October 2024 Newsletter
School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence
Part of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University.
October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month
Responding to growing concerns about the safety of the nation’s technological infrastructure, in 2004, Congress designated October as Cybersecurity Awareness Month — a time to reflect on the need to work together toward security objectives.
In 2023, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency , or CISA, created their “Secure Our World” campaign, building a coalition of academic and industry partners to better inform the public about how to stay safe online.
This October, in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, we are continuing to advance our cybersecurity research and education missions. Our new American Cybersecurity Institute is diligently developing a new master’s degree, our doctoral students are hard at work on AI-powered security solutions and our researchers are doing innovative cyberphysical systems projects.
Meanwhile, our team members are playing key roles in community outreach efforts at hoping to improve the online safety of ASU students and beyond.
Cybersecurity trailblazer wins service award
Professor Gail-Joon Ahn has received the ACM, Association for Computing Machinery SIGSAC Outstanding Contributions Award for pioneering research contributions in access control and systems security and outstanding leadership and service to the cybersecurity community. The award was presented at the ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security, or ACM CCS, in Salt Lake City last week.
Much of the success of our cybersecurity program can be traced back to Ahn’s tireless work in developing the Center for Cybersecurity and Trusted Foundations. As the center’s founding director, Ahn's research and team-building skills were foundational to lifting ASU’s stature in cybersecurity research and education.
ACM CCS is the flagship conference for security researchers and this award is given for significant contributions to the field of computer and communication security through fostering research and development activities, educating students, or providing professional services such as the running of professional societies and conferences.
In 2023, Ahn was named an IEEE Fellow.
Jackpot! ASU hackademics win $2 million in AIxCC semifinals
A 25-person Shellphish team, comprised of “hackademics” from SCAI, the University of California, Santa Barbara and Purdue University, won $2 million in prize money in the semifinal round of the AI Cyber Challenge, also known as AIxCC, for their cyber reasoning system, ARTIPHISHELL
Working with doctoral students, researchers and fellow faculty members, Associate Professor Adam Doupé , Yan Shoshitaishvili , Fish Wang and Assistant Professor Tiffany Bao collaborated to create ARTIPHISHELL. Using AI, ARTIPHISHELL can automatically analyze the code that runs a piece of software, correct any security vulnerabilities found and then retest the system.
The competition from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) , and the U.S. Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) , seeks to spur the development of a cybersecurity system powered by AI. A massive cybersecurity workforce shortage, vulnerabilities in open-source software and a drastic rise in cybercrime have created a desperate need for solutions that can be deployed now to protect the nation’s technological infrastructure.
https://news.asu.edu/20240903-science-and-technology-jackpot-asu-hackers-win-2m-vegas-ai-competition
New institute develops master’s degree
Faculty members in SCAI have been awarded a two-year, $4.5 million grant from DARPA to create an institute that will develop national and global cybersecurity educational standards and curriculums designed to address critical workforce shortages. The institute is part of ongoing efforts by the university to establish Arizona as a global cybersecurity hub.
In collaboration with the ASU Global Security Initiative , or GSI, the units have established the American Cybersecurity Education Institute, or ACE Institute. Under the grant, the ACE Institute will focus on preparing students across the country for the toughest challenges and recruiting learners to fill the jobs pipeline in the future.
One of the ACE Institute’s first steps will be to create a master’s degree in cybersecurity to prepare graduates for the highly advanced work done at agencies such as DARPA. The degree program is scheduled to begin enrolling in 2025. Master’s degree students will participate in real-world training exercises, learning to both hack and secure highly complex systems. They will also acquire the skills needed to build and deploy artificial intelligence and machine learning applications for the cybersecurity sector.
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Dakota State University will join the ACE Institute as a founding partner, while other universities and institutions will participate in future roles.
Fast tools to secure cyberphysical systems
ASU cybersecurity researchers are busy crafting a reverse engineering solution that will secure existing cyberphysical systems in as little as a month.
To secure drones, satellites, HVAC systems, smart irrigation systems and more, a team led by Assistant Professor Tiffany Bao has been awarded a $15 million grant from the DARPA under the Faithful Integration, Reverse-engineering, and Emulation, or FIRE, program.
“There’s a lot of equipment in use that was not built with cybersecurity in mind,” says Bao, who notes that aging technology is deployed in many scenarios. “Being able to secure those cyberphysical systems, and to do that as soon as possible, is an important aspect of keeping us all safe.”
The team includes Associate Professors Adam Doupé, Yan Shoshitaishvili and Fish Wang, as well as Assistant Professors Zilin Jiang and Giulia Pedrielli , all faculty members in the Fulton Schools. The project is also supported by the ASU Global Security Initiative . Bao is an associate director in GSI’s Center for Cybersecurity and Trusted Foundations.
Seeking the biometric bill of rights
Katina Michael , a professor in SCAI, warns that we must act now to better protect biometric data. Michael says new regulations — akin to a biometric bill of rights — are needed.
Voice samples, fingerprints and palm prints, facial scans and DNA are examples of biometric data. This information is useful, valuable, irreplaceable and poorly protected.
“Biometric data is us,” Michael says. “It's part of our bodies, and the building blocks of our bodies can't fundamentally change.”
She hopes people will take the time to do something impactful before it’s too late.
Quick links:
Tiffany Bao boosts ASU’s cybersecurity awareness efforts led by Technology at Arizona State University