SBE

How does the average user cope with the threats they encounter while engaged in the most sensitive of all online activities, online banking? Online Safety for the Ages (OSA) examines generational differences in motivations to use risky online services and self-protective measures in the context of online banking. An influx of older adults attracted to the Internet by social media but at times unfamiliar with dealing with the hazards of online life, as well as younger users who are sometimes oblivious to those dangers, pose distinct challenges to the preservation of online safety.

Cryptographic systems often rely on the secrecy of cryptographic credentials; however, these are vulnerable to eavesdropping and can resist neither a user's intentional disclosure nor coercion attacks where the user is forced to reveal the credentials. Conventional biometric keys (e.g., fingerprint, iris, etc.), unfortunately, can still be surreptitiously duplicated or adversely revealed. In this research, the PIs argue that the most secure cryptographic credentials are ones of which the users aren't even aware.

This research applies anthropological methods to study cybersecurity analysts working in Security Operation Centers (SOC). These analysts process large amounts of data while handling cyber threats. The job requires intelligence and high levels of skills but has many mundane/repetitive aspects. Adequate tool support is largely lacking and many of the skills and procedures involved are uncodified and undocumented resulting in a large body of "tacit knowledge." This project places researchers trained in both cybersecurity and anthropology into SOCs, working side by side with the analysts.

The critical role of spectrum as a catalyst for economic growth was highlighted in the 2010 National Broadband Plan (NBP). A challenge for the NBP is realizing optimal spectrum sharing in the presence of interference caused by rogue transmissions from any source, but particularly secondary users who share the spectrum. This complex problem straddles wireless technology, industrial economics, international standards, and regulatory policy.

In September of 2015, it was reported that hackers had stolen the fingerprint records of 5.6 million U.S. federal employees from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). This was a severe security breach, and it is an even bigger problem because those fingerprints are now permanently compromised and the users cannot generate new fingerprints. This breach demonstrates two challenging facts about the current cybersecurity landscape. First, biometric credentials are vulnerable to compromise. And, second, biometrics that cannot be replaced if stolen are even more vulnerable to theft.