Lysecky and Rozenblit Use Automation to Prevent Cyberattacks

As the world becomes ever more technologically intertwined, so too does it become susceptible to new types of infiltration. These cyberattacks can harm the Internet-of-Things in a number of ways, from data theft to ransomware. Two ECE faculty are developing new strategies to mitigate future cyberattacks with the startup BG Networks. 

ECE professor emeritus Roman Lysecky and ECE distinguished professor Jerzy Rozenblit co-founded the startup to protect everything from autonomous vehicles to the power grid.

"Hundreds of thousands of bad actors are at work, and the United States has already seen its share of impactful attacks," said Lysecky.

UA researchers have developed a two-part technology – consisting of a Security Automation Tool and an Embedded Security Software Architecture – that allows engineers without cybersecurity backgrounds to implement complex security protocols to prevent such attacks. The team developed security automation tools that work with open-source software to allow engineers to add Internet-of-Things cybersecurity functions such as encryption, authentication and secure software updates to their systems quickly and efficiently.

Lysecky and Rozenblit developed the technology with graduate student researcher Aakarsh Rao, former graduate student researcher Nadir Carreon, and professor Johannes Sametinger of Joannes Kepler University Linz in Austria.

"Implementing cybersecurity has always been a complex feat," Lysecky said. "We've developed tools that enable engineers to much more easily and quickly include cybersecurity in their applications."