Transition to Practice

This project develops methods to provide citizens information about technologies that obstruct, restrict, or tamper with their access to information. Internet users need an objective, independent, third-party service that helps them determine whether their Internet service provider or government is restricting access to content, specific protocols, or otherwise degrading service. Towards this goal, we are (1) monitoring attempts to block or manipulate Internet content and communications; and (2) evaluating various censorship circumvention mechanisms in real-world deployments}.

Malware (e.g., viruses, worms, and Trojans) is software that deliberately fulfills the harmful intent of an attacker. It has been used as a major weapon by the cyber-criminals to launch a wide range of attacks that cause serious damages and significant financial losses to many Internet users. To protect legitimate users from these attacks, the most significant line of defense against malware is anti-malware software products, which predominately use signature-based methods to recognize threats.

While the mathematical study of cryptography has yielded a rich theory, and while the use of cryptography has become quite widespread, there is unfortunately still a significant gap between the theory and practice of cryptography. The goal of this project is to bridge this gap. The emphasis will be on the design and analysis of fundamental cryptographic primitives, such as hash functions and block ciphers, as well as other primitives derived from them, that are practical and yet theoretically sound. Indeed, hash functions and block ciphers are used in almost any cryptographic application.

Our society has become increasingly dependent on electronic information exchange between personal devices and the cloud. Unfortunately, the number of identity and secure information leaks is on the rise. Many of the security breaches are due to insecure access channels to the cloud. The security problem is likely to be exacerbated in the Internet-of-Things (IoT) era where billions of devices in our homes, offices and cars are digitally connected.

Youths of the digital age live parallel lives online and in the real world, frequently disclosing personal information to cyberfriends and strangers, regardless of race, class or gender. Race and gender do make a difference, however, when these online disclosures lead to acts of cyberaggression. The PIs' previous work revealed that some youths are resistant to cyberaggression and that there are differences in perceptions of cyberbullying among youths from different cultural and racial backgrounds.