Inspired by the DARPA Urban Challenge, the PI offers to run a grand challenge competition in computer security. . DARPA reports very positive results from its competition wherein teams who developed fully automated automobiles, the automation attained by new methods in sensing and artificial intelligence, competed for prizes and glory.
The security challenge, the focus of this proposal, is to be run in conjunction with USENIX Security, 2009. Particularly challenging for a security challenge wherein a team has to defend itself against attacks, is the need for a clear, well-specified set of rules which unambiguously define criteria for success and for choosing a winner.
For this challenge, the task of the participant teams is to build a system such that the provided servers are self-defending and resilient against attacks. During the competition an automated scoring system will record the services that remain functional. At the same time, an automated attack system will perform disruptive attacks against the services.
Prizes, provided by private companies, will be awarded to the teams whose servers provide the highest service level but also above a minimal threshold.
Together with Nicholas Weaver (ICSI) and Anup Ghosh (GMU), the PI has created the infrastructure required to run the competition, including the attacking and scoring systems.
The funds requested would be used to reimburse the expenses of graduate and undergraduate students participating in the competition. The workshop is to take place on August 12-13, 2009 in Montreal.
