Three professors receive funding with the Rolls-Royce Cybersecurity Technology Research Network
12-20-2021
Proposed research at Purdue University is developing innovative solutions using artificial intelligence to enhance the security of current and future Rolls-Royce platforms powered by the company’s propulsion systems. Chosen for its prominent research in the cybersecurity field, three Purdue Computer Science professors have been selected during the round two funding cycle.
As a Rolls-Royce global University Technology Partnership, Purdue is recognized as a critical part of the company’s technology and development strategy. Through this new network, Rolls-Royce can access the broad expertise of Purdue’s researchers, who lead in cyber-physical systems with a focus on security, autonomy and resiliency.
Berkay Celik, an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science, has received funding for his project titled, "Developing Software Sensors for Digital Twin based Cybersecurity.” His research takes on the concept of digital twins which are a virtual copy of physical devices used to create digital models that update and change alongside their real-life counterparts. His aim is to develop digital twins of sensors called software sensors as the virtual backup of the corresponding physical devices. Software sensors can be used as an automatic response to such discrepancies by replacing the compromised/faulty sensor to increase the reliability and security of the physical systems.
Vassilis Zikas, associate professor in the Department of Computer Science and Eugene Spafford, professor in the Department of Computer Science received funding for their collaborative work with UCLA titled, "Memory Ravens: A provably secure efficient method for defending against memory injections." The project received its name due to the many forms of cybersecurity attacks which involve modifying the contents of memory to alter existing code or insert malware. Their project will explore a cryptographically-based approach to monitoring memory to detect these attacks, with a low overhead but rapid response. The researchers have hope that the solution may be amenable to a hardware implementation.
The Cybersecurity Technology Research Network is the latest chapter in a long-standing partnership between Purdue and Rolls-Royce, one that continues to strengthen the state’s economy. As a Rolls-Royce global University Technology Partnership, Purdue is recognized as a critical part of the company’s technology and development strategy. Through this new network, Rolls-Royce can access the broad expertise of Purdue’s researchers, who lead in cyber-physical systems with a focus on security, autonomy and resiliency.
Cybersecurity was previously announced as a critical research topic under Purdue’s new national security and technology strategic focus area. The announcement of Purdue’s Next Moves on April 9, 2021, included five strategic focus areas that will advance the university’s competitive advantage. The university’s cybersecurity program is ranked No. 6 nationally and CSRankings.org ranks Purdue No. 3 in systems security.
Announced in April 2021, Rolls-Royce created a partnership with Purdue University and Carnegie Mellon University to create the Rolls-Royce Cybersecurity Technology Research Network. The network, which is a partnership between Rolls-Royce, Purdue University’s Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS) and Carnegie Mellon University’s CyLab, is focused on improving the cybersecurity for platforms powered by the company’s propulsion systems.
About the Department of Computer Science at Purdue University
Founded in 1962, the Department of Computer Science was created to be an innovative base of knowledge in the emerging field of computing as the first degree-awarding program in the United States. The department continues to advance the computer science industry through research. US News & Reports ranks Purdue CS #20 and #18 overall in graduate and undergraduate programs respectively, ninth in both software engineering and cybersecurity, 14th in programming languages, 13th in computing systems, and 24th in artificial intelligence. Graduates of the program are able to solve complex and challenging problems in many fields. Our consistent success in an ever-changing landscape is reflected in the record undergraduate enrollment, increased faculty hiring, innovative research projects, and the creation of new academic programs. The increasing centrality of computer science in academic disciplines and society, and new research activities - centered around data science, artificial intelligence, programming languages, theoretical computer science, machine learning, and cybersecurity - are the future focus of the department. cs.purdue.edu
Writer: Emily Kinsell, emily@purdue.edu
Sources: Dongyan Xu, dxu@purdue.edu