CAREER: Semantic Web-Interoperation versus Security

University South Carolina Research Foundation, Columbia SC

Investigators

Abstract

The focus of this project is to develop models and technologies for prevention of security threats via illegal inferences in semantically enhanced semistructured information. XML and RDF data has been increasingly used for storing and exchanging information, thus enabling Internet users to access and integrate large amounts of data intelligently. This large-scale data integration, especially when supported with ontologies, may pose significant security and privacy threats. Therefore, security methods and tools need to be developed to prevent security violations. To provide information assurance in the context of Semantic Web several issues - technological, managerial, and legal - need to be addressed. This project focuses mainly on technological issues to provide information confidentiality and privacy, and makes several novel contributions: (1) Web data that can express context-based and semantic requirements; (2) comprehensive study of the security implications for illegal inference capabilities on semistructured data; and (3) both defensive and offensive security models are considered in Semantic Web security. More information about the project is available on the project web site (http://www.cse.sc.edu/research/isl). In addition to theoretical research, the developed models and technologies will be implemented and tested on real data. The prototypes will be evaluated based on scalability, efficiency, and level of assurance. Broader impact of this project lies in providing data security on the Web and a wide range of Web applications, with a guarantee of information confidentiality. Research and educational activities are tied together to increase the security awareness of students and community. In addition, seminars and Web sites to increase cyber-security awareness of middle and high school students will be developed, aiming to reduce the number of cyber crimes exploiting juvenile users.