Protect

Software systems are under constant attack: extracting sensitive data from running computer systems is a prime and highly lucrative target for attackers. Yet, current defense mechanisms fail to protect confidential or private data along with the integrity and availability of the underlying system. While it is important to find and fix vulnerabilities, it is unlikely that all vulnerabilities will ever be discovered. Therefore, there is an argument to be had for stronger defense mechanisms that protect software systems even in the presence of vulnerabilities.

The primary goal of this project is to develop a mathematical foundation underlying the analysis of modern cryptosystems. Cryptography is a core tool used to secure communications over the Internet. Secure and trustworthy communications and data storage are essential to national security and to the functioning of the world economy. Recent spectacular research results have enabled the development of new types of cryptography, exciting new potential applications, and hopes for stronger guarantees of cryptographic security in the long term.

The project examines the structure and function of dynamic networks by formulating and analyzing probabilistic models for temporally evolving networks and processes occurring on them. In addition, the project seeks practical and efficient statistical methods for network inference. The project is primarily motivated by national security concerns surrounding counter-terrorism and cybersecurity, but outcomes should be directly relevant in biological, social, and physical science applications as well as mathematical areas of probability theory, combinatorics, and graph theory.

Field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) are hardware circuits that can be reconfigured by a system user after being deployed. FPGAs are a compelling alternative architecture that may allow hardware performance to continue to improve at a dramatic rate. Unfortunately, systems that incorporate an FPGA may allow a potentially untrusted user to reprogram hardware after it has been deployed. Such a scenario enables novel security attacks that can leak a user's private information or corrupt critical information stored on a system, but are performed entirely in hardware.

Today's world is highly dependent on the integrity of communication systems as the Internet, WiFi, or cellular networks. As networks become more pervasive, they are increasingly being used for communication and storage of critical as well as sensitive data and therefore impose more stringent demands on reliability and security, which must be maintained even under extreme settings such as partial power failures, natural disasters, or, most importantly, adversarial attacks.