Stimulus funds to further cyber security research

University Park, Pa. -- Safeguarding business applications and infrastructure from cyber threats is the aim of "Collaborative Research: Towards Self-Protecting Data Centers: A Systematic Approach," a project recently funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Peng Liu, associate professor of information sciences and technology, was one of three researchers who received more than $1 million thanks to the stimulus bill passed by the U.S. Congress earlier this year. The award was made to Liu: Sushil Jajodia; George Mason University and Meng Yu, Western Illinois University. The award totals more than $1 million for three years. Penn State's portion is $500,000.

"This grant will enable us to take a big stride forward towards building self-protecting and trustworthy information systems and data sets," Liu said. "This project will 'stand on the shoulders' of our recent research achievements in trusted recovery, self-healing information systems and intrusion-tolerant computing."

The research team aims to improve security consolidation to meet the top two requirements for modern data centers -- business continuity and information security. They will take a systematic approach that leverages the emerging virtual machine technologies to consolidate four areas of systems security research: microscopic intrusion analysis and detection, redundancy, automatic response and diversity-driven protection.

"We're very grateful to have this opportunity to address the important security consolidation problem faced by today's data centers," said Liu.

Broader impacts for this research include a significant advancement in reducing risk among business applications and information systems, increasing business continuity and delivering data assurance in the presence of severe cyber attacks.

Earlier this summer, Liu and his team received a $6.25 million Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) award for his project, "Computer-Aided Human Centric Cyber Situation Awareness."

Liu will lead this project; which will further their previous research on cyber-awareness and how it can be used to improve cyber defense.