What is MRT-C?

Mission Relevant Terrain in Cyberspace (MRT-C) identifies critical network assets that, if disrupted, could significantly impact a mission. These assets might include systems, applications, or devices essential for network functionality and mission success.

By focusing on MRT-C, decision-makers can prioritize the protection of assets that are vital to operations.

How Teleseer Identifies MRT-C

Teleseer provides two analytics to identify MRT-C assets:

Ranked Centrality Analysis

• Focuses on network behavior to measure how connected or influential a system is.
• Prioritizes assets based on:
  • Connection Score: Measures how many direct links a system has.
  • Bridge Score: Finds chokepoints that control information flow.
  • Proximity Score: Highlights systems that can quickly reach other assets.
  • Influence Score: Identifies systems with the most impact on the network.

Constructed Centrality Analysis

• Optimized for large networks where speed is critical.
• Uses predefined roles (e.g., routers, DNS servers) and activity levels to prioritize assets.
• Provides the ability to elevate/prioritize MRTC score based on user input

These algorithms are enabled and configured by Cyberspatial engineers. Please contact Teleseer Support for more information.

What Do the Scores Mean?

Each asset is scored to show how critical it is:

• High Scores: Systems essential for network functionality. Examples include routers or DNS servers. These should be monitored and secured first.
• Low Scores: Systems with minimal impact on the mission. These may not require immediate attention.

Example Interpretation:

• If a system has an unusually high Connection Score, it could be a misconfigured device or a target for malicious activity.
• A high Bridge Score indicates a chokepoint that could disrupt mission-critical communication if compromised.

Viewing MRT-C in Teleseer

Asset Detail MRT-C

1. Click on a device in Teleseer to view its details.
2. If MRT-C scores were calculated for the asset, the Inspector Panel shows the total MRT-C score and its component scores in the Notes section for the asset. This includes details about which algorithm was used (Ranked or Constructed Centrality).

3. You can use the search filter in the network panel to search for assets with MRTC scores:

Inventory Panel MRT-C Scores

1. Click the Inventory Panel in Teleseer
2. Ensure the notes column is enabled for display
3. Type MRTC in the search filter
4. Sort the Notes panel alphabetically

This will provide a prioritized list of assets, sorted by their overall MRT-C score.

Constructed Centrality User Tagging

When enabled, the constructed centrality algorithm allows the user to influence the scoring through designated tags. If the Teleseer user adds any of the following tags to an asset, those assets will be elevated in the scoring calculation:

• mrtc_critical : Elevate the score a very high amount
• mrtc_high : Elevate the score a high amount
• mrtc_medium : Elevate the overall score a medium amount
• mrtc_low :Elevate the overall score a small amount

If the constructed algorithm detects these tags, they will increase the weight of the bridge score component in the scoring. For example, in the following example, and asset without any tags received a total MRTC score equal to 4 with a bridge score value equal to 0. This placed it #22 overall for MRTC ranking:

The user then added an mrtc_critical tag to the asset using the Teleseer UI and rebuilt the project by adding another pcap (Note: if live streaming, the user can wait for the next topology rebuild). In this iteration of the algorithm, the asset's total MRTC score is boosted to 59 because it receives a maximum 100 bridge score. This raises the assets MRTC rank to #1:

Note: the custom CSV parser can be used to tag many assets at once. In this case, the following tags created by the parser will also elevate MRTC scoring:

• tag: mrtc_critical : Elevate the score a very high amount
• tag: mrtc_high : Elevate the score a high amount
• tag: mrtc_medium : Elevate the overall score a medium amount
• tag: mrtc_low :Elevate the overall score a small amount

Example:

Please see the Custom CSV Parsing section for more details.

Additional Information

Additional information about the MRT-C analytic is available in a technical document titled Teleseer's MRT-C Algorithm (August 2025). This document is available upon request to support@cyberspatial.com