Circuits and Computing Faculty Seminar Series-Computer Architecture That Improves Security and Performance
Speaker: Prof. Ruby Lee
Series: Graduate Events
Location:
Engineering Quadrangle B327
Date/Time: Thursday, December 15, 2011, 4:00 p.m.
- 5:00 p.m.
Abstract:
Our lives depend increasingly on cyber transactions even as security breaches in cyberspace escalate. The frequent software security updates we get seem to indicate that current software-only security solutions are not enough. What minimal set of fundamental security features can we put into the hardware to significantly improve software and overall system security? My research group focuses on rethinking computer architecture so that future computers can be designed to be security-aware, without degrading performance (or energy consumption or usability). We will discuss how hardware trust anchors can enable software to be more secure, and how hardware sub-systems can themselves be designed to be more secure and trustworthy. My definition of a trustworthy computer system is one that is designed to enable Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability – the cornerstones of security. Such architectures include secure cache architectures that do not leak “side-channel” information while they improve on performance; memory security and multicore security architecture. We target mobile smartphone security, secure sensor nets and secure cloud computing. Projects include novel architecture design, creative modeling and verification of security and performance attainable, and novel implementation frameworks that enable accurate estimates of performance, power and area.
