The National Science Foundation has awarded $76 million in research grants to 241 projects across 36 states and 129 institutions in an effort to study the scientific, engineering and socio-technical aspects of cybersecurity.Projects under the Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace program will explore aspects such as hardware, software, network security and human incentives and behaviors, NSF said Nov. 30.
“No solution for securing cyberspace is complete without the integration of research that examines how people — from the users of internet commerce to the attackers who endanger networks — behave in the complicated systems that constitute the internet,” said Fay Lomax Cook, NSF’s assistant director for social, behavioral and economic sciences.
SaTC works to support computer science and engineering research as well as emphasize fundamental mathematics at the core of cybersecurity, NSF noted.
The program also highlights the need for sociotechnical methods that consider human, social, organizational and economic factors that affect systems and infrastructure creation, maintenance and operations, NSF added.
SaTC awards include $3 million grants each for three projects that will investigate the relationship between the Internet of Things and humans; the development of secure hardware; and cryptographic techniques to boost privacy.
Various SaTC projects involve collaboration with industry through the Secure, Trustworthy, Assured and Resilient Semiconductors and Systems joint effort of NSF and the Semiconductor Research Corporation.
The awards are part of NSF’s $160 million overall investment in cybersecurity research for the government’s current 2016Â fiscal year.
