The complexity of modern computing and communication systems and their use in supporting critical processes raise the question: Can we trust computers? The answer is inevitably related to the issue of technologies for system design and validation. We can trust computers insofar as they can be designed and validated to ensure their ability to avoid or prevent system failures and mask or withstand malicious attacks.

The thrust of our current work is to develop methods and tools for designing reliable and secure networked systems. Our projects encompass:
  1. Design and implementation of a software infrastructure for reliable and secure networked computing (ARMOR project),
  2. A reconfigurable embedded reliability and security engine (RSE),
  3. Validation, testing and diagnosis (NFTAPE project), and
  4. Measurement based characterization of dependability and security of networked systems, including LANs of commercial Windows and UNIX workstations and Internet hosts, and which provides both in-line error detection, recovery and masking of security vulnerabilities.

The research group, led by Prof. Ravi K. Iyer in the Center for Reliable and High-Performance Computing (CRHC) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has a long history of successful research in the area of design, measurement and evaluation of dependable computing and communication systems. The group has cooperated with many manufacturers including Tandem Computers, HP, IBM, Lucent Technologies, Sun Microsystems, Motorola, and Honeywell in developing design and evaluation tools and technologies for hardware and software dependability.

For more information on the projects contact iyer@crhc.uiuc.edu or kalbar@crhc.uiuc.edu.