OpenWatch: An Architecture for Scalable Resiliency Assessment

In this project, we propose to develop software that employs open source information to assess factors related to resilience. The goal is challenging because current technology does not scale well due to the heterogeneity of the problem. Specifically, the heterogeneity of the data, as well as the heterogeneity of the assessment process makes it time-consuming to develop extractors for harvesting relevant data, as well as to develop decision methods for performing resiliency/preparedness assessments.

Our work in phase II will produce an end-to-end working system, called OpenWatch, that can use real-time, open-source data to assess resilience, and provide the results to end users. The system will make it simple and fast to aggregate data from multiple Web sources, and also assist in the development of sophisticated risk assessment models.

The results of the project will include an open-source software system for risk assessment. In addition, we will use the system to develop applications that address important resiliency issues. This will include an application to a produce a neighborhood-level heat vulnerability index for cities throughout the United States, and an application for predicting CVSS scores based on cyber vulnerability announcements, which can be employed commercially.