Science of Security VO

Virtually every computing system today is at risk from some form of cyber attack. The problem continues to grow in scope, in part because there does not exist today a foundational science of security. While the community is certainly making improvements in the security of many systems, progress is often ad-hoc, muddled, and difficult to measure with respect to actual progress being made. A broad-spectrum science of security is desperately needed at this time and would involve a systematic gathering of knowledge, new theoretical approaches, observational research, experimental research, and more. Certain subfields of security have a strong scientific basis (e.g., cryptography, formal methods), but there is no comprehensive scientific basis for constructing systems that are trustworthy by design. The lack of a disciplined and rigorous scientific basis profoundly limits our ability to design, deploy, and trust most large-scale and cyber-physical systems (CPS). Therefore, it is the goal of the CPS-VO Science of Security Group to provide a vehicle for community awareness, collaboration, and information towards the maturing of the scientific basis for security.