Cyber Physical Researcher

Internet of Things devices, critical infrastructure, and sensor and communication systems all have one thing in common: they interface the digital and physical domains. The Cyber-Physical Systems Group conducts research to understand the cybersecurity implications of these physical interfaces and use the results of our research to develop prototypes that serve as pathfinders for future technological solutions.

 

The Cyber Physical Systems Group tackles key problems in the convergence of cybersecurity and the physical world in an interdisciplinary research and development environment. We focus on developing new capabilities in the areas of hardware security and cyber-EW for the DoD, intelligence community, and federal agencies.  Key technology development thrusts include novel sensors, testbed development and introspection, and unconventional methods of system exploitation.

 

Successful candidates will work with a multidisciplinary team in one of the following areas: Hardware Security Researcher, RF Analyst/Engineer, or Reverse Engineering and Vulnerability Researcher.  Candidates should have interest in the inter-disciplinary nature of the cyber-physical problem space and be willing to develop new expertise in the pursuit of solving unconventional problems.

 

The roles and capabilities are described below for each of the focus areas:  

 

Hardware Security Researcher (HWSR) will focus on analyzing and prototyping capabilities to defend national security electronics from the insertion of malicious logic via compromised design and fabrication processes by prototyping novel sensors and technologies that interact across the cyber and electromagnetic domains.  The scope of hardware security research and development activities includes developing and assessing novel hardware design analysis and sensing techniques, advanced circuit obfuscation techniques, and hardware evaluation techniques. 

 

Demonstrated capabilities in the following areas are highly desired in this area:

• Thorough understanding of computing architecture design, instruction-set architectures, and operating-system internals
• Familiarity with digital logic workflows for both field-programmable gate arrays (FGPAs) and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs)
• Familiarity with cybersecurity problems and the role of hardware in enforcing security properties of cyber systems
• Proficiency in VERILOG or VHDL

 

RF Analyst Engineer (RFAE) will develop novel capabilities analyzing and exploiting cyber-physical systems.  You will leverage your expertise in RF systems toward demonstrating and assessing unexpected attack vectors, emulating potential attacker behaviors and capabilities, analyzing RF spectra, and developing novel defensive techniques for DoD and other government systems. The operational convergence of cyber warfare and electronic warfare, known as Cyber-EW, offers exciting opportunities to innovate and create new cyber-physical technologies at the seam between computer security and electromagnetics. 

 

Demonstrated capabilities in the following areas are highly desired in this area:

• Low-level embedded system programming such as C
• Thorough understanding of cybersecurity technical challenges especially as they relate to sensors, emitters, controllers, and embedded systems
• Proficiency with software defined radios (SDRs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and Linux development environments
• Proficiency in machine learning techniques/AI
• Proficiency in VERILOG or VHDL

 

Reverse Engineering and Vulnerability Researcher (REVR) will develop novel capabilities against cyber-physical systems.  The scope of your work in cyber-physical research and development will include demonstrating and assessing unexpected attack vectors, emulating potential attacker behaviors and capabilities, and developing novel defensive techniques for DoD and other government systems. The operational convergence of cyber warfare and electronic warfare, known as Cyber-EW, offers exciting opportunities to innovate and create new cyber-physical technologies at the seam between computer security and electromagnetics. 

 

Demonstrated capabilities in the following areas are highly desired in this area:

• Low-level embedded system programming such as C
• OS kernel and/or driver development
• Experience with uncommon architectures and embedded systems
• Thorough understanding of cybersecurity technical challenges especially as they relate to sensors, emitters, controllers, and embedded systems
• Proficiency with software defined radios (SDRs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and Linux development environments
• Familiarity with radio-frequency (RF) phenomenology, electr