Towards a block-cipher circuit resistant to multiple side channel attacks. This project aims to design, implement and verify the first ever fully comprehensive countermeasure against simultaneous attacks on devices performing a cryptographic task, such as a smart card or a mobile phone used for an electronic payment, through a variety of side channels. Side channel attacks aim to obtain unauthorized access to secret cryptographic keys used by such devices, by collecting and statistically process ....Towards a block-cipher circuit resistant to multiple side channel attacks. This project aims to design, implement and verify the first ever fully comprehensive countermeasure against simultaneous attacks on devices performing a cryptographic task, such as a smart card or a mobile phone used for an electronic payment, through a variety of side channels. Side channel attacks aim to obtain unauthorized access to secret cryptographic keys used by such devices, by collecting and statistically processing measurements of by-products of the physical operation of these devices, such as the consumed power or electromagnetic radiation. Rapid proliferation of personal devices used for electronic payments or containing sensitive data makes such a comprehensive countermeasure urgently needed.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160100584
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$370,000.00
Summary
Secure and Private Machine Learning. This project intends to answer the question: How can machines learn from data when participants behave maliciously for personal gain? Machine learning and statistics are used in many technologies where participants have an incentive to game the system (eg internet ad placement, e-commerce rating systems, credit risk in finance, health analytics and smart utility grids). However, little is known about how well state-of-the-art statistical inference techniques ....Secure and Private Machine Learning. This project intends to answer the question: How can machines learn from data when participants behave maliciously for personal gain? Machine learning and statistics are used in many technologies where participants have an incentive to game the system (eg internet ad placement, e-commerce rating systems, credit risk in finance, health analytics and smart utility grids). However, little is known about how well state-of-the-art statistical inference techniques fare when data is manipulated by a malicious participant. The project's outcomes aim to ensure that statistical analysis is accurate while preserving data privacy, providing theoretical foundations of secure machine learning in adversarial domains. Potential applications range from cybersecurity defences to measures for balancing security and privacy interests.Read moreRead less
Intruder alert! detecting and classifying events in noisy time series. This project aims to address the mathematical challenges in automated early detection and classification of intrusion events in noisy time series generated from perimeter security systems. The project expects to develop robust methods to detect intrusion events under different operating environments while ignoring nuisance events. The project will boost the global competitiveness of the Australian security industry, and enabl ....Intruder alert! detecting and classifying events in noisy time series. This project aims to address the mathematical challenges in automated early detection and classification of intrusion events in noisy time series generated from perimeter security systems. The project expects to develop robust methods to detect intrusion events under different operating environments while ignoring nuisance events. The project will boost the global competitiveness of the Australian security industry, and enable improved event detection and classification in noisy time series to the benefit of many critical application areas beyond national security.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170101203
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$360,000.00
Summary
Multi-functional antenna arrays for secure and reliable wireless systems. This project aims to develop and validate the fundamental theory and engineering techniques for fully reconfigurable antenna arrays. Multi-functional antennae deliver highly-secure and reliable wireless communications for Australia’s digital economy. Such an antenna array, a critical component of wireless multi-functional systems, can provide full flexibilities of the frequency, polarisation and radiation pattern to satisf ....Multi-functional antenna arrays for secure and reliable wireless systems. This project aims to develop and validate the fundamental theory and engineering techniques for fully reconfigurable antenna arrays. Multi-functional antennae deliver highly-secure and reliable wireless communications for Australia’s digital economy. Such an antenna array, a critical component of wireless multi-functional systems, can provide full flexibilities of the frequency, polarisation and radiation pattern to satisfy the systems’ different requirements. This project is expected to advance the scientific knowledge of several frontiers of antenna research and enhance spectrum usage efficiency, highly-secure wireless communications and compact and reliable military wireless platforms, thus benefiting Australian industry, society and national defence.Read moreRead less
Machine learning in adversarial environments. Machine learning underpins the technologies driving the economies of both Silicon Valley and Wall Street, from web search and ad placement, to stock predictions and efforts in fighting cybercrime. This project aims to answer the question: How can machines learn from data when contributors act maliciously for personal gain?
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170100361
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$360,000.00
Summary
Towards reliable and robust machine learning systems. This project aims to protect machine learning systems from adversarial manipulation. Machine learning technologies are used in e-commerce, search, virtual assistants and self-driving cars. However, they are vulnerable to adversarial manipulations which are imperceptible to humans but can cause systems to fail, thereby undermining their usefulness or possibly causing disasters. Less vulnerable machine learning systems are expected to make futu ....Towards reliable and robust machine learning systems. This project aims to protect machine learning systems from adversarial manipulation. Machine learning technologies are used in e-commerce, search, virtual assistants and self-driving cars. However, they are vulnerable to adversarial manipulations which are imperceptible to humans but can cause systems to fail, thereby undermining their usefulness or possibly causing disasters. Less vulnerable machine learning systems are expected to make future autonomous systems, such as self-driving cars and autonomous robots, safer. This project will provide a deeper understanding of how machine learning systems can be made less vulnerable, thereby increasing the safety of future autonomous systems such as self-driving cars and autonomous robots.Read moreRead less
Secure user authentication with continuous adaptive risk evaluation. Users typically authenticate to any given system only once - when they first access it (for example, through providing a password or fingerprint). The prevalence of single sign-on further allows this single authentication to be sufficient for access to multiple systems. Thus an adversary can obtain a large degree of access from stealing a single password, hijacking a user's session, or even simply borrowing their phone. This pr ....Secure user authentication with continuous adaptive risk evaluation. Users typically authenticate to any given system only once - when they first access it (for example, through providing a password or fingerprint). The prevalence of single sign-on further allows this single authentication to be sufficient for access to multiple systems. Thus an adversary can obtain a large degree of access from stealing a single password, hijacking a user's session, or even simply borrowing their phone. This project aims to develop a continuous authentication approach based on user behaviour - typical interactions plus biometrics (for example, keystroke dynamics) - combined with a risk adaptive assessment of the resources being accessed, resulting in re-authentication requests in the event of a suspected compromise.Read moreRead less
A fast and effective automated insider threat detection and prediction system. Threats from insiders directly compromises the security, privacy and integrity of Australian e-commerce, large databases and communication channels. This project will provide an essential step in combating this criminal activity by developing methods to detect such threats and secure the public's information against exposure and identity theft.