ABSTRACT

PROJECT ABSTRACT

Team for Research in Ubiquitous Secure Technology (TRUST)
Dr. S. Shankar Sastry, Principal Investigator
University of California at Berkeley


Computer trustworthiness continues to increase in importance as a pressing scientific, economic, and social problem. The last decade has seen a rapid increase in computer security attacks at all levels, as more individuals connect to common networks and as motivations and means to conduct sophisticated attacks increase. A parallel and accelerating trend of the last decade has been the rapidly growing integration role of computing and communication in critical infrastructure systems, such as financial, energy distribution, telecommunication and transportation which now have complex interdependencies rooted in information technologies. These overlapping and interacting trends and needs force us to recognize that trustworthiness of our computer systems is not an IT issue alone; it has a direct and immediate impact on our nation's critical infrastructure and workforce issues. As a consequence, there is an acute need for developing a much deeper understanding of the scientific foundations of cybersecurity and critical infrastructure systems, understanding the economic and public policy drivers and impacts for cybersecurity, and assuring the workforce required for research and development.
In response to these needs, the Team for Research in Ubiquitous Secure Technology (TRUST) will be devoted to the development of a new science and technology that will radically transform the ability of organizations (software vendors, operators, local and federal agencies) to design, build, and operate trustworthy information systems for our critical infrastructure. The Center will bring together a team with a proven track record in relevant areas of computer security, systems modeling and analysis, software technology, economics, and social sciences. The team consists of investigators from the University of California at Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon University, Cornell University, Stanford University, Vanderbilt University, and San Jose State University. The research team will be advised and supported by an External Advisory Committee (EAC) with strong representation of vendors of information technology, critical infrastructure protection providers, and other relevant stakeholders. The STC team, including the researchers, education group, and the knowledge transfer group, the EAC, and participant groups will promote workforce diversity.
Through the active coordination and integration of efforts, TRUST researchers will consider security in a hierarchy of approaches that ranges from secure embedded systems to complex interdependent systems, each approach informing and building upon the others. Equally important, TRUST will address economic, social, and privacy considerations as the technology is acquired and absorbed into cybersecurity products and the critical infrastructure. The integrated, multidisciplinary approach made possible by the Center mode of funding will allow solutions to synergistically emerge from a "holistic systems" view of computer security, software technology, analysis of complex interacting systems, and economic and public policy.
The unifying approaches of TRUST are computer security for component technologies, composition of components into secure systems, test and evaluation strategies, social and economic factors for successful security and the integration of the Center's research with education and knowledge transfer. Leveraging the prior investments of NSF, DoD and other agencies in various application testbeds, TRUST will continuously test the technologies resulting from its research. The role of the testbeds will be to integrate and evaluate technologies in specific and realistic systems, keep the research on track to answer societal objectives, and demonstrate the technologies for stakeholders in real systems.
To achieve and demonstrate the core objectives in the selected real-life testbeds, TRUST will pursue a strongly coordinated research agenda in the following areas Security Science (1) Software Security; (2) Trusted Platforms; (3) Applied Cryptographic Protocols; and (4) Network Security
Systems Science: (1) Complex Interdependency Modeling and Analysis; (2) Secure Network Embedded Systems; (3) Model-based Integration of Trusted Components; and (4) Secure Information Management Software Tools.
Social Science: (1) Economics, Public Policy and Societal Challenges; (2) Digital Forensics and Privacy; and (3) Human Computer Interfaces and Security.
TRUST will have an education and outreach component that focuses on integrating research and inquiry-based education and on transferring new and existing knowledge to undergraduate colleges, educational institutions serving under-represented populations, and the K-12 community. In so doing, TRUST will help lay the groundwork for training the scientists and engineers who will develop the next generation of trustworthy systems, as well as to help prepare the individuals who will ultimately become the users, consumers and beneficiaries of such systems.
TRUST will also take a comprehensive approach to knowledge transfer. Since TRUST addresses well-defined and long term societal needs, the results in computer security, privacy and critical infrastructure protection will be easily communicated to decision makers, policy makers, and government agencies. With respect to industry, the selected integrative testbeds will be the focal points to interact with major stakeholder industries: power, telecommunication and embedded systems. Since TRUST will comprise multiple institutions, including technology vendors, infrastructure providers and leading research universities, the result will be wide spread dissemination, adaptation and continued evolution of ubiquitous secure technology.
The legacy of TRUST to the nation will be the creation of a science and technology base, policy base, educational base, and technology transfer methodology for cybersecurity. The long-term research agenda of TRUST will not only advance the frontiers of knowledge in trustworthy computing; it will influence on a national scale future academic research, industrial R&D and education as TRUST researchers identify new directions of inquiry, disseminate their findings to the broader community, and produce a diverse group of skilled graduates who will advance the field further yet.

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