REU Site: Trustable Embedded Systems Security Research

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This project proposes to continue an REU Site offering undergraduate students the opportunity to participate in computer systems security research at the University of Connecticut. Computer systems have been integrated into our daily life and work, as well as every part of our national infrastructure. Thus, they are an obvious target for those who intend to corrupt the systems for financial, political or other reasons. While security in the context of general-purpose computing and communication has been studied extensively, research on embedded systems security has only gained attention recently. The vast number of embedded devices and their wide-spread usage in all aspects of or daily life and work make their security vulnerabilities much more dangerous and costly than traditional software vulnerabilities. The resource constraints (in processing capabilities, memory, battery) of embedded systems and the ever increasing range of attack techniques targeting embedded systems (including software, hardware, side-channel attacks) pose many challenges to embedded systems security. A primary national need is research and researchers who can address the security of embedded systems. Introducing embedded systems research to undergraduate students in the early stages of their academic careers will spark their interests, creating next-generation computer systems security researchers. The goal of this REU project is to equip undergraduate students with skills in computer systems security research, with a focus on embedded systems security research. The project offers an intensive 10-week summer program to undergraduate students, particularly those in underrepresented groups and those that may not have the opportunities to participate in research activities. Students will attend a series of training seminars conducted by the PIs to learn the basics of embedded systems security research as well as general skills required in graduate school such as technical writing and presentations. From day one until the end of the 10-week REU program, each student will work with the project staff on one research project selected from a wide spectrum of topics, including computer systems and hardware auditing, provable secure embedded systems, secure processor architectures, secure mobile computing, secure voting systems and chip piracy resilience. In addition, students will have the opportunity to participate in a professional conference related to computer systems security to broaden their vision and witness research projects conducted worldwide.