Research

I direct the ECE Computer Security Research Group (CSRG). My research area is a mix of fundamental and applied aspects of cybersecurity. I am currently interested in topics such as:

(1) Utilizing machine learning techniques for the purpose of cybersecurity such as: malware detection and automating access control and administration,

(2) Developing novel techniques for security and privacy enhanced machine learning,

(3) Automated cyber threat intelligence sharing and response, and

(4) Improving Android’s current permission model

See the projects that I work on below.

See my publications. Also, my Google Scholar Public Profile.

I am also a Research Faculty in the Institute for Cyber Security (ICS) at UTSA.

Research Projects

Current Projects:

  • Administration of Next Generation Access Control
    Principal Investigator: Ram Krishnan
    Co-Principal Investigator: Ravi Sandhu
    Sponsor: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), 2023-2026

  • Machine Learning Based Access Control Applied to Insider Threat Mitigation
    Principal Investigator: Ravi Sandhu
    Co-Principal Investigator: Ram Krishnan
    Sponsor: Cisco Research, 2023

  • Cross-Layer Adaptive Access Controls for Resilient Systems
    Principal Investigator: Ravi Sandhu
    Co-Principal Investigator: Ram Krishnan
    Sponsor: The MITRE Corporation, 2023

  • CREST Center for Security and Privacy Enhanced Cloud Computing (C-SPECC)
    Principal Investigator: Ravi Sandhu
    Co-Principal Investigators: Nicole Beebe, Guadalupe Carmona, Ram Krishnan, Jeff Prevost
    Sponsor: National Science Foundation, 2017-2024

Completed Projects:

  1. CAREER: Group-Centric Secure Information Sharing – Models, Properties, and Implementation
    Principal Investigator: Ram Krishnan
    Sponsor: National Science Foundation, 2016-2022

  2. Towards Multi-Tenancy Security Capabilities for Applications in Cloud Platforms
    Principal Investigator: Ram Krishnan
    Key Personnel: Ravi Sandhu
    Sponsor: U.S. Army Research Office, 2015-2019

  3. Attribute Based Access Control for Cloud Infrastructure as a Service
    Principal Investigator: Ram Krishnan
    Co-Principal Investigator: Ravi Sandhu
    Sponsor: National Science Foundation, 2014-2018

  4. Identity and Access Control in the Physical and Virtual Internet of Things
    Principal Investigator: Ravi Sandhu
    Co-Principal Investigator: Ram Krishnan
    Sponsor: The MITRE Corporation and The University of Maryland, 2016

  5. Design and Implementation of Cybersecurity Risk Metrics for Cloud Based IT Infrastructure
    Principal Investigator: Ram Krishnan
    Co-Principal Investigator: Ravi Sandhu
    Sponsor: LMI Research Institute, 2015-2016

  6. Enhancing Situational Awareness for Emergency Response Using Social Media Provenance
    Principal Investigator: Ram Krishnan
    Co-Principal Investigator: Jae Park
    Sponsor: LMI Research Institute , 2014-2015

  7. Secure Information Sharing Models for Cyber Response Teams
    Principal Investigator: Ram Krishnan
    Co-Principal Investigator: Ravi Sandhu
    Sponsor: LMI Research Institute, 2013-2014

  8. Design of a Curriculum on Building Security Services in the Cloud
    Principal Investigator: Ram Krishnan
    Co-Principal Investigator: Ravi Sandhu
    Sponsor: Intel Corporation, 2013-2014