A Multidisciplinary Approach to Internet-of-Things (IoT) Cybersecurity Research to Develop the Research Capacity Of ROTC Students
Abstract
The Internet-of-Things (IoT) are rapidly becoming commonplace. The current 30.73 billion devices are predicted to grow to 75.44 billion by 2025. The ubiquitous reach of these devices has extended to all aspect of our lives, including fitness tracking, smart home appliances, industrial solutions, and battlefield sensors. IoT has provided a flexible platform for a large number ofheterogeneous devices to dynamically join and leave the network. This enhances the availability of a diverse range of services provided by a network. However, this dynamic expansion of the network with mobile IoT devices introduces a major challenge to security especially, related to privacy and disclosure of classified or secret information. This is a problem that is incrediblyrelevant to the Navy. According to the 2018 Naval Research and Development Framework, cyber threats are evolving and proliferating at unprecedented rates; and with an increasingly interconnected force, full-spectrum cyber approaches must be developed to protect our networks, data, and information systems. With individual Warfighter use of IoT devices, this extends beyond official Naval systems, to the systems owned and operated by each individual Sailor and Marine. From the potential for Fitbits to provide geolocation data to foes, to web cameras sending unauthorized video from secure areas, there is a need for the Navy to educate their current and future workforce on these threats and ensure they have the research capacity necessary to combat such threats. To this end, there is a need to conduct research to understand the threat that IoTdevices pose to our Navy and Marine Corps, and to identify cyber approaches that can mitigate these threats across the full spectrum of operations. Further, as this is an area of science and technology that impacts the entire Naval workforce, especially those in STEM, there is a need to ensure that those entering the workforce have a solid understanding of IoT cybersecurity threats,as well as the research capacity to be able to support their organization, wherever that may be. The effort proposed herein aims to develop the research capacity of ROTC students in a multidisciplinary research program that (1) researches approaches for identifying IoT privacy violations, (2) researches and develops IoT privacy and security policies, and (3) conducts human use experimentation to examine the impact of such policy and approaches on human interaction with IoT devices. This effort aligns with three priority areas outlined in the Naval Research and Development Framework, including (a) Communications and Networking, (b) Sensors and Sensor Processing, (c) Machine Learning, Reasoning and Intelligence; and will develop the research capacity of ROTC students in these areas in two key ways. First, three ROTC students will serve as dedicated RAs to support the three main thrusts: (a) tactical cybersecurity defense, (b) strategic cybersecurity policies, and (c) human cybersecurity decision-making. Second, up to 50y leading to improved education and training outcomes and connections to military STEM careers. The result of this effort will be a more informed understanding of the threat that IoT devices pose to our Navy and Marine Corps, including approaches that can mitigate these threatsand deter conflict or win decisively and return safely (Naval Research and Development Framework, 2018). Further, this will help ensure that those entering the Naval STEM workforce have both a solid understanding of IoT cybersecurity threats, as well as the research capacity to be able to support their organization, across the full spectrum of operations..
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 31, 2020
- Source ID
- N000142012798
Entities
People
- Meredith Carroll
Organizations
- Florida Institute of Technology
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy