Current Projects
Our current projects epitomize our commitment to cutting-edge innovation. We are continually exploring new frontiers, and each project bears a unique promise. Stay tuned as we unveil the outcomes of our collective efforts in the near future. Lastly, we extend our gratitude to our esteemed funders, including NSF, NIH, AFRL, and GI, whose unwavering support fuels our mission to shape the future of cybersecurity and intelligent systems.
Enhancing IoT Security: A Hardware Trojans Approach
In light of the growing adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT), a new era of connectivity and convenience has emerged, fundamentally transforming various aspects of our daily lives. However, this increased interconnectivity also introduces significant security challenges, with Hardware Trojans standing out as a prominent concern. These malicious implants have the potential to compromise the integrity and reliability of IoT devices, posing threats to critical systems and sensitive data. It is imperative to address this pressing issue to ensure the ongoing reliability and trustworthiness of IoT ecosystems.
To tackle this challenge, our team of researchers at the Intelligent Cyber Systems and Architectures Laboratory (ICSA Lab) at North Carolina A&T State University is at the forefront of developing innovative methods for countering Hardware Trojans in IoT systems. Our latest contribution is the creation of the "IoT Playground," an open-source machine learning framework designed for evaluating the security of IoT devices. This framework provides a collaborative platform where the IoT community can collectively work together to address vulnerabilities related to Hardware Trojans.
Vulnerability Modeling Toward Securing Scientific Cyber-Infrastructures
Due to market capital, non-academic cyber-infrastructure is typically more up-to-date and provides higher security levels against cyber-attacks than academic cyber-infrastructure. In contrast, cyber-infrastructure used in academia often relies on legacy systems, which are particularly more vulnerable to attacks. In general, academic cyber-infrastructure differs from its non-academic counterpart in terms of data, workflows, users, and security concerns that should be considered while developing security countermeasures.
In this project, we address the security concerns of academic cyber-infrastructures by modeling scientific cyber-infrastructure using the concept of a cybersecurity knowledge graph (CSKG) that encodes vulnerabilities, threats, and mitigation strategies in the form of a directed graph. The model is used to conduct a security assessment on a set of cyber- infrastructures within a coalition of higher education institutions located in the state of North Carolina. The model is tuned using the data collected from the member institutions and the data available in other databases, e.g., National Vulnerability Database (NVD).
NKAT-VI: A Virtual Institute for Cyber Research and Experiential Education
The cost of cyberattacks is expected to reach $10.5 trillion USD by 2025. To mitigate this rising cost, it is crucial to raise awareness of cyber risks across organizations. Providing students with training on the latest threat intelligence and defense strategies is key to this effort. However, delivering effective cybersecurity training requires a practice environ- ment that offers experiential learning opportunities. This environment should simulate real-world scenarios and integrate multiple attack vectors and defensive techniques for hands-on learning. Flexibility is also essential in creating an engaging training environ- ment for cybersecurity practitioners.
To tackle these challenges we will establish a virtual institute (VI) called NKAT-VI, which is focused on meeting the workforce needs of the Armed Services, Department of Defense, and Defense Industrial Base partners. The institute will be led by a consortium of higher education institutions with diverse expertise, including North Carolina A&T State University (NCAT), which is recognized as the top producer of African American engineering graduates. Kennesaw State University, Auburn University, and Tuskegee University will also be part of the consortium. The NKAT-VI offers multiple certification programs designed to address specific areas of interest within the Department of Defense.
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