PI: Timothy Sherwood, University of California-Santa Barbara, Cynthia Irvine, Naval Postgraduate School

From Bluetooth transceivers to the NASA Mars Rover, reconfigurable circuits have become one of the mainstays of embedded design. Combining the high computational performance of specialized circuits with the re-programmability of software, these devices are quickly becoming ubiquitous. Unfortunately, if unprotected, this reconfigurability could be exploited to disrupt critical operations, snoop on supposedly secure channels, or even to physically melt a device. However, a new approach to controlling changes to the hardware logic promises to overcome these problems. In addition, the innate malleability of this hardware presents the opportunity for hardware enforcement of adaptive security policies. For example, in an emergency, trusted individuals may need to override the nominal security policy. Thus, the reconfigurable component may provide a highly trusted mechanism for secure functionality in changing environments.

This research aims to close a gaping security hole in our nation's information infrastructure by enhancing the logical structure and internal management of reconfigurable hardware to enforce a dynamic information protection policy. Specifically, this research will: (1) discover hardware synthesis and static validation methods that will ensure that only secure and non-destructive configurations can be loaded, (2) develop new reconfigurable structures capable of securely mediating run-time access to shared resources through the use of hardware-compiled formal access policy languages, and (3) establish a firm foundation for trustworthy dynamic policy enforcement through ontological analysis, formal modeling and the development of management mechanisms integrating the results of the first two activities.

Agency
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Institute
Division of Computer and Network Systems (CNS)
Type
Standard Grant (Standard)
Application #
0524771
Program Officer
Carl Landwehr
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
2005-08-01
Budget End
2009-07-31
Support Year
Fiscal Year
2005
Total Cost
$603,935
Indirect Cost
Name
University of California Santa Barbara
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Santa Barbara
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
93106