About Our Faculty - Srini

Outsmarting hackers

Imagine the adrenaline rush that comes with beating hackers at their own game. Now imagine how grateful company presidents would be if you could save them millions of dollars by enhancing the security of their wireless networks.

With more than 450 million mobile Internet users around the world, wireless security is a hot area for research and career opportunities. “It’s all about figuring out how hackers can break into networks, and then building robust intrusion detection and protection mechanisms to stop them,” explains Dr. Srini Sampalli, a researcher and professor in Dalhousie’s Faculty of Computer Science.

When hackers successfully infiltrate company networks, systems can crash. Downtime due to such attacks can cost companies hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue, according to a survey by the FBI and the Computer Security Institute. With so much money at stake, wireless security is a top priority.

Dr. Sampalli and his team of 10 students are working to create methods that will improve wireless network security. Specifically, they are working on applications, security and privacy for a new wave of technology called Radio Frequency Identification (RFID).

RFID involves tagging objects with electronic data so they can be read wirelessly. This simple technology has all kinds of applications – from anti-counterfeiting to airline baggage handling to patient tracking in hospitals. Dr. Sampalli and his team are working on security that will prevent cloning and modifying tags, and stealing information from tags, while also making information on tags unreadable.

As more and more wireless applications emerge in sectors like healthcare, education and the environment, the desire to protect and secure those applications also grows. “As researchers and students,” says Dr. Sampalli, “we need to rise to the challenge and determine the best practice for wireless security.”