The UK Government will support UNSW Sydney researchers to leverage their world-leading cybersecurity technology to protect critical computer systems from cyberattacks.
The UK’s National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) will fund UNSW Engineering’s Trusted Systems research group to advance the development of seL4 microchannel technology – the most advanced cybersecurity technology. world.
Scientia Professor Gernot Heiser, who leads the Trustworthy Systems team that invented the technology, said the NCSC has been evaluating seL4 for some time now and is working with their defense industry partners to implement it in other areas. real-world computer systems.
Besides being used in many civilian applications, seL4 has been used by the UK government and other countries,” said Prof. Heiser.
“NCSC is funding us to accelerate seL4 adoption and deployment for more complex IT systems, beyond the embedded devices we are targeting so far.”
Trustworthy Systems’ pioneering seL4 technology, when integrated into the core of a computer’s operating system, provides bulletproof isolation between computer programs, thus preventing an affected component from entering Other components.
Scientia professor Gernot Heiser leads the Trusted Systems team that invented the seL4 microchannel technology. Photo: UNSW Sydney
In another show of faith in technology, the NCSC also joined this year’s sel4 Foundation, set up by Trustworthy Systems in 2020 to direct and coordinate the standardized development of source code technologies. open seL4. Professor Heiser is the President of the seL4 Foundation.
In a statement, the NCSC said funding UNSW to carry out this project will significantly boost seL4’s capabilities, performance, and future assurance across a wide range of modern processors and systems. . They say its development plays an important role in the next generation of high-security equipment.
Professor Heiser says that governments and organizations around the world can benefit from the seL4 microchannel, to protect a wide range of critical systems and infrastructure.
“Everything we do is open source, which means it is freely available to everyone, including NCSC-funded work. The entire seL4 community will benefit,” he said.
The Trustworthy Systems team is also conducting research with the United Arab Emirates and Swiss technology company Neutral, among others, to implement the seL4 microchannel in specific applications, including including mobile phones, drones, Internet of Things devices, and protecting humanitarian organizations from cyberattacks.
Professor Heiser said he was pleased to receive international support for his research and its use in real-world systems. “It accelerates technology and will enable the strongest possible cybersecurity for our critical infrastructure and organizations large and small.”
