Darwin Deason Institute secures $2.7 million grant to revolutionize cybersecurity testing

DALLAS (SMU)—Mitch Thornton, Executive Director of the Darwin Deason Institute for Cybersecurity and Cecil H. Green Chair of Engineering at SMU, has been awarded a $2.7 million federal grant to lead innovative research in autonomous systems testing, establishing SMU as a leader against emerging cybersecurity threats in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.

Under Thornton's leadership, SMU Lyle School of Engineering's Deason Institute performs interdisciplinary research to evaluate and mitigate the nation's most challenging cybersecurity concerns. The research project aims to leverage complex digital twin technology to identify cyber vulnerabilities in artificial intelligence- and machine-learning-powered autonomous systems.

Harnessing SMU Lyle's Cyber-Autonomy Range (CAR), an innovative multi-layered digital testing environment developed to identify cyber vulnerabilities in autonomous systems, researchers with the Deason Institute will be testing a variety of robots and artificial intelligence/machine learning devices for resilience against emerging cybersecurity threats.

With this grant, researchers at Lyle will build a virtual version—called a digital twin—of a real-world testing site. This digital model will let them run experiments in a computer instead of having to set up equipment in real life, which normally takes a lot of time and money. By doing this, they can test ideas much faster and more efficiently, without needing as many people or physical resources.

In leveraging digital twin technology, researchers will gain insight into which devices fall short of strict safety criteria. For systems with identified vulnerabilities in cyberinfrastructure, Lyle researchers will focus on increasing resilience and safety, bolstering the technology against cyber threats. Autonomous systems that withstand the thorough testing battery at SMU will be given the green light for physical testing in a controlled facility, allowing collaborators to promptly identify weak systems and focus their efforts towards optimizing promising devices.

"With the increasing emergence of autonomous systems—like unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and robots—it's really important that we make sure that these electronics are safe," Thornton emphasized. "Like all new technology, we are concerned about cyber vulnerabilities and the threat of cyber-attacks, because we don't want these systems to do damage or harm people."

As machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities continue to increase, this advancement brings about novel and complex threats to cybersecurity. The evolving technological landscape underscores the importance of rigorous safety testing as one of the most paramount concerns.

"As we navigate an entirely new class of threats to cybersecurity, far beyond the malware and viruses we're used to, our project increases Lyle's expertise in autonomy, robots, and digital twin technology to prioritize safety," Thornton explained.

This project represents a vital step forward in the development of safe and secure AI-powered technology, establishing the Institute and the Lyle community as leaders in the next generation of cybersecurity research and engineering progress.

About SMU

SMU is the nationally ranked teaching and research university in the dynamic city of Dallas, and a member of the prestigious Atlantic Coast Conference. SMU's alumni, faculty and more than 12,000 students in eight degree-granting schools demonstrate an entrepreneurial spirit as they lead change in their professions, communities and the world.

Provided by Southern Methodist University