This fall, our team will begin a five-year research effort to increase the security and privacy of high-tech products used in smart homes. The project—Security and Privacy in the Lifecycle of IoT for Consumer Environments (SPLICE)—comes as households expand their reliance on smart products ranging from refrigerators to baby monitors. These devices can share information with each other as well as communicate with services across the Internet.

SPLICE includes ten faculty from Dartmouth College, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland, the University of Michigan, Morgan State University, and Tufts University.

“The technology in the average home today is radically different from even a decade ago and is likely to change even more rapidly in the coming years,” said David Kotz, a professor of computer science at Dartmouth and the lead principal investigator for the project. “Home is a place where people need to feel safe from prying eyes. SPLICE will address the challenges required for the vision of smart homes to be realized safely and successfully.”

The shift toward smart devices and systems in residences—such as houses, apartments, hotels, and assisted-living facilities—offers benefits that include increased energy efficiency and personalized services. Through faulty configuration or poor design, however, these items can also create unsafe conditions and increase risk of harm to people and property.

Since many homes are complex environments in which residents, landlords, and guests have different privacy needs, researchers will consider the interests of all property owners and users.

The five-year SPLICE effort is funded by a $10 million award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace Frontiers (SaTC Frontiers) program. “Cybersecurity is one of the most significant economic and national security challenges facing our nation today,” said Nina Amla, lead program director of the NSF SaTC program. “NSF’s investments in foundational research will transform our capacity to secure personal privacy, financial assets, and national interests.”

See press releases from: NSF, Dartmouth, Illinois, JHU, Maryland, Morgan State, Michigan, Tufts. Group press release is available in pdf:

SPLICE will begin on October 1, 2020.  Follow SPLICE news by subscribing below.