Blind Communication

Multi-owner systems such as power grids need information from all parties to operate effectively whereas lack of information from neighboring domains may lead to cascading events in the system. In such large-scale systems, information sharing is generally limited to minimum levels by market and other non-technical constraints. In this project, we propose blind communication, a novel communication approach for entities that compete with each other but need to cooperate for the overall good of the system, to improve data sharing. The goal in blind communication is to establish a secure communication channel, which is concealed even from root processes. The sensitive data will be transmitted through the shielded channel to be used in computations whose outcome is rendered only to a dedicated user or process.

People:

• Mehmet H. Gunes (University of Nevada, Reno)
• Hakan Kardes (University of Nevada, Reno)
• Jeffrey Naruchitparames (University of Nevada, Reno)

Publications:

• Mehmet H. Gunes "Blind Communication", IEEE INFOCOM 2010 - Work in Progress (submitted).
  
  Abstract: In general, multi-owner systems need information from all parties to operate efficiently. However, in systems such as power networks, information sharing is limited by market and other constraints. In this paper, we propose blind communication, a novel communication approach for entities that compete with each other but need to cooperate for the overall good of the system. Our goal is to allow information exchange between system components with protection mechanisms against everyone including system administrators. Shielding information will prevent gaining access to the sensitive data while providing a complete picture of the whole system. Such a secure communication mechanism can be provided by employing the functionality of Trusted Computing, a security technology that utilizes hardware and software modules to improve the trustworthiness of a system.
  
  

  Last Updated on Oct 15, 2009.