Cybersecurity X Lab

Current Projects (Check this presentation with the most recent projects in X Lab).

  • Measurable Security – We cannot improve what we cannot measure (Kelvin). However, how does one quantify the absence of an adversary, a fault, or a weakness in a system? How can we define objective, repeatable, and reproducible metrics that evaluate the security of a computer network? This task is even more complex at a time that the face of traditional computer networking is changing by connecting devices such as webcameras, locks, and TVs. These exciting and difficult questions are part of our work in quantitative security evaluation. We analyze data, create predictive models, and test them with rigorous experimentation. Check our github repository for more information.
  • Internet of Things Security – Currently a hot topic in computer networks security, the Internet of Things is defined by all the “things”, i.e., devices, that are connected to the Internet. New protocols have been created to make communication fast and lightweight. An exciting and unexplored area is to find new vulnerabilities of these devices. Believe it or not, there is a way to search these devices, like a search engine for IoT. This is an exciting and widely unexplored area where you may hack devices, mine data from IoT, and connect to the most unusual “things” such as wind turbines and webcameras to mine their data.
  • CyberPaths – Broadening the Path to the STEM Profession through Cybersecurity Learning: This is an NSF funded project with goal to teach Cybersecurity experientially in the liberal arts setting. The first goal of the project is to develop learning modules that will be used in general education courses, with goal to expose a diverse population of students to the field. Second, this project will create paths for students to follow Cybersecurity, through a concentration with targeted courses and a capstone that will be developed on the Global Environment for Network Innovations (GENI) cloud infrastructure.

Prospective students:

The qualities that I am looking in a student are: strong programming skills, communication skills, passion for learning, and professionalism. You are strongly encouraged to apply regardless of your experience in CS. I have worked with freshmen, sophomores, and upper level CS students with equal success. Fundamental programming experience is essential though (CS 220 or equivalent self learning experience).

If you are interested in working with me on Cybersecurity research, do not hesitate to contact me at: mountrouidoux <at> cofc.edu. Please include:

  1. A paragraph explaining why you would like to work with me, what you would be interested in working on and why,
  2. Your resume that includes classes that you have taken.

I have limited paid positions for research assistants that are extremely motivated and may also work with me in summer.

Past Projects:

  • Detection and Mitigation of Computer Network attacks using Software Defined Networks: We have developed a solution for robust and fast detection and mitigation of DDoS attacks using the Global Environment for Network Innovations (GENI).
  • Covert Channel Communication: First we explore Covert Storage Channel (CSC) and how to make covert communication robust by using split-join network techniques. Then we devise a method to detect CSC using SDN. Second, we explore Covert Timing Channel in (CTC) order to make it more robust and undetectable. We are currently experimenting with different encoding schemes for CTC.