1. TRUST:Team for Research in Ubiquitous Secure Technologies
Responses to Issues Raised by Past Reviewers
John Mitchell (Stanford)
NSF STC Review
September 6, 2004

2. Summary (Excerpted from reviews)
Goal
Develop science and technology to enable organizations to design, build, and operate trustworthy information systems for the U.S. critical infrastructure
Team
Multidisciplinary group of very well-known and active researchers with expertise in computer security, software technology, analysis of complex interacting systems, and economic and public policy
NSF STC Review
December 4, 2018

3. Concerns
One is that most of the researchers in the proposed center are not directly involved in mainstream research of computer security although they have been doing related research. This could be a minus but could also be advantageous as these strong researchers may bring fresh ideas and new approaches to solving security problems of large scale.
Another concern is whether the group of senior researchers could really collaborate closely as a large team as there is not much past record of collaboration among some of the researchers or subgroups.
Related to that is the question how the testbeds will be used effectively for integrative activities among the partners.
NSF STC Review
December 4, 2018

4. Outline Research focus Management structure Integrative testbeds
Computer security does not exist in a vacuum, but involves endowing specific kinds of systems with security properties
Management structure
Supports goals of the project
Integrative testbeds
Role in structure of the project
NSF STC Review
December 4, 2018

5. Testbeds Social Science Security Science System Science NSF STC Review
December 4, 2018

6. Integrative Testbeds Network Security PlanetLab Testbed (DETER)
Specific systems that represent social needs and translate into technical challenges
Networked
Power Grid
Embedded Systems
Testbed
Testbed
Research Challenges
Software
Complex Inter
Dependency mod. -
Economics,
Security
Public Policy
Research areas which will provide solutions in the context of the testbeds
Trusted
Secure Network
Platforms
Embedded Sys.
Forensic
and Privacy
Applied
Model -
based
Cryptography
Integration
Network
Secure Info. Mgt.
HCI and
Security
Software Tools
Security
NSF STC Review
December 4, 2018

7. Research expertise Core security experts
Birman, Boneh, Joseph, Mitchell, Perrig, Reiter, Robinson, Schneider, Song, Tygar, Wagner
Computer systems and wireless networking
Bajcsy, Culler, Wicker, Sirer, Lee, Manohar, Raghavan, Sztipanovits
Software engineering and principles
Aiken, Garcia-Molina, Henzinger, Karsai, Necula, Schmidt, Wing
Social scientists
Mc Fadden, Samuelson, Varian, Weber
NSF STC Review
December 4, 2018

8. Management Questions (from reviews)
Can this group of this size, institutional diversity and seniority be integrated and managed?
The management structure is not yet complete (with some key roles not filled). There is no succession plan for the leadership of the center. The management plan is rather brief without mentioning how resource allocation and project termination will be done.
There are almost 40 senior researchers involved in this proposed effort, most are involved in other (admittedly related) significant research projects. While they propose a reasonable hierarchical management structure, … the question is whether the whole will be greater than the sum of the parts
NSF STC Review
December 4, 2018

9. Management Organization
Security Technology Teams
Schneider (coordinator)
Systems Science Teams
Schmidt (coordinator)
Social Science Teams
Samuelson (coordinator)
Complex Interdependency Modeling and Analysis
Anantharam (lead)
Economics, Public Policy and Societal Challenges
Varian (lead)
Software Security
Mitchell (lead)
Trusted Platforms
Rosenblum (lead)
Secure Network Embedded Systems
Wicker (lead)
Digital Forensics and Privacy
Tygar (lead)
Applied Cryptographic Protocols
Wagner (lead)
Model-based Integration of Trusted Components
Sztipanovits (lead)
Human Computer Interfaces and Security
Garcia-Molina (lead)
Network Security
Joseph (lead)
Secure Information Management Software
Birman (lead)
NSF STC Review
December 4, 2018

10. Evaluation of Results
As the technical areas covered by this proposal are extremely broad, it is crucial to devise an effective plan or strategy to evaluate the research results in terms of the performances of the integrated testbeds. However, the proposal does not address this issue. The proposal provides a list of deliverables, which is a plus, but the deliverables do not show clear connections to the development of the proposed integrative testbeds. In general, the proposal raises good questions concerning existing approaches and systems, but does not elaborate sufficiently how the new technologies and systems proposed to be developed will be more effective.
NSF STC Review
December 4, 2018

11. Mod-based Integration Secure Inf Mgmt Tools Econ Pub Policy
Security Technology
Systems Science
Social Science
Software Security
Trusted Platforms
Applied Crypto.
Network Security
Modeling Analysis
Net EmbedSys
Model-based Integration
Secure InfMgtSoftware Tools
Dig Forensics Privacy
HumComp Interfaces,
Power Grid √
Netwk/Embd Sys
PlanetLab
DETER
Software Security
Trusted Platforms
Applied Cryptography
Network Security
CI Modeling Analysis
Secure Net Embed Sys
Mod-based Integration
Secure Inf Mgmt Tools
Econ Pub Policy
Forensics, Privacy
Hum-Comp Interfaces
NSF STC Review
December 4, 2018

12. Conclusion Diverse team Integrative testbeds Management structure
Bring security, software, social science together to solve fundamental problems
Integrative testbeds
Motivate research, facilitate collaboration
Management structure
Matrix of interlocking responsibilities
Works well so far!
NSF STC Review
December 4, 2018

13. From reviews
The TRUST team will address very important research issues underlying critical infrastructure security problems and ubiquitous computing.
Given their current track record, there is every reason to believe that the outcomes of this research will contribute substantially to scientific knowledge and will have direct impact on important societal issues.
NSF STC Review
December 4, 2018