'Digital ants' protect computer networks
The digital ants team: professors Errin Fulp (standing) and Kenneth Berenhaut (second from left) and students Ross Hilton, Jacob White and Michael Crouse.
As the nation’s electrical power grid becomes more interconnected through the Internet — from the nuclear power plant in California to transmission lines in Texas to the microwave in your kitchen — the chances of cyber attacks increase as well. Professor of Computer Science Errin Fulp is training an army of “digital ants” to turn loose into the power grid to seek out computer viruses trying to wreak havoc on the system.
If the approach proves successful in safeguarding the power grid, it could have wide-ranging applications on protecting anything connected to SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) networks, computer systems that control everything from water and sewer management systems to mass transit systems to manufacturing systems. Read more
Categories: Faculty News
