Welcome to the Systems and Internet Infrastructure Security Laboratory in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University. Established in the spring of 2004, the SIIS Laboratory is focused on the discovery of the next generation of technologies that will secure computer systems. The members of the lab investigate security and privacy issues in computing and communications technologies. Within the lab, we employ a wide array of scientific methodologies to understand and address the emergent security requirements of contemporary computing environments. These methodologies include protocol and systems design, data mining, formal modeling and analysis, and large-scale simulation. To accomplish these goals, the SIIS lab uses a number of resources, including Dell rack and blade servers, a bank of Apple Xserve G5s driving dual Xserve RAID disk arrays, and a generous donation of address space on a high speed network from the CSE department at Penn State.

News

April 21, 2008:

Penn State is among the first universities to be designated a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Research (CAE-R) by NSA/DHS for academic years 2008-2013. Congratulations to the SIIS lab members and others throughout the department and university who have helped us obtain this designation through excellence in IA research.

April 8, 2008:

The paper "Verifying Compliance of Trusted Programs" written by Sandra Rueda, Dave King and Trent Jaeger has been accepted at the 17th USENIX Security Symposium.

March 8, 2008:

The paper "Measuring Integrity on Mobile Phone Systems" written by Divya Muthukumaran, Anuj Sawani, Joshua Schiffman, Brian M. Jung and Trent Jaeger has been accepted at the 13th ACM Symposium on Access Control Models and Technologies (SACMAT).

February 27, 2008:

Patrick Traynor passed his doctoral defense. Congratulations to Dr. Traynor for his great work! We wish him good luck in his search for a job in academia.

February 19, 2008:

Patrick McDaniel is presenting the first of five talks in three days on the EVEREST voting study at universities in Ohio. More information, dates, and locations can be found here.

January 18, 2008:

Congratuations to Patrick Traynor, William Enck, Patrick McDaniel, and Tom La Porta as their paper, "Mitigating Attacks on Open Functionality in SMS-Capable Cellular Networks", was accepted for publication in the IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking Journal.

December 14, 2007:

The Ohio Secretary of State has released the EVEREST election system report from the academic team, of which the SIIS lab was a participant. The report can be retrieved here.

November 5, 2007:

Congratulations to Patrick Traynor, Kevin Butler, William Enck, and Patrick McDaniel, whose paper, Realizing Massive-Scale Conditional Access Systems Through Attribute-Based Cryptosystems was accepted at the 15th Annual Network and Distributed System Security Symposium (NDSS'08).

Upcoming Events

Mission

The following mission statement best sums up the activities of the SIIS Laboratory:

The SIIS Laboratory promotes student and scientific advancement through the investigation of emerging technologies upon which computer, network, and information security is based.

Credo

I cannot think of a better statement of how I feel about scientific discovery than the following poem by Bill Watterson. I think it truly reflects the dual promise of both fun and discovery, which I feel should be the real objectives of any scientific endeavor. Put another way, life is simply too short to do work that is not both simultaneously engaging and enjoyable. To wit:

Explorers are we, intrepid and bold,
Out in the wild, amongst wonders untold.
Equipped with our wits, a map, and a snack,
We're searching for fun we're on the right track!

- Bill Watterson, Author of Calvin and Hobbes

Sponsors

The laboratory is actively seeking sponsorship for its activities. We are receiving or have received support from the following agencies and organizations:


   

Contact Information

This webpage details the laboratory objectives and past and current research. If you are interested in learning more about the laboratory, current research, or possibilities for sponsorship, please contact the lab directly. All electronic communications should be directed to the laboratory administration at siis@cse.psu.edu. All physical correspondence should be directed to:

Systems and Internet Infrastructure Laboratory
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
The Pennsylvania State University
344 IST Building
University Park, PA 16802

Other laboratory contact information:

Phone: +1 (814) 863-3599
Fax: +1 (814) 865-3176
Web: http://siis.cse.psu.edu/

Note: Given the large number of applicants, the laboratory must defer all admissions issues to the department of Computer Science and Engineering. Hence, if you are a student looking to be admitted to Penn State University, contact the department directly. If you are already a student at Penn State and wish to participate in SIIS research, please contact one of the faculty members in the lab.