Adapt

Today's software remains vulnerable to attack. Despite decades of advances in areas ranging from testing to static analysis and verification, all large real-world software is deployed with errors. Because this software is either written in or underpinned by unsafe languages, errors often translate to security vulnerabilities. Although techniques exist that could prevent or limit the risk of exploits, high performance overhead blocks their adoption, leaving today's systems open to attack.

The ability to generate random numbers -- to flip coins -- is crucial for many computing tasks, from Monte Carlo simulation to secure communications. The theory of building such subsystems to generate random numbers is well understood, but the gap between theory and practice is surprisingly wide. As built today, these subsystems are opaque and fragile. Flaws in these subsystems can compromise the security of millions of Internet hosts.

A safe and productive society increasingly depends on a safe and trustworthy cyberspace. However, extensive research has repeatedly shown that the human factor is often the weakest part in cyberspace, and that users of information systems are often exposed to great risks when they respond to credible-looking emails. Thus, spear phishing attacks - which attempt to get personal or confidential information from users through well-targeted deceptive emails - represent a particularly severe security threat.

As the use of Web applications has increased, malicious content and cyber attacks are rapidly increasing in both their frequency and their sophistication. For unwary users and their organizations, social media sites such as Tumblr, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and LinkedIn pose a variety of serious security risks and threats. Recent studies show that social media sites are more in use for delivering malware than were previously popular methods of email delivery. Because of this, many organizations are looking for ways to implement effective security policies.

Considerable research in the field has been focused on developing new technologies to enhance privacy; encryption of personal data is often presented as a potential solution. Many of the technologies resulting from this research are not being effectively utilized because of issues rooted in human judgment under risk and uncertainty. The majority of existing models and products related to human judgement are based on a limited number of documented incidents and on questionable assumptions about user intent and behavior.