SecureCore Trustworthy Commodity Computing and Communications

The SecureCore project will investigate the fundamental architectural features required for trustworthy operation of mobile computing devices such as smart cards, embedded controllers and hand-held computers. The goal is to provide secure processing and communication features for resource-constrained platforms, without compromise of performance, size, cost or energy consumption. In this environment, the security must also be built-in, transparent and flexible. A clean-slate design approach, free of previous assumptions and constraints, will be used to integrate support for these features in the *core components* of the mobile platform: the processor hardware, the operating system kernel and the networking interface. The research plan is to: (1) develop a new systematic analysis of mobile computing threats and security requirements, (2) investigate the synergistic design of new core components, resulting in an integrated SecureCore architecture, and (3) develop experiments and prototypes to demonstrate the effectiveness of the SecureCore. The significance of this research lies in the exploration of new approaches for threat and requirements analysis, a fresh look at integrated support for security, performance, functionality and usability in mobile platforms, and the potential for innovative advancements in processor instruction set architecture, operating system kernel design, and secure network protocols. The broader impact of the SecureCore project will be in education and the transfer of foundational knowledge to the public sector. The conceptual and empirical results of the research will be translated into one or more university-level teaching modules. The diversity of our teaching and work environments ensures that the pedagogy developed will have wide applicability and influence. In addition, the SecureCore architecture and integrated security model will be openly available. As a result, new generations of researchers, product developers and educators will be able to more constructively contribute to the advancement of security in Cyberspace. Organization SecureCore is a collaboration research project that involves a team from the Naval Postgraduate School, Princeton University, and Information Sciences Institute of the University of California Sponsors National Science Foundation under grant number CNS-0430598 DARPA ISI Research Team Terry Benzel - Co PI Students Ganesha Bhaskara Collaborators Ruby Lee, Princeton University - PI Mung Chiang, Princeton University - Co PI Cynthia Irvine - Co PI Collaborating Students NPS: Francis Afinidad, Richard "Buddy" Vernon Princeton: Jeff Dwoskin, David Champagne Publications Benzel, T. V., Irvine, C. E., Levin, T. E., Bhaskara, G., Nguyen, T. D., and Clark, P. C., "Design Principles for Security",ISI-TR-605, Information Science Institute , September 2005. (Also Available as .NPS-CS-05-010, Naval Postgraduate School) Ganesha Bhaskara, Timothy E. Levin, Thuy D. Nguyen, Terry V. Benzel, Cynthia E. Irvine, Paul C. Clark, "Virtualization and Integration of SP Services in SecureCore",Tech Report,ISI-TR-623 ,September 2006. Ganesha Bhaskara, Timothy E. Levin, Thuy D. Nguyen, Terry V. Benzel, Cynthia E. Irvine, Paul C. Clark, "Integration of User Specific Hardware for SecureCore Cryptographic Services",Tech Report,ISI-TR-620 ,Aug 2006. Timothy E. Levin, Cynthia E. Irvine, Thuy D. Nguyen, Terry V. Benzel, Ganesha Bhaskara, "Preliminary Security Requirements for SecureCore Hardware",Tech Report, NPS-CS-06-014, September 2006. Timothy E. Levin, Cynthia E. Irvine, Terry V. Benzel, Ganesha Bhaskara, Paul C. Clark, Thuy D. Nguyen, Design Principles and Guidelines for Security, Tech Report, ISI-TR-648, November 2007. Timothy E. Levin, Ganesha Bhaskara, Thuy D. Nguyen, Paul C. Clark, Terry V. Benzel, Cynthia E. Irvine, SecureCore Security Architecture: Authority Mode and Emergency Management, Tech Report, ISI-TR-647, November 2007. Downloads SecureCore NPS Poster 2007 as (PDF) or (PPT) Nugget - SecureCore 2007 (doc) Poster - NSF Cyber Trust Annual Principal Investigator Meeting, January 28-30, 2007, Atlanta, Georgia (PDF) or (PPT) Nugget - SecureCore 2005 (doc) Poster - (SecureCore West) National Science Foundation Poster - CyberTrust meeting, Sept 26, 2005 (PDF) Poster - (SecureCore East) National Science Foundation Poster - CyberTrust meeting, Sept 26, 2005 (PDF) Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.