With the recent actions against the United States, security of all kinds has become an even more prevalent need in American homes and the work place. Mississippi State University’s computer science department is working to keep America safe from computer security breaches. The department is able to research the use of artificial intelligence techniques in discovering intrusions due to the generous support from the United States Department of Defense and several other public and private financial supporters.
According to Rayford Vaughn, the computer science professor who is heading MSU’s collaborative research effort with other faculty members Susan Bridges and Tony Skjellum, the $2.5 million in funding that Vaughn and several students and faculty are working with are making their research a success.
“We expect that (amount of funding) to double in the next year,” Vaughn said.
Vaughn said the research is exciting for many reasons.
“There is a natural reason to expand this research,” Vaughn said. “Flaws or vulnerabilities (in computer security) are discovered daily. This research is to defend against that by looking for new vulnerabilities.”
Vaughn said that although he and his team are well-funded, they do not have the upper hand in fighting the war against computer security breaches.
“The attacker always has the advantage,” Vaughn said. “They (the attacker) only have to find one hole. We have to find every hole and secure them.”
“Ray’s work directly supports efforts to combat harmful intrusions into computer systems and networks so that the computer infrastructure we all use has integrity and is able to protect sensitive information important to the security and safety of the U.S.,” Robert Altenkirch, vice president for research, said.
Vaughn said, knowing the need for research is something easy to spread to possible supporters and students who would like to join the action.
“It’s so easy to get people to pay attention to this research,” he said. “It’s an unsolved problem that is practical and always interesting.”
More than practical, this research is making sure four highly-selected students have no reason to say no to aiding the research.
The 2001-2002 MSU academic year is the first where students Matt Anderson, Blake Macon, Randy Pargman and Michael Rutledge were designated the distinction from the Department of Defense’s $311,000 scholarship in information assurance. The money is also for the students and faculty to build a computer security laboratory.
The scholarship pays for the four students’ tuition and books and allots each $1,000 a month for living expenses. They must intern one summer for the federal government, and they must work at least one year after graduation in the federal government in a civilian position. Researching computer security is not new to Mississippi State. Vaughn said a small donation in 1999 sparked what is now a highly successful program.
“Dr. Altenkirk gave the department the initial $50,000 in 1999 that began everything,” Vaughn said. “He has been very supportive in our research efforts-he planted the seed for our success.”
Vaughn said he and his fellow faculty members in the department of computer science measure their success by the success of the project and the students involved.
“We are very proud of their (students) accomplishments,” Vaughn said. “Students’ accomplishments are how you should evaluate a school.”
Vaughn said the success is showing. MSU is ranked as one of the highest in only 23 institutes nationwide that are recognized by the National Security Agency as a center of excellence in information assurance education for 2001.
“Over the past few years, the center has been very successful in getting students involved in this work,” Vaughn said. “To date, five MSU students have won best paper awards at national and international computer security conferences.