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Cyber Security and Information Systems Information Analysis Center

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/ All Podcast Series / CSIAC Webinars / BFAS – Binary File Application Scanner: A prototype for scanning, detecting and reporting PII in disparate binary formats

CSIAC Webinars - BFAS – Binary File Application Scanner: A prototype for scanning, detecting and reporting PII in disparate binary formats

Posted: 05/14/2019 | Presenter: Mike Corley | 5 Comments

Notice: This podcast video may contain personal or third-party views and opinions not associated with the government.
Please see our terms of use located here: https://www.csiac.org/csiac-terms-of-use/
Duration: 1:03:11 | Size: 10.85M | Recorded: 2019-05-30 | Series: CSIAC Webinars
https://www.csiac.org/podcast-player/59522/bfas-binary-file-application-scanner-a-prototype-for-scanning-detecting-and-reporting-pii-in-disparate-binary-formats.mp3

Download file | Duration: 1:03:11 | Recorded: 2019-05-30 | Series: CSIAC Webinars

Large data volumes (aka “big data”) coupled with the use of new technologies can greatly increase the amount of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) data collected by an organization. Correspondingly, there has been an escalation of security breaches involving PII data which has contributed to the loss of millions of records over the past few years. The recommended mitigation strategy is to assume security postures in accordance with industry best practices, which includes adequate training for technology users. However, an organization cannot properly protect PII if it does not know PII data resides on computers and servers. One solution is to purchase commercial products that scan, extract, and report PII data. Such products are often prohibitively expensive, and they tend to suffer from “feature bloat” which makes them difficult and overly complex for simple use cases. A compromise is to develop scripted components that utilize regular expressions/keyword searches to discover PII instances in textual content. A significant challenge is that most PII content is encoded in common binary file formats (such as PDF), which are not directly searchable as is text.

This webinar will discuss a prototype software tool developed to detect and extract PII from over a thousand binary file formats. The prototype, called “BFAS – Binary File Application Scanner”, seamlessly injects a text extraction facility into the standard (existing) Powershell pipeline. A graphical user interface (GUI) was developed to facilitate multiprocessing and XML-based reporting and visualization. Ideas for extending the BFAS architecture to leverage machine learning (ML) methods will also be discussed.

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Presenter

Mike Corley
Mike Corley
Mike Corley is a R&D Associate of Quanterion Solutions. He supports a variety of customer-funded efforts with the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) via the Cyber Security and Information Systems Information Analysis Center (CSIAC), and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) in Rome NY. Recently, Mike has developed a new capability, specifically for CSIAC that helps to enhance the efficiency of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) chartered with performing tasks associated with discovering, cataloging, and submitting Scientific and Technical Information (STI). The STI Retrieval & Cataloging Assistance Tool (STIRCAT) is a new tool that provides automation and assistance capabilities for enhancing STI workflows including: search and discovery, metadata extraction and cataloging, and submission. Mike has more than 20 years of professional experience in software architecture design and development. Mike received his masters degree in Computer Engineering from Syracuse University in 2011. He recently taught Linux Systems and Network Programming as adjunct instructor at Syracuse for the Spring 2020 semester. His interests include Cloud enabled architectures, software development methodologies, and collaborating with other enthusiasts on programming language idioms, design patterns, and related ideas. Mike especially enjoys developing code in C++, C#, .Net core, and most recently, the Rust programming language.

Tags: Machine Learning (ML), Personally Identifiable Information (PII)

Previous in this Series:
« OWASP Amass: Discovering Your Exposure on the...
Next in this Series:
STIR SHAKE’N SIP to Stop Robocalling »

Reader Interactions

Ask a Question or Comment:

  1. vagishs

    2019-05-30 at 13:13

    Mike,

    Can you share the slides or information material that was presented today?

    Best Regards,
    Vagish Shanmukh

    Log in to Reply
  2. CSIACAdmin

    2019-05-30 at 13:23

    The video and the slides from the webinar are available on this page. You must be registered and logged in to download the slides. Thank you for your participation in the CSIAC community.

    Log in to Reply
  3. peterkryszak

    2019-05-30 at 22:06

    Very good solution and nice way to package open source components. I’ve done some of these tasks in isolated prototypes (for work and for home) and this gives me some ideas of where I can go with those. I would like to see more from Mr. Corley. Thanks.

    Log in to Reply
  4. seph132

    2019-06-05 at 02:56

    I am still trying to figure out where can we download the BFAS tool and get updates?

    Log in to Reply
    • mcorley

      2019-06-05 at 10:21

      Hello. Currently BFAS is still prototype project and actively under development. It is not available for download yet, but we are having discussions about how/when to release. We will inform everyone when updates are available. We will be developing follow on podcasts that build on the webinar ideas with more demonstration/discussion. Thanks for your interest!
      Mike

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