Agile Security for Storing Sensitive and Critical Information

Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

As computers become pervasive, an increasing number of information rich applications are being deployed that create, store and access sensitive and critical information. An enabling service that can be used to store and access such information must meet both security and performance requirements even when some nodes that implement the service are compromised or when some clients behave maliciously. This research project focuses on a number of novel techniques for building an agile and secure store that can meet the needs of future applications. First, a flexible and agile architecture for a distributed store is investigated to allow applications to dynamically adapt their desired security and performance levels. Second, the agile nature of the store requires the detection of potential compromises and malicious activity. New protocols that adapt to such suspected attacks are explored. Finally, a variety of ubiquitous applications that need to access sensitive information are investigated. The characteristics of such applications can help quantify the overheads that are inherent when the conflicting goals of security and performance have to be reconciled.