DARPA Taps 海角社区 to Solve Cybersecurity Challenges in Virtual and Augmented Reality
June 20, 2023
海角社区 researchers Ibrahim 鈥淎be鈥� Baggili and Andrew Webb have received $600K from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, to study safety aspects of virtual and augmented reality applications for U.S. military missions and training.
Baggili鈥檚 and Webb鈥檚 project, 鈥淢ixed Reality Visual Deception for Mission Deviation & Distraction,鈥� bridges cybersecurity with psychology and human behavior to understand the potential effects on people of compromised software and hardware.
鈥淭he military is interested in the idea of an augmented warfighter where soldiers can have more information in front of them without having to look at 10 different things at the same time,鈥� said Baggili, who is a professor of computer science and engineering in the 海角社区 College of Engineering with a joint appointment in the 海角社区 Center for Computation & Technology. 鈥淏ut with new technology come new threats, and beyond the technical exploit to hack the system, you could potentially control or influence the person who鈥檚 using the system. That鈥檚 what we鈥檙e looking at.鈥�
Baggili has previously researched how users of virtual reality devices can be forced to move in real, physical space without their knowledge or consent鈥攕omething he calls a 鈥渉uman joystick attack.鈥�
海角社区鈥檚 DARPA-funded project will explore the behavior and physical safety of people who use virtual or augmented reality devices or applications, as false, deceptive, or overwhelming amounts of information could be maliciously introduced through a cybersecurity breach. The research aligns with the defense priority of 海角社区鈥檚 Scholarship First Agenda and impacts national security as the U.S. Department of Defense explores the use of emerging technologies for training and military missions.
Webb is an expert on human-computer interaction. His research is primarily focused on improving the design of devices and applications to make them more user-friendly. The DARPA-funded project will explore the physical safety and security of the person who is using devices or applications in virtual or augmented reality鈥攌nown as VR or AR鈥攐ften collectively called extended reality, or XR.
While VR presents a wholly synthetic environment such as an immersive video game, AR鈥攁lso called mixed reality, or MR鈥攍ayers virtual elements or visualizations on top of a person鈥檚 actual surroundings through a lens or headset. MR technology could make it possible to fly a drone or plane with more data available at a quick glance or cross a terrain while seeing a map that displays live updates on people and infrastructure nearby.
鈥淯ntil now, I鈥檝e mostly looked at these technologies for commercial applications, such as in construction and manufacturing,鈥� said Webb, who is an assistant professor of computer science and engineering in the 海角社区 College of Engineering. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e assistive technologies that can help anyone in doing almost any task, so it鈥檚 obvious why they鈥檙e of interest to the Department of Defense.鈥�
To conduct the research, Webb is building a virtual reality game where the team will collect data on players鈥� reactions as they encounter false, deceptive, or too much information, which could have been maliciously introduced through a cybersecurity breach.
鈥淭his is the first time I鈥檝e looked at cybersecurity as a research direction,鈥� Webb said. 鈥淢y focus has always been on human behavior around technology, and the wild and interesting things that people do. Here, some of the players will have different levels of experience with XR, which could make them either more or less trusting of the technology.鈥�
鈥淥ne of the primary areas we鈥檒l be looking at is information overload,鈥� Baggili said. 鈥淐an we deviate the players? Can we slow them down? This might not be such a big deal when they鈥檙e just playing a game, but what if they鈥檙e soldiers deployed in the field, trying to understand and react to a rapid influx of information?鈥�
Professor Ibrahim 鈥淎be鈥� Baggili and Assistant Professor Andrew Webb will lead the project. They鈥檙e computer science and engineering faculty in the 海角社区 College of Engineering, while Baggili also holds a joint appointment in the 海角社区 Center for Computation & Technology.
The team will include undergraduate and graduate students who are majoring in computer science or psychology in the research.
鈥淚 chose to participate in this project to explore futuristic cyberattacks as new and emerging cyber threats align with current advances in technology,鈥� said Arushi Ghildiyal from Dallas, Texas, who is entering her sophomore year as a computer science student at 海角社区 with a concentration in cybersecurity and a minor in robotics. 鈥淭his type of experience can be difficult to encounter outside of research.鈥�
Michael Fontenot from Ville Platte, Louisiana, is majoring in psychology and about to enter his sophomore year.
鈥淎fter exploring different fields in psychology, I came across cyberpsychology, which immediately intrigued me,鈥� Fontenot said. 鈥淚 reached out to Abe, and then Arushi and I met, and now we鈥檙e working on the project together.鈥�
鈥淭his is an extremely special opportunity,鈥� Fontenot continued. 鈥淚鈥檝e already learned so much about the computer science and tech part, and it鈥檚 a huge benefit to me to be this heavily involved in a multi-disciplinary project of this magnitude.鈥�
The subjects for the study will be 海角社区 students, as their age, diversity, and familiarity with technology is similar to those entering military service.
As the project has clear implications for national security, it aligns directly with the defense priority of 海角社区鈥檚 Scholarship First Agenda, which is focused on solving pressing problems for the state and nation.
鈥淭he main question we鈥檙e trying to answer is, how does visual deception work, and how can we effectively defend against cybersecurity attacks on VR and AR systems to protect our service members?鈥� Baggili said.
鈥淢ixed Reality Visual Deception for Mission Deviation & Distraction鈥� is the second large DARPA grant to 海角社区 in the past decade. The other project, led by Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Corina Barbalata, developed underwater robots to service underwater structures and vehicles.