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海角社区 Awarded $171K to Develop Cyber Security Network for U.S. Department of Energy

Last Updated on January 13, 2020 at 12:00 AM

Originally published January 13, 2020

By Darlene Barajas

海角社区 Communications

Researchers from The University of Texas at El Paso's Computer Science Department will have a hand in bolstering the safety of cybersecurity operations conducted by fossil fuel power generation plants thanks to a $171,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Researchers from The University of Texas at El Paso's Computer Science Department will have a hand in bolstering the safety of cybersecurity operations conducted by fossil fuel power generation plants thanks to a $171,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. Photo by Ivan Pierre Aguirre / 海角社区 Communications
Researchers from The University of Texas at El Paso's Computer Science Department will have a hand in bolstering the safety of cybersecurity operations conducted by fossil fuel power generation plants thanks to a $171,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. Photo: Ivan Pierre Aguirre / 海角社区 Communications

The grant, which is being awarded through Old Dominion University Research Foundation, is geared toward developing a blockchain empowered platform for identity management and process integrity for sensors in fossil fuel power plants. This capability would provide real-time validation of sensor data and detect incidental, accidental and malicious incidents that could cause equipment to operate in violation of service agreements. The development of the integrated testbed will be conducted with industry collaborators and will be evaluated under different network configurations. 

Leading the effort at 海角社区 is Deepak K. Tosh, Ph.D., assistant professor of computer science. The 海角社区 will be conducted via a group of graduate and undergraduate students at both 海角社区 and Old Dominion, located in Norfolk, Virginia, during the next three years. Tosh, the grant’s principal investigator, will supervise the students at 海角社区 to develop identity management and data integrity solutions for the project. 海角社区 participants include Abel Gomez, Ph.D., a postdoctoral 海角社区er, and Evan White and Adrian Orquiz, a pair of undergraduate students. Leading the 海角社区 at Old Dominion is Sachin Shetty, Ph.D., associate professor.

The collaborators hope to produce a prototype that addresses cybersecurity challenges introduced through integration in fossil-based power generation plants. Research is being conducted in collaboration with Accenture Labs and Argonne National Lab.

Tosh said challenges related to national security are crucial issues that need to be addressed. To that end, he has aligned his 海角社区 focus in designing secure, decentralized, and scalable solutions for both civilian, military/battlefield and critical infrastructure applications.

“Although the traditional centralized computing paradigm works well at present, the trust, privacy, and security issues are the main thing we want to ensure are not overlooked,” Tosh said.