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Introduction

Security at Rice University is something that very few people know about. I've set out to find out how security is managed using computers at Rice. This course is derived from Comp 527: Computer Systems Security, taught by Dr. Dan Wallach. Dr. Wallach is currently my advisor for this course.

In Computer Systems Security, we had two projects: hack a voting machine and do an independent research project. Hacking a voting machine was easy (it was a fake voting machine that wasn't particular secured in the first place). The independent research project was fun: it really drove home the security principles we learned about in class.

Wireless Locks at Martel College

I partnered with Christopher Warrington, a fellow student, in Computer Systems Security to research the security of the new wireless locks at Martel College, my residential college (not a dorm). We gave a presentation of our findings as part of our final in the course. I've continued the research and formatted the paper we wrote for the research project as a technical report. I'm currently in the process of informing the appropriate people of our results.

Due to the nature of our report, it will not be released until after the manufacturer has had time to see the report and implement some of the important recommendations in it. More information is available in Wireless Locks.

Future research

My research after I release the report on the wireless locks at Martel isn't yet determined. I'm considering investigating the following:

Tetra Points

Rice students have Tetra Points which they can spend on extra meals, coffee, snacks, etc. Using these points is very similar to using a debit card. I'd like to investigate the network traffic for this system.

Meal Plans

Closely related to Rice's Tetra Points is the meal plan system. Students swipe their cards on the same devices that are used for Tetra Point transactions and the device reports whether students are allowed to get food or not. (All campus serveries are all-you-can-eat.)

Collaborative Research Center

Rice is building a research facility with close ties to the Texas Medical Center called the Collaborative Research Center. The security here may be similar to the security on campus, or it may be a completely new system. I'd like to investigate what type of physical security they intend to implement (relating to computers and computer science) and see just how secure it really is.

ID Card Access at Rice

Aside from the wireless locks at Martel, most outer doors on campus can be opened by swiping a Rice ID in a magnetic stripe reader next to the door. I'd like to see how secure the communication is between these readers and the remote server that authorizes people to enter.