably multiplying in there right now.
  
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  I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
11. Re:So, mesh? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-10-20 08:00 · Score: 0
  
  The cops just shot another black kid there on Friday. No news coverage because nobody cares anymore.
  Protestors have to learn how the "machine" works before they start making too much fuss. Everybody will break out the popcorn and watch your riots from their couch for a while, but once they've seen it a few times, the ratings will sink. Then you won't have a voice anymore.
  This is the very definition of "15 minutes of fame". Ferguson has had theirs.
12. Re:So, mesh? by mspohr · 2014-10-20 08:04 · Score: 1
  
  It looks like it relies heavily on store and forward with multiple retries to avoid the problems with poorly connected networks.
  (Disclaimer: I did read TFA)
  
  --
  I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
13. Re:So, mesh? by steamraven · 2014-10-20 08:24 · Score: 1
  
  No, not mesh
  From TFA:
  "It's built on not having a mesh network, and the reason is a bunch of journalists got killed by missiles that homed in on their satellite phones"
14. Re:So, mesh? by Wintermute__ · 2014-10-20 12:13 · Score: 1
  
  I hope you mean multiplex. Usually multipath is a bad thing
  No, multipath. If one path is down, you want to be able to route around the failure. Multiplexing is the combination of several channels over a single connection, which it sounds like this also supports.
15. Re:So, mesh? by fustakrakich · 2014-10-20 13:32 · Score: 1
  
  It's an old radio signal thing. Generally we don't like multipath.
  
  --
  “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
ARPANET? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-10-20 06:35 · Score: 0

Wasn't this the design goal of the original ARPANET?
Everything old is new again by Etcetera · 2014-10-20 06:39 · Score: 4, Informative

Eventually, we just keep rediscovering old concepts. Store-and-forward is basically Zone Mail Hour, and the first time I read about the Deep Space network concepts, all I could think of was interplanetary FidoNet, or WWIVnet.

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Hire a Linux system administrator, systems engineer,
1. Re:Everything old is new again by Jawnn · 2014-10-20 06:52 · Score: 1
  
  Beat me to it, but yeah, Fidonet and ZMH. Nice shot there, old timer.
Re: by stephanruby · 2014-10-20 06:46 · Score: 1

Danger Zone!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
We have it already. by LWATCDR · 2014-10-20 06:51 · Score: 1

It is called radio.

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Comment removed by account_deleted · 2014-10-20 07:04 · Score: 1

Comment removed based on user account deletion
Demonstrations in Ferguson? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-10-20 07:27 · Score: 0

Pretty sure there's a Starbucks nearby with free wifi. Unless the 'demonstrators' loot it.
Not mesh by Anonymous Coward · 2014-10-20 08:29 · Score: 0

FTFA: "It's built on not having a mesh network, and the reason is a bunch of journalists got killed by missiles that homed in on their satellite phones," O'Connor says.
Although it reads like it's a deliberately-intermittent mesh.
Re:Ebola? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-10-20 09:25 · Score: 0

If it makes the jump from human to computer, maybe by infecting someone with a pacemaker...
Whooooosh by Anonymous Coward · 2014-10-20 10:09 · Score: 1

Start reading up on DMVPN then stretch your mind to see what you could do in a very unreliable network that may be under attack. Think 10x as bad as a 1Mbps Sat link in Africa. There is a need for this.
Next stop, can you think of a low bandwidth, intermittent network that rides on top of your Internet connection? One that smells like an onion?
Last stop, battlefield communications where you have automous UAVs in the middle of electronic warfare.
These are deeper thoughts than bolting on more links, and usually require some math to make work.
Syrian rebels and Ebola patients .. by lippydude · 2014-10-20 12:11 · Score: 1

For some time now I've come to realize that slashdot has been dumbed down, presumably to appeal to a more commercial add-friendly audience. but do you have to totally insult our collective intelligence. I kind of gathered that Endrun works over radio-waves but could you provide a little more technical details. How can it tell the difference between a Syrian rebels or an Ebola patients and how does this protocol compare to TCP/IP for instance.

ps: 'mesh network' and 'satellite phones' run on different technologies.
We Like Multi Path now ... even in Radio by Anonymous Coward · 2014-10-22 01:11 · Score: 0

Yes Multi Path was considered a bad thing in radio transmissions, but its used as an advantage in new transmission modulation schemes, ie MIMO. Its used in 802.11n.