Forrest
funded for ITR data mining project
An additional
large ITR award funded this year benefits the work of UNM Computer
Science Professor Stephanie Forrest. She is co-principal investigator
on a $12.5 million ITR award titled, Sensitive Information
in a Wired World, led by Stanford University Professor
Dan Boneh.
The goal
is to develop methods for data mining that respect and protect
individual rights, but allow law enforcement and legitimate
users to mine massive data sets. The research team will also
develop database tools that enforce privacy policies while managing
sensitive data and release tools for end-users to prevent identity
theft via spoofed or malicious websites.
The
research well be conducting at UNM focuses on two aspects,
Forrest said. In the past we have studied biologically
inspired methods for computer security. My role in the project
is to think about biologically inspired methods for protecting
data. In particular, one of the projects well be working
on involves privacy enhancing databases. The idea is to protect
the privacy of personal information stored in databases, while
still allowing legitimate activities such as epidemiological
studies or searches for potential terrorists.