CHENNAI : Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) is partnering with IDBI Bank to launch a cybersecurity Lab to develop and deploy security solutions in crucial sectors such as healthcare, fintech and aerospace, among others.

The lab will focus on creating market-ready IPs in cybersecurity, productization and commercialization of research work, especially for mobile technologies.

The ‘IDBI – IITM Secure Systems Lab’ (I2SSL) was inaugurated at IIT Madras campus today (31st July 2024) by Mr. Rakesh Sharma, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, IDBI Bank, in presence of Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, Shri Saumya Chaudhuri, CGM, IDBI Bank, Shri Manjunath Pai, CGM and Zonal Head- Chennai Zone, IDBI Bank, Prof. Mahesh Panchagnula, Dean (Alumni and Corporate Relations), IIT Madras, Dr. Chester Rebeiro, Principal Investigator, IDBI – IITM Secure Systems Lab (I2SSL), IIT Madras, Mr. Kaviraj Nair, CEO, Office of Institutional Advancement, IIT Madras, faculty, research and students.

With the rapid growth of Internet connectivity and automation, many critical sectors such as Banking, Finance and Insurance, Transportation, Government, Power and Energy, Telecom, and Strategic and Public Enterprises, depend considerably on Information and Communication Technologies. This has led to an explosion of cyber-attacks on these infrastructures, by hackers.

This lab would focus on cybersecurity in systems deployed in industries such as banking, automotive, power and telecommunications, among others, and undertake experimental evaluation and assessment exercises. The researchers would also develop test cases for testing, carry out vulnerability research, and help devise hardening guidelines. It would help Enterprise Systems in managing cybersecurity risks in real-time.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Rakesh Sharma, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, IDBI Bank, said, “We are delighted to partner with IITM for setting up the cybersecurity laboratory. This initiative is a testament to IDBI Bank’s commitment to proactively combating cyber threats and ensuring the security of data and information. We are optimistic that through such initiatives, we can together enhance our ability to anticipate, identify, and neutralize potential threats building a more secure environment for all.”

Addressing the launch event, Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, said, “Finance sector being a critical information infrastructure that forms the foundation of the economy of our Country is facing increasing number of cybersecurity challenges on a day-to-day basis. It is very important to continuously keep studying the threat landscape and come out with effective proactive protection mechanisms. This joint effort between IIT Madras and IDBI is very timely and we aspire to comprehensively address the security challenge.”

The ‘IDBI – IITM Secure Systems Lab’ (I2SSL) will work on Secure Systems Engineering. Through this lab, the researchers aim to design and implement solutions that address security concerns from a holistic end-to-end perspective, ranging from fundamental problems in theory to practical system building to exploiting leakages and mounting implementation­-based attacks to lab would provide a platform for research students and would foster cybersecurity thinking in undergrads with the help of online programs, capture the flags (CTFs), hackathons, and projects.

The I2SSL, IIT Madras, plans to ingeniously design systems for critical applications such as hardware firewalls, point-of-sale devices, and mobile banking. Security would be achieved using memory safe languages, tagged architectures that provide fine grained access control, memory encryption, and in ingeniously developed Trusted Platform Module (TPM).

The Researchers also aim to create an online forum that would facilitate Al-based malware analysis. The forum would offer datasets of malware runtime behaviour facilitating students and researchers to study the malware execution behaviour. They would look into Linux, Windows, as well as Mobile malware.

Further, I2SSL will also work on developing tools for automated security evaluation. The researchers aim to develop tools for binary analysis that could facilitate the discovery of ‘Zero-Day Vulnerabilities’ and other security threats in devices, especially mobile applications. They would work towards standardization and certification for device security, especially for mobile and embedded systems.

In the area of Cryptography, researchers will work towards developing hardware accelerators for crypto-primitives including symmetric and asymmetric-key cryptography as well as post-quantum cryptography. The implementations would meet the standards set by cryptography and are also side-channel resistant. These accelerators would be implemented in a Trusted Platform Module that would form the root of trust for computing in multiple sectors including banking and finance, automotive and defence.