Prof. Yu (co-PI)
TUES: Type1: Collaborative: An Integrative Hands-on Approach to Security Education for Undergraduate Students, NSF, $120K
PI: Sanchita Mal-Sarkar, In collaboration with CWRU

Abstract - Security of electronic systems, which are pervasively used in many spheres of our life, including mobile consumer electronics such as cell phone and tablet, to electronics used in national infrastructures and defense systems, have emerged as a serious concern. With increasing connectivity and ease of access (e.g. through wireless connections) to these systems, the security vulnerability is increasing at an alarming pace.

For example, in April 2001, VISA lost 20 million dollars due to security breach by hacker organizations. In 2002, systems of Daewoo Securities were hacked and $21.7 million stock was illegally sold. On Jun. 2005, CardSystems Solutions Inc, a third-party processor of payment-card data, was breached and 40 million cards have been exposed. According to a Wall Street Journal Article, one in every 14 downloads from the Internet contains malicious code. According to US News, cyber security is one of America's fastest growing professions of the decade. Today, servers and networks are under attack throughout the world. In 2008, reportedly over 500,000 websites were compromised and malicious intrusions were up by 40%. The global electronic piracy market is now estimated to be over $1B/day. US military recently identified more than million counterfeit electronic components including fake chips with embedded Trojan circuits. These diverse security issues are affecting our privacy, economic security, public safety, as well as national security.

The objective of this two-year project is to develop a course for undergraduate (UG) students of all levels on hands-on learning of computer security, which integrates all aspects of security of computer systems - namely, network and information security, software security, and hardware security. The course will follow a distinctive hands-on teaching approach using a well-designed set of experiments as learning tool. Students will be able to "hack" a system at different levels and analyze existing countermeasures. The course will be generic enough to be suitable for students from all engineering streams.
NSF Award Abstract - Collaborator at CWRU