Source: John Hatcliff, 785-532-6350, hatcliff@k-state.edu
Note to editor: Robby is the researcher's full name.
News release prepared by: Kristin Hodges, 785-532-6415, khodges2@k-state.edu

Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2010

K-STATE COMPUTER SCIENTISTS DEVELOPING TECHNIQUES TO STRENGTHEN THE SECURITY OF 1xbet online sports betting SYSTEMS RESPONSIBLE FOR HEALTH CARE, MILITARY DATA

MANHATTAN -- As computers increasingly transfer patient medical records and other sensitive 1xbet online sports betting , a group of computer scientists at Kansas State University is doing basic research that will help designers keep such 1xbet online sports betting safe.

Complex 1xbet online sports betting systems form foundations in our nation's infrastructure and defense forces, and these systems contain data with different security levels, said John Hatcliff, K-State professor of computing and 1xbet online sports betting sciences. As data are exchanged between various users, there's a danger that 1xbet online sports betting could be released to unauthorized parties.

The ability to guarantee secure 1xbet online sports betting flow is becoming more critical as government and industry push toward increasingly complex 1xbet online sports betting systems in many areas, including health care, the military and in coordinating disaster relief, Hatcliff said. That's why K-State computer scientists are developing high-level policy languages and verification techniques to strengthen the security and integrity of such systems.

"Whether it's health care or military 1xbet online sports betting , what people really want is the ability to push 1xbet online sports betting out rapidly to anyone who needs it," Hatcliff said. "You may have a doctor trying to make a diagnosis or a platoon leader trying to coordinate a maneuver in the context of a larger battlefield operation. In either case, more 1xbet online sports betting leads to better decision making and better outcomes. However, you have to make sure as you're aggressively pushing 1xbet online sports betting to decision makers that you don't inadvertently leak sensitive 1xbet online sports betting to someone who shouldn't be seeing it."

Hatcliff leads K-State's Specification, Analysis and Transformation of Software laboratory. The other computing and 1xbet online sports betting sciences faculty researchers in the lab are associate professors Torban Amtoft and Robby, and assistant professor Simon Ou. These researchers do work in security, software engineering, programming language semantics and automatic analysis of computer software.

In March 2009, the research group, in collaboration with researchers at Princeton University, received a five-year, million grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. The researchers are developing tools to secure 1xbet online sports betting systems so that when 1xbet online sports betting is transferred across large systems, there is confidence that nothing is accidentally revealed.

"We're doing foundational research on novel forms of mathematical models and logics that enable designers and analysts to precisely state what 1xbet online sports betting is allowed to flow from one point to another and under what conditions," Hatcliff said. "Then we're building tools to help people use those mathematical techniques to verify that their systems are correct."

The researchers also are receiving funding from Rockwell Collins, a company that creates communications and aviation electronics. The work with Rockwell Collins involves applying the K-State research team's verification tools to several systems being developed in U.S. Department of Defense security research projects.

Hatcliff said 1xbet online sports betting leakage is a concern in many domains, like potential integration in the health care system with patients' medical records.

"Millions of dollars are being invested by federal and state governments to set up health 1xbet online sports betting exchanges," Hatcliff said. "The idea of such an exchange is that you have a technology organization that facilitates and mediates the exchange of patient medical 1xbet online sports betting between a variety of parties. The challenge is that the 1xbet online sports betting in patients' records has different levels of sensitivity or security. These exchanges eventually are going to need a way to specify policies describing what 1xbet online sports betting can be released and to whom, and the exchange will need to guarantee that those policies are adhered to."

Hatcliff said K-State's research shows promise for addressing these issues because it involves creating mathematical and logical models that can be used by special computer-based auditing programs to guarantee that an 1xbet online sports betting system conforms to the stated 1xbet online sports betting flow policy.

The researchers' tools also provide graphical visualizations of 1xbet online sports betting flowing through a system so that designers and auditors can more quickly understand a system's 1xbet online sports betting flow behavior. The research focuses on systems where very high levels of assurance are required, and it aims to prove conformance to 1xbet online sports betting flow policies during a certification phase before a system is deployed.

"It's pretty rare in the software engineering and verification research community that you receive a significant amount of money to fund basic research and also have a company that's doing such advanced work fund you to take your basic research and apply it," Hatcliff said.

The collaboration with Princeton University is with Andrew Appel, professor and chair of Princeton's computer science department.

"We're very good at building tools that help programmers actually apply some of these techniques to real programs, and Andrew's very good at developing the underlying math and logic," Hatcliff said. "We're working together to come up with an even better collection of tools."

Through collaboration stipulations, the universities will provide student visits and exchanges. The grant also funds work for four graduate students and two undergraduates at K-State. K-State's research group has been awarded more than million of research funding the past 10 years. The group's tools have been used in numerous academic research groups and by various industries worldwide.