Communications of the ACM
Computer Scientist Researches Privacy System
A $250,000 grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation will help University of Texas at Arlington computer science professor Matthew Wright study ways to strengthen computer privacy.
Credit: University of Texas at Arlington
The U.S. National Science Foundation has awarded a $250,000 grant to a University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) computer scientist studying ways to strengthen computer privacy. UTA professor Matthew Wright's research will focus on the Tor anonymity system.
The U.S. Navy developed the system as a way to pass along military information. Wright will explore route selection and seek to find alternative ways to navigate through the proxies recognized at different stages as information is shared between computers. He also sees the cover traffic security measure as a way to keep interferers from making inferences about data at different stages of the proxies.
"Finding new ways of providing cover, such as shielding with extra noise, adding additional packages, or creating a delay in traffic patterns, can also protect information," Wright says.
The research comes at a time when devices increasingly are storing our personal data, notes UTA College of Engineering dean Khosrow Behbehani. He says the trend ties in to the notion of the Internet of Things, in which everyday objects are imbued with intelligence and collect consumers' data. "This information storage...could reveal habits or preferences, and the line between our private and professional and gainful life could be blurred," Behbehani warns.
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