By simulating the Internet on a small scale, the virtual laboratory of 1,000 networked computers will help researchers develop new ways to beat hackers who threaten our online infrastructure.

Supported by a three-year, $5.46 million grant from the US National Science Foundation, the Cyber Defense Technology Experimental Research (DETER) network is a collaboration between UC Berkeley researchers in the Center for Information Technology Researchers in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) and the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute (USC-ISI).

'One of the challenges of creating effective defence programs for attacks from viruses and worms is that they are only tested in moderate-sized private research facilities or through computer simulations that are not representative of the way the Internet works in reality,' says UC Berkeley professor and chair of electrical engineering and computer sciences Shankar Sastry, the principal investigator on the DETER project.

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