Protect

This project addresses how semiconductor designers can verify the correctness of ICs that they source from possibly untrusted fabricators. Existing solutions to this problem are either based on legal and contractual obligations, or use post-fabrication IC testing, both of which are unsatisfactory or unsound. As a sound alternative, this project designs and fabricates verifiable hardware: ICs that provide proofs of their correctness for every input-output computation they perform in the field.

This project takes a new approach to problems involving sensitive data, by focusing on rigorous mathematical modeling and characterization of the value of private information. By focusing on quantifying the loss incurred by affected individuals when their information is used -- and quantifying the attendant benefits of such use -- the approaches advanced by this work enable concrete reasoning about the relative risks and rewards of a wide variety of potential computations on sensitive data.

Ensuring a high level of security and reliability in the electronic computing devices is a significant challenge. Central issues include secure and reliable identification, authentication and integrity checking of underlying hardware. Hardware-based security primitives such as physical unclonable functions (PUFs) are still a work-in-progress in terms of the cost they require to guarantee reliable operation and their resistance to physical attacks.

This project investigates the degree to which businesses at a local level are dependent on computers and the Internet for daily operations. Of those that are, the project investigates the degree to which they implement good or bad cybersecurity practices with an particular emphasis on very small businesses. Understanding their needs helps fill a knowledge gap within the cybersecurity industry and has local as well as national security and economic implications.

As society continues to depend on the rapidly expanding wireless ecosystem, we are challenged with serious threats related to user privacy, data confidentiality, and critical system availability. A significant portion of these threats is attributed to the broadcast nature of wireless transmissions. Using commodity radio hardware, unauthorized parties can easily eavesdrop on over-the-air transmissions and breach the privacy of communicating users by tracking their whereabouts and movements, and inferring their associations, health state, and preferences.