Protecting ubiquitous applications: beyond the Byzantine threats model

The speech will be held on Wednesday June 13th, at 18:15 – 19:15 in the Aretaios building (hall 3).


Lecture Abstract

The traditional security model for network applications developed over 30 years ago deals with threats in which the adversary can corrupt a bounded number of components. Although this model is adequate for network systems whose components are of a similar type (but operationally independent), it is not suitable for ubiquitous systems whose components may have very different features and be subject to a variety of constraints such as, power constraints (e.g., battery operated), communication/medium constraints (e.g., wireless) and computational constraints (restricted memory, IC footprint). In addition, some components may share a functionality, e.g., use the same OS, in which case the adversary may succeed in controlling large numbers of components by simply corrupting this functionality (e.g., infecting the OS with a virus).

While the goal of any security model is to provide holistic security, it is important that a dynamic and flexible approach is used.What is needed is a model that will guarantee holistic security if proven secure components are combined in a secure framework. In particular, replacing/adding components (or subsystems) by other proven secure components (subsystems) should not weaken the security of the system, or require a re-evaluation of its security---plug and play security mode.

The talk will focus on such issues including dependent component faults, light crypto tools and Universal Composability issues. We shall consider ubiquitous networks whose components range from RFIDs and sensors to PDAs, laptops, and servers, with topologies that combine fixed with wireless and ad hoc infrastructures (such as mesh networks).

Σχετικά με τον ομιλητή

Mike Burmester, Ph.D., is the Harris Professor of Computer Science at Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, and co-director of the SAIT Lab. He graduated from Athens University and received his Ph.D. from the University of Rome (La Sapienza), Italy. He joined the faculty at FSU in 2001 after more than 30 years of research and teaching at leading institutions around the world. Dr. Burmester has published more than 100 research papers in information security. His current research interests include cryptography, network security and ubiquitous applications. He is a fellow of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (FIMA), and a member of IEEE Computer Society and the International Association of Cryptological Research (IACR).