Philosophy

ICS research is motivated by the two big questions in cyber security:

What does it mean to be secure?

Modern cyber systems involve numerous stakeholders with different, and typically conflicting, security and privacy priorities. Reconciliation of these multiple priorities and allocation of costs, liability and recourse responsibilities is at best an art today. ICS seeks to develop the knowledge, insights and tools necessary to make this process more of a science.

How do we achieve the desired security?

Of equal priority is study of how to achieve the desired security by use of existing security technology where applicable and invention of new security technologies where needed. Progress on these two questions requires collaboration with researchers and practitioners in various application and technology domains. Collaboration is crucial to the ICS research agenda.