Protect

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}.

The "Virtual Laboratory and Curriculum Development for Secure Mobile Computing" project at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) will develop a set of courses and a virtual laboratory in mobile system security with an emphasis on securing smart phones. The courses that will be developed will include topics such as Android taint analysis using existing tools or development of new tools, scalable Android security threat analysis on applications (apps), and smart phone forensics.

One of the key challenges in trustworthy computing is establishing trust in the hardware layer, which is the execution platform of all software applications. Modern multiprocessor system-on-chips employ many specialized components, and scalable network-on-chips (NoC) are often deployed to efficiently connect these components. In the light of these trends, this project investigates secure and reliable computation, when the underlying NoC is compromised.

Mobile computing technologies are rapidly evolving and phone (and other mobile device) manufacturers are under constant pressure to offer new product models. Each manufacturer customizes operating system software for its devices and often changes this software to support its new models. Given the many manufacturers in the mobile device marketplace and the many different generations of products, there are many customized branches of mobile operating systems in use at any time.

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.