CyLab Security & Privacy Institute

News

Nov 01

Carnegie Mellon's hacking competition inspires thousands of kids to pursue a career in cybersecurity

Over 27,000 students participated in this year's picoCTF cybersecurity competition – which ended October 12 – shattering records from previous years. Of the 14,000 US-based student players eligible for prizes, nearly two-thirds of them claimed that they're "more interested in pursuing a career in cybersecurity" as a result of playing picoCTF, according to a post-competition survey.

Oct 30

CyLab's Norman Sadeh speaks on plenary panel about data protection and privacy

Last week, CyLab's Norman Sadeh, a professor in the Institute for Software Research in the School of Computer Science and co-director of the Privacy Engineering program, spoke about privacy, artificial intelligence (AI), and the challenges at the intersection of the two at the International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners (ICDPPC).

Oct 25

Advancing women in cybersecurity

At Carnegie Mellon University, the Information Networking Institute is closing the cybersecurity gender gap one student at a time.

More news from CyLab Security and Privacy Institute

Research areas

Biometrics: Biometrics—characteristics about a person unique to them and no one else, such as their fingerprint, their iris, or features in their face—are becoming an increasingly popular method of authenticating a person’s identity.

Cryptography: At the heart of cryptography is creating trust. Strong, robust cryptography allows us to shop online, manage personal finances, and communicate with one another without worrying about criminals stealing our information.

Formal methods: Software today comes with few, if any, security guarantees. Traditionally, software vendors become aware of vulnerabilities after an attack occurs and then issue a patch that fixes that particular attack. Formal methods may be the key to guaranteeing security from the start.

Hardware security: Just as software can have exploitable flaws and vulnerabilities, hardware carries similar risks, but with one major setback: while software can be can be patched for millions of users with a click of a button, fixing hardware vulnerabilities requires manual labor and time.

Machine learning & AI: As the world of “big data” gradually becomes a world of “bigger data,” CyLab researchers are focused on advancing research in machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), in which computers can “learn” trends from massive collections of data.

Network security: As the number of connected devices continues to grow, the security of the networks that connect them all becomes even more important. In many cases, adversaries are able to gain access to any number of devices through an unsecured network.

Privacy: As a growing number of connected devices are introduced to the world with a goal of improving our quality of life, they also pose a risk of collecting sensitive information about ourselves and invading our privacy.

Software security: At the heart of countless cyberattacks is a single flaw in the code making up a piece of software. CyLab researchers are advancing the methods in which software bugs are found and fixed in a variety of ways.

Usability: In order for security and privacy tools to work, they must be easily and intuitively usable—by everyone. CyLab researchers are focusing on ways to make security and privacy not feel like a hard task for users, but an easy, enjoyable experience.