REU Site: Security of Smart Things

这个REU网站将接待来自全国各地大学的各种各样的学生，他们将在暑假期间从事与智能事物的安全和隐私相关的研究。这些设备包括智能恒温器、声控扬声器、智能摄像头、智能锁、手表和插头等。事实上，由于在家工作环境的增加，COVID-19大流行的情况助长了这些设备的使用。例如，一个普通的美国家庭现在除了手机、笔记本电脑、个人电脑等，还有25个智能设备。同样，智能设备在工作和社交环境中的使用也越来越多，从停车、锻炼到使用加密货币进行非接触式数字支付。由于这些设备通信和处理大量数据，它们很容易受到各种网络攻击，如恶意软件、未经授权的访问、冒充、数据修改和拒绝服务。另一个潜在威胁涉及侵犯用户隐私，用户可能会通过智能设备提供个人数据。例如位置跟踪、活动监视和敏感信息的泄漏。这个REU网站将提供实用的缓解方法，以应对在我们的家庭和工作环境中使用智能设备所带来的安全和隐私挑战，同时有助于培养多样化、技术熟练和精通网络的员工队伍，他们可以帮助保护我们的智能设备、家庭和建筑物。拟议的项目将引入实用的创新和机制，以维护1)智能设备（如电话、电器和可穿戴设备）的安全性、可用性和隐私性，以及2)越来越多地部署这些设备的智能家居和建筑。拟议的项目将通过捕获智能设备和环境之间的交互和相关数据，帮助获得安全技术的全部好处。智力价值包括设计针对这些设备定制的入侵防御机制；区块链和加密货币支持，实现非接触式数字支付；将各种资源感知机器学习和数据分析技术应用于安全；并利用基于硬件的技术进行固件更新。这些方法将有助于用户以及与这些设备交互的家庭或ISP网络等大型网络的整体安全。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This REU Site will host a diverse group of students from universities across the nation who will spend their summer working on research related to the security and privacy of smart things. Such devices include smart thermostats, voice-activated speakers, smart cameras, smart locks, watches and plugs, and so on. Indeed, the pandemic conditions with COVID-19 have just fueled the use of these devices due to increased work-from-home settings. For instance, an average American home now has 25 smart devices in addition to phones, laptops, PCs, etc. Similarly, smart devices have also increased in work and social environments to be used from parking, exercising to making touchless digital payments even with cryptocurrencies. Since these devices communicate and process a lot of data, they are vulnerable to various cyber attacks such as malware, unauthorized access, impersonation, data modification, and denial-of-service. Another potential threat involves the privacy violation of users who may provide their personal data via their smart devices. Examples include location tracking, activity monitoring, and leakage of sensitive information. This REU Site will offer practical mitigation approaches to the security and privacy challenges stemming from the use of smart devices within our homes and work environments while contributing to the development of a diverse, technologically-skilled, and cyber-savvy workforce, who can help protect our smart devices, homes, and buildings.The proposed project will introduce practical innovations and mechanisms for maintaining the security, availability, and privacy of 1) smart devices such as phones, appliances, and wearable devices, and 2) smart homes and buildings that increasingly deploy these devices. The proposed projects will help in reaping the full benefits of secure technologies through capturing the interactions and associated data between the smart devices and environments. The intellectual merit includes designing defense mechanisms against intrusions customized for these devices; blockchain and cryptocurrency support to enable touchless digital payments; applying various resource-aware machine learning and data analytics techniques for security; and utilizing hardware-based techniques for firmware updates. These approaches will contribute to overall safety of the users as well as the larger networks such as home or ISP networks that interact with these devices.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.