Last year, Forescout Research Labs launched Project Memoria – the most extensive study to date of the security posture of TCP/IP stacks. The research idea came about in May 2020 during a collaboration between Forescout Research Labs and JSOF Research when they discovered the Ripple20 vulnerabilities. Following that endeavor, Forescout’s researchers hypothesized that similar vulnerabilities could exist in other TCP/IP software.
Forescout’s researchers analyzed 14 different TCP/IP stacks, uncovering 97 vulnerabilities [including Ripple20] that could impact 3 billion-plus devices around the globe. Project Memoria’s first disclosure occurred in December 2020 with AMNESIA:33 (33 vulns), followed by NUMBER:JACK (Feb. 2021, 9 vulns); NAME:WRECK (Apr. 2021, 9 vulns); INFRA:HALT (Aug. 2021, 14 vulns); and NUCLEUS:13 (Nov. 2021, 13 vulns).
Aside from finding new vulnerabilities, Project Memoria created awareness around the types of cyberattacks that could occur if those weak points in software were exploited. Elevated awareness for potential attacks means affected organizations can better prepare for security risks they otherwise would not know exist. Considering many of the analyzed TCP/IP stacks have public use cases of high importance (medical devices, wind turbine monitoring systems, remote terminal units (RTUs) and IT storage systems, etc.), organizations that find and fix these vulnerabilities can avoid experiencing severe operational and financial repercussions if such attacks do occur.
Throughout the project, Forescout engaged over 400+ potentially vulnerable vendors to make them aware of issues. The team also reviewed vendors’ patches and helped asset owners identify and mitigate the risks around vulnerable/un-patched devices. Forescout proactively prompted government agencies around the globe to issue critical advisories to prevent as many exploitations as possible. Forescout maintains a page with the full list of these advisories, accessible to everyone online.
Accomplishments
- The scale of this research is unprecedented. It was the largest security research project to date dedicated to understanding the vulnerabilities within TCP/IP stacks used by millions of connected devices. After analyzing 14 different TCP/IP stacks, Forescout’s researchers uncovered 97 vulnerabilities that could impact 3 billion-plus devices around the globe. This group’s work mattered and allowed vendors and asset owners across a variety of industries to realize their own vulnerabilities that otherwise could have gone unnoticed for years.
- An undertaking like this typically requires a large team but this is a small, agile group of 4 researchers with occasional phase partners of a further 1-2 individuals. Yet, despite having a small group, the team still engaged over 400+ potentially vulnerable vendors and helped asset owners identify and mitigate risks around vulnerable but unpatched devices.
- Almost every time this team discovered new vulnerabilities, it prompted government agencies around the globe to issue critical advisories. This was especially critical considering the public use cases for the analyzed TCP/IP stacks that are of high importance (medical devices, wind turbine monitoring systems, remote terminal units (RTUs) and IT storage systems, etc.) as well as severe operational/financial repercussions if the vulnerable devices for those public use cases were exploited.
About this category: Cybersecurity Project of the Year
The Cybersecurity Excellence Awards recognize security projects that were delivered and made a measurable difference. The award covers deployments, migrations, transformations and other security initiatives with a defined scope.
An independent jury of security practitioners, analysts and CISOs scores each nomination on leadership, innovation and impact. Each nomination competes in its category against peers in a similar setting and region. Entry packages, sponsorship and public votes do not affect the jury's scores.
Community Choice voting for the 2022 season closed on July 10, 2022.
What is the Community Choice Award?
A separate award decided by public vote, independent of the jury awards. Each completed share of a profile on LinkedIn, Facebook or X counted as one vote.
2027 award season
Nominations closeFebruary 27, 2027
Jury winners announcedWeek of March 22
Community Choice voting closesJuly 10, 2027
Nominate in this category
Enter a nomination in Cybersecurity Project of the Year. Review takes about one business day.
Help This Nominee Win a Community Choice Award Vote by sharing this page:
7
Community
Votes
Cast your vote by sharing this nominee’s profile on LinkedIn, Facebook, or X, using the buttons above. Each completed social share adds one Community Choice vote.
Votes cast by July 10, 2027 will determine the Community Choice winners (independent of the jury awards). Winners will be announced before Black Hat USA.
What is the Community Choice Award? →
Community Choice is a separate award track from the jury-selected Cybersecurity Excellence Awards. Jury winners are chosen by expert judges, while Community Choice winners are determined by public voting. A nominee may be honored by the jury, the community, or both.
2022 winners in Cybersecurity Project of the Year
To keep judging fair, each entry is judged against peers in its segment, so a category can have more than one Gold winner.
