ICSI and UC San Diego Open Center for Internet Epidemiology and Defenses

September 21, 2004

With funding from the National Science Foundation's Cybertrust Program, researchers at ICSI and UC San Diego will open a new Center for Internet Epidemiology and Defenses (CIED). The center, led by Stefan Savage of UC San Diego and Vern Paxson of ICSI, aims to combat epidemic-style attacks on the Internet.

The Center will work toward understanding how the Internet's open communications and software vulnerabilities permit worms and viruses to propagate, designing a global-scale early warning system to automatically detect epidemics in their early tages, devising forensics capabilities for analyzing wide-ranging infections, and developing techniques and devices that can suppress outbreaks before they reach pandemic proportions.

In addition to the prevention of Internet attacks, the Center will encourage the growth of the emerging field of "Internet epidemiology" through outreach and education, encouraging students to pursue degrees and careers in cybersecurity.

More Information:

• R ead the Press Release on UC San Diego's website
• Read the National Science Foundation Press Release
• Download the September 2004 ICSI Gazette, which features CIED on pages 4-5

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