2 / 7
Cybersecurity Lab
Vahid Heydari, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Computer Science, Rowan University
Director of Rowan Center for Cybersecurity Education and Research (CCER)
Faculty Advisor of Rowan Cybersecurity Club
Education:
Ph.D., Computer Engineering, University of Alabama in Huntsville
M.S., Cybersecurity, University of Alabama in Huntsville
Research Interests:
Moving Target Defenses, IPv6 Security, Mobile and Wireless Networks Security, and Wireless Networks Analysis and Simulation.
Courses Taught:
Practical Aspects of Cybersecurity (CS 01395), Advanced Cyber Security: Principles and Applications (CS 07551), Operating Systems (CS 04390), Computer Forensics (CS 07595), Cyber Security: Fundamentals, Principles and Applications (CS 07351).
Contact:
Email: heydari@rowan.edu Phone: 856-256-4500 x53548
Address: Department of Computer Science, Robinson Hall, 3rd Floor, 201 Mullica Hill Road, Glassboro, NJ 08028
Ongoing Research
Internet-Controlled Systems
- Internet-controlled systems employ various healthcare, military, and Industrial applications. The strength of this approach lies in the fact that this type of remote control can be done from an unlimited distance through the Internet. In addition, simplifying communication is another advantage based on leveraging Internet Protocol (IP) as a mature method with a large number of off-the-shelf applications. Remote control system of an airplane, an uninterruptible autopilot system, is one of the Internet-controlled systems' applications that can be used in emergency events like terrorist attempts hijacking an aircraft. Besides all of its advantages, an important drawback of this system is the potential for cyber-terrorists to hack into an aircraft's control system. In this project, we are working on a framework for building a secure and private peer to peer communication to combat remote cyber-attacks by thwarting any potential attacks at their reconnaissance stage.
Security and Privacy of Wearable Medical Devices
- Digital connectivity is fundamental for the health care system to deliver safe and effective care. However, insecure connectivity could be a major threat to patient safety and privacy (e.g. on August 2017, FDA recalled 465,000 pacemakers because of discovering security flaws). Although connecting a patient’s pacemaker to the Internet has many advantages for monitoring the patient, this connectivity opens a new door for cyber-attackers to steal the patient data or even control the pacemaker or damage it. Therefore, patients are forced to choose between connectivity and security. This research work presents a framework for secure and private communications between wearable medical devices and patient monitoring systems. The primary objective of this research is twofold, first to identify and analyze the communication vulnerabilities, second, to develop a framework for combating unauthorized access to data through the compromising of computer security.
Secure PLC
- Critical infrastructure including electricity distribution, water treatment, petroleum refining, etc., is the backbone of our nation's economy, security, and health. Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems perform key functions in controlling industrial systems. A SCADA system includes two main components, a Human Machine Interface (HMI) and Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs). HMI is a user interface for signaling and controlling the state of the system. PLC is directly connected to the physical infrastructure through sensors and actuators. The SCADA system uses a client/server communication model in which the HMI is the client that continually sends write and read commands to the PLC that is the server. In this way, the HMI can send control parameters or read sensor measurements and the state of the PLC program. Cyber-attacks on such infrastructure can cause loss of life, threaten public safety/national security, or impact environmental disasters. In this research, we use a Moving Target Defense (MTD) method which changes the IP addresses of the HMI and the PLC to defeat remote cyber-attacks.
Anti-Censorship Framework
- Over the past decade, the widespread access to the Internet has led to significant changes in the way people live. The power of having information that can be readily accessed via a computer or a mobile device has prompted never-before-seen rate of advances in science, technology, and cultural transformations. Though some may also argue the downsides of the Internet, it has enabled all communities around the globe to come much closer together than ever before. Unfortunately, the freedom to access information, which is considered a basic human right, is not protected for some people in various parts of the world today. Freedom of information is key to a free, democratic society. In addition to fueling the transformations as described above, it symbolizes a fundamental struggle towards the betterment of mankind. Through the use of technology, it is possible to combat censorship, and help people from all around the globe access information that can ultimately help them reach their potential in all areas of science, technology, digital culture, etc. This research work presents a framework through which web servers can combat censorship. The primary objective is to develop a framework for combating censorship, which makes it too expensive and impractical for the adversary to censor targeted websites without completely cutting off the Internet resources co-located with the web servers in question.