I/UCRC: S2ERC at Georgetown University

Georgetown University, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

Georgetown University will be joining as a full site the Security and Software Engineering Research Center (S2ERC) I/UCRC. S2ERC is a multi-university center comprised of Ball State University (lead institution), Iowa State University, and Virginia Polytechnic University. The proposed Georgetown site will bring complimentary capabilities in forensics, advanced cryptography, privacy, provenance, security, and governance to the S2ERC. Particular programs include cyber threat intelligence exchange; secure network interoperability; tailored trustworthy spaces for secure communications; social, behavioral, and economic impediments to inter-enterprise communication; law and inter-enterprise communication; novel architectures and algorithms of zero-knowledge action on secret information; novel key distribution and access algorithms; and technologies for cyber threat intelligence sharing. Information sharing is a key focus for the technologies developed by the Georgetown site. Information sharing compliments the software engineering work and the use of software engineering for the development of secure software systems by Ball State and Iowa State as well as the low-level hardware, radio security, and computer engineering work done by Virginia Tech. Technology contributions from the center will include: (i) Trust negotiation tools and data trust models to support the negotiation of policy, (ii) Data protection tools, access control management, monitoring and compliance verification mechanisms to allow for informed trust of the entire transaction path, and (iii) Resource and cost analysis tools. Some of the affiliates of Georgetown site are product companies which are expected to directly benefit from the results of the proposed research projects. This will make them more competitive and position them well in the global marketplace. Some of the proposed research, particularly in cyber security, will result in new educational curriculum and the training of much needed security specialists. The PI's will make effort to involve students from other disciplines, especially those that traditionally have a better track record at attracting non-traditional student demographics, and expose them to certain elements of the Computer Science. This will facilitate the engagement of larger student population with computer science discipline. All the students engaged in the program will benefit from the industry exposure and technology transfer. The Georgetown site currently engages female and minority professors, researchers, and students, as well as students from K-12. This engagement will be further strengthened by the formation of the I/UCRC site.