Koushanfar wins ‘Internet of Things’ security challenge

Farinaz Koushanfar

A security initiative by Rice electrical and computer engineer Farinaz Koushanfar and her colleague at Cornell University is among four winners of this year’s Cisco Security Grand Challenge.

The global competition addresses security-related problems and opportunities presented by the “Internet of Things,” an expansion of Internet services expected to incorporate wearable devices, kitchen appliances, vehicles, health care and more in the coming decades.

Koushanfar, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, is co-principal investigator on the project led by Cornell Tech Professor Ari Juels to develop physical proof-of-presence protocols for transient connections. Their solution incorporates a rigorous cryptographic protocol that allows for “trust” relationships between devices that may only have momentary proximity, like passing cars or radio-frequency identification tags passing in and out of reader fields.

The Rice-Cornell team won one of four $75,000 prizes and competed with more than 100 other teams.