Last week I attended a multi-day meeting for the DARPA STAC program; I am the PI of a UMD-led team. STAC supports research to develop “Space/time Analysis for Cybersecurity.” More precisely, the goal is to develop tools that can analyze software to find exploitable side channels or denial-of-service attacks involving space usage or running time.
In general, DARPA programs focus on a very specific problem, and so are different from the NSF style of funded research that I’m used to, in which the problem, solution, and evaluation approach are proposed by each investigator. One of STAC’s noteworthy features is its use of engagements, during which research teams use their tools to find vulnerabilities in challenge problems produced by an independent red team. Our first engagement was last week, and I found the experience very compelling. I think that both the NSF style and the DARPA style have benefits, and it’s great that both styles are available.
This post talks about my experience with STAC so far. I discuss the interesting PL research challenges the program presents, the use of engagements, and the opportunities STAC’s organizational structure offers, when done right.