Institute for Cyber Security (ICS)

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Institute for Cyber Security (ICS)

• Prof. Ravi Sandhu
• Executive Director and
• Lutcher Brown Endowed Chair
• ravi.sandhu_at_utsa.edu
• 210 458 6081

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Ravi Sandhu

• BTech, MTech Electrical Engineering, IIT Bombay,
  Delhi
• MS, PhD Computer Science, Rutgers
• Asst Prof Computer Science, Ohio State U (6 yrs)
• Assoc/Full Prof Information Security, George
  Mason U (18 yrs)
• Full Prof Computer Science, UTSA (started June
  2007)
• ACM Fellow, IEEE Fellow
• Founding EIC ACM TISSEC worlds leading security
  journal
• Past-Chairman ACM SIGSAC worlds leading
  security society
• Founder ACM CCS worlds leading security
  conference
• Co-Founder Chief Scientist, TriCipher Silicon
  Valley startup

I am here because of past accomplishments but
what matters and what excites me is the future
opportunity at the bleeding edge
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ICS Background

• 2000 UTSA and San Antonio Community identify
  strategic goal of excellence in Cyber Security
• 2001 Center for Infrastructure Assurance and
  Security (CIAS) established, garners success in
  service to DoD and DHS
• 2006 UTSA wins 3.5M State of Texas Emerging
  Technology Fund grant to create a new Institute
  for Cyber Security
• 2007 Prof. Ravi Sandhu recruited to found and
  lead ICS with additional 1M Endowed Chair and
  1M UT STARS funding
• CIAS becomes a component of ICS

ICS is an unique opportunity but true excellence
requires hard work, patience and sustained support
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ICS Scope

• Research
• Tenure-track faculty and their graduate students
• Research faculty and staff
• Education
• Degree and non-degree programs
• Commercialization
• The big challenge for UTSA and all research
  universities
• Opportunity to be a national leader and role
  model
• Service
• Public sector build on CIAS success and beyond
• Private sector another big challenge
• Partnerships
• Academia, Industry, Government, International

A comprehensive big-tent Institute but the core
will always remain research driven by
tenure-track faculty
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ICS Mission

• To pursue world-class high-impact cyber-security
  research, education, commercialization and
  service in synergy with relevant components of
  UTSA, and with world-class partners.

Very ambitious but in our grasp
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Change Drivers
Entering an era of application-driven security
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Research Opportunities

• What does it mean to be secure?
• What are the appropriate tradeoffs in an
  application business context?
• Who decides?
• Who pays?
• How do we make it secure?
• What do we need to invent to get there?
• How do we use existing inventions to get there?

Collaboration with application experts,
especially where the applications themselves are
cutting edge
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ICS Plans

• Big investments
• Tenure track faculty seed money for new lines
• Laboratory renovate, refurbish, equipment, staff
• Smaller investments
• Seed money work that will lead to funding down
  the line
• Bridge money continue work between grants

Come talk to me and conversely
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Personal Research Agenda

• Develop a framework for dealing with security
• RBAC, UCON, PEI
• Demonstrate utility of this framework in diverse
  contexts, evolve the framework as needed
• Engage with industry to understand their
  priorities and place doctoral students in
  internships and jobs

Lots of scope for collaboration
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RBAC96
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UCON 2004
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PEI Models Policy, Enforcement, Implementation