Division of Computer and Network Systems (CNS)

Conventional volatile memories such as static random-access memory (static RAM) suffer from significant leakage power whereas conventional storage class non-volatile memories (NVM) such as flash memory suffer from higher write energy, poor performance and low endurance. Emerging NVMs such as, spin-transfer torque RAM (STTRAM) and resistive RAM (ReRAM) offer zero leakage, high-density, scalability and high endurance. Due to these promising aspects, emerging NVMs are already being commercialized by several companies.

Authorship attribution techniques identify the author of an unsigned document such as an e-mail, memo, or social media post by analyzing candidate authors' writing styles for tell-tale "fingerprints" such as distinctive words and sentence structure. Everyone leaves these fingerprints in his or her writing. This creates a problem for people who have a need to remain anonymous, people including whistleblowers and journalists working in states hostile to their work.

An important problem in computer security is verifying that people using computing devices are authorized to use them, not just when they first sign on to the device but during the whole time they are using them. Most existing continuous authentication schemes impose burdens on users, for instance, when systems quickly log users out and require frequent re-entry of passwords. This project will build and evaluate FIRMA, a user-transparent, continuous authentication software framework that collects usage data, targeted at corporate security contexts where such monitoring can be done.

To avoid phishing and to know which website to trust people are told to "look for the lock" and "read the url." However, the display of a lock or other signals of safety does not guarantee that the site is trustworthy, safe from malware, or not a phishing attack. This research includes consultation with industry technical professionals and policy makers in all sectors of the economy to better understand the gaps between ideal safety and practice.

High-fidelity, and often privacy-invasive, sensors are now becoming pervasive in our everyday environments. At home, digital assistants can constantly listen for instructions and security cameras can be on the lookout for unusual activity. Whereas once an individual's physical actions, in their own home, were private, now networked cameras and microphones can give rise to electronic privacy concerns for one's physical behaviors. Casual conversations and encounters, once thought to be private and ephemeral, now may be captured and disseminated or archived digitally.