Secure Virtual Machine / SDR
The evolution of programmable hardware enables Software-Defined Radio (SDR) that increasingly permits the definition of channel modulation waveforms in software. This allows wireless communication architectures to share and allocate frequency spectrum in a more flexible and programmable fashion. Security and reliability concerns of such software radio implementations must be addressed to ensure correct and safe operation. The problem to be addressed is that of protecting wireless hardware from malicious or buggy code. We will provide a safe and secure execution environment for the un-trusted embedded system code that is required in software radio. A Low Level Virtual Machine (LLVM) has been developed by researchers at UIUC for embedded system platforms. LLVM will be enhanced to provide the necessary functionality for wireless radio platforms.

We propose a Radio Virtual Machine that will provide a secure execution environment for un-trusted code implementing Software Defined Radio (SDR) on embedded processors. The virtual machine will provide access control for operating system, CPU, DSP, and other hardware resource management. To enhance interoperability, changeability, functionality, and flexibility, we provide a sandbox for downloaded code that prevents modification of the critical behavior of the radios from corrupted or incorrect code. The resulting unified platform supports rapid porting of software to new radio hardware architectures. A goal of the research is to seek to protect radio critical system elements like radiated power and operating frequency that may be altered to launch Denial of Service attacks on the hardware or the entire wireless network.
 
Project Leads
Roy Campbell, UIUC CS Department

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The National Center for Advanced Secure Systems Research NCASSR) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) is a multi-institutional cybersecurity research team. NCASSR focuses basic and applied research necessary to develop next generation information security technologies that address national cybersecurity needs. NCASSR is led by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) and supported by funding from the Office of Naval Research (ONR).


SELS 0.7 released
Secure Email List Services (SELS) is an open source software for creating and developing secure email list services among user communities.
 
Strong community engagement strengthens cybersecurity research and development
NCASSR-supported exploratory research at NCSA and elsewhere has sparked additional external funding and development opportunities as well as successful deployment and adoption by users ranging from the defense sector to state law enforcement to the utilities industry.
 
NCASSR Collaborator Goes To Washington
Carl Gunter, a professor in the University of Illinois Department of Computer Science and a project lead on NCASSR-supported work involving adaptive, secure messaging, recently spoke to an audience of congressional staffers and lobbyists on Capitol Hill regarding ways to address a variety of critical cybersecurity issues in areas such as healthcare and energy distribution.