It is widely agreed upon that a substantial part of programming errors and inconsistencies can be caught through strong typing and type checking. A few proposals have been made to exploit the benefits of strong typing for the validation of untrusted code. Typically, these proposals present type systems for Java byte code and then show how the well-typing of a piece of byte code implies certain security properties. The project is ideally suited for a student with interests in the theory and practice of programming languages and security. Formal modeling and analysis of mobile communication protocols The theory and practice of the automatic analysis of protocols has made a lot of progress in the past few years.
Expressive notations facilitate the modeling of protocols.
Powerful tools using efficient algorithms greatly simplify the analysis and allow the discovery of subtle bugs that escape analyses based on inspection or testing. Designers are faced with the challenge of developing protocols that realize communication and networking in the presence of mobility. In this project, the student will formalize and analyze mobile communication protocols using existing academic and commercial tools. Cooperation with Dr Hassanein's group is possible and encouraged. This project is suited for students with interests in networking and protocol design and analysis.