Division of Computer and Network Systems (CNS)

The objective of this research is to build new measurement-based methods for secure secret key establishment between two wireless devices, without ever communicating the secret key, using diverse physical characteristics of the wireless medium, notably an innovative measurement called temporal link signatures, and using device mobility.

Location-based services are becoming an important part of our everyday lives. According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project survey, 47% of current cell-phone users prefer to have mapping features on their phones. Similar trends can be shown for other portable devices such as car navigation systems, PDA's and computer laptops. However, recent concerns over how such services can jeopardize a user's private information resulted in the newly coined term "location privacy." Several breaches of subscriber's privacy by stalking their locations have been reported.

The popularity of personal gadgets opens up many new services for ordinary users. Many everyday usage scenarios involve two or more devices "working together". (Emerging scenarios are beginning to involve sensors and personal RFID tags.) Before working together, devices must be securely "paired" to enable secure and private communication. However, the human-imperceptible nature of wireless communication prompts the very real threat of Man-in-the-Middle (MiTM) attacks. Another challenge arises due to the lack of a global security infrastructure.

The inability of programmers to write vulnerability free code is the most pressing problem in practical computer systems security. The most serious class of vulnerabilities is memory vulnerabilities, which generally allow an attacker to subvert the program's control flow. In response to this problem, generic mitigations have been widely deployed that, through changes to the operating system and processor, seek to make it impossible for attackers to exploit errors in programs.

Large-scale botnets have become a blight on the Internet. Botnets engage in a variety of harmful activities, including initiating DDoS attacks, committing click fraud, propagating adware, and sending enormous volumes of spam. Though there is an increasing awareness of botnets, there are gaping holes in our understanding of botnets, both in terms of macroscopic properties as well as the ability to track and thwart specific attacks.