Intel to Partner with Universities on Secure Computing

Intel's Authentication of the Future research project uses advanced authentication and user presence techniques to identify the user using cameras and other sensing devices and then affirms the user's identity to a remote service provider. (Intel Corp.)

Intel Corporation in Mountain View, California says it has an agreement with five universities to collaborate on research to improve secure computing for the end user. Partnering on its second Intel Science and Technology Center (ISTC) is University of California at Berkeley that will serve as the center’s host, and Carnegie Mellon, Drexel, Duke, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

In a company blog post, Intel engineer Rajiv Mathur says the new ISTC “is going to bat for the end-user, all of them not just the ones who are technical or motivated to actively manage their privacy and security.” Mathur says the center will be led by Berkeley computer scientist David Wagner and Intel senior engineer John Manferdelli.

The ISTC has sketched out a five-year program that covers making personal computers safer from malware, and securing mobile devices, both in terms of data protection for the individual.  Other objectives will be to make it safer to download data to devices, and the use of third party applications.

Researchers are also expected to address protection of personal data once they are distributed over the Web. Today people share their personal data over the Internet when signing up for a variety of services. End-users generally exert little to no control over their personal data once they’ve granted access to them; the new ISTC will look into ways to give people more control and make their data more secure.

Intel began its first ISTC in January 2011 to focus on visual computing. That center is hosted by Stanford University.

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