The mission of the Darwin Deason Institute for Cyber Security is to advance the science, policy, and application of cyber security through basic problem-driven, interdisciplinary research. The Institute is committed to the goal of emerging as a world-class cyber security research center that innovates, develops, and delivers solutions to the nation’s most challenging cyber security problems.

The Institute is actively engaged with both the private and public sectors in a variety of basic research and problem-driven research activities in the program areas of hardware and network security engineering; software and systems security; economics and social sciences; and policy and law. The goal of basic research is to achieve fundamental breakthroughs in the science of cybersecurity. The Institute takes a longer-term view with the objective of making key advances in the creation of a national-scale hacker-resistant information infrastructure whereas problem-driven research projects seek solutions to hard problems of a near-term nature.

The Institute is engaged with many corporations seeking research solutions to exceedingly difficult and complex cybersecurity problems. This class of research represents a win-win, such that the corporations receive solutions to problems that make a difference to their operations, while Institute researchers (faculty, post-doctoral and student) receive satisfaction that their solutions are making a difference in today’s information-centric environment.