SyNSec

Systems and Network Security Research Group at Penn State

Welcome to SyNSec Lab at Penn State! Our research focuses on improving the security and privacy of the design and software implementations of emerging networks and complex systems. We take a holistic approach to fundamentally enhance the security investigation of a system from the ground up, i.e., starting from analyzing designs, evaluating implementations, monitoring the runtime, and building verified/high-assurance defenses. As part of this process, we combine theory and practice by drawing inspiration from formal methods, program analysis, software testing, signal processing, and cryptography.

Our lab always strives to make practical impact on both academia and industry. For instance, the findings of our cellular network security work have led to a number of changes in the design of 4G and 5G cellular standards which have been down-streamed to every network operators and device vendors in the world. Because of high impact of this work, we have been inducted to the Hall of Fame Mobile Security Research by Global Systems for Mobile Association (GSMA), the trade body for network operators. The Federal Communication Council (FCC) has also  recognized our works highly influential for improving the security of 5G networks. Our works have been covered by more than 100+ media outlets worldwide, including the New York Times, Forbes, The Washington Post, ACM Technews, and MIT Technology Review. To foster future research and inspire the industries to adopt our technical innovations, we make our research tools publicly available.