UCSB Alumni Antonio Bianchi received DARPA Grant

By Natalia Diaz Amabilis, PR Assistant

UCSB Alumni Antonio Bianchi and his team at Purdue University have received a grant from DARPA to aid a project called “Assured Micropatching”, which is projected to last four years. Bianchi is currently a researcher and assistant professor of computer science at Purdue University. Bianchi was a former PhD student of UCSB’s Giovanni Vigna and Christopher Kruegel.

DARPA, which is based in Arlington, Virginia, funds research in breakthrough technologies for national security. It was established in 1958 as part of the U.S. Department of Defense. Bianchi and his team’s project aims to patch code in embedded systems in order to aid cybersecurity. The team’s proposed approach entails “defining and verifying a set of properties that a patch must have to ensure it doesn’t interfere with the device’s original functionality. The research also aims to develop automatic and minimal code patching for devices that may be vulnerable to cyberattacks.” The team will work to develop new ways to test the patched code.

UCSB looks forward to seeing the amazing contributions Bianchi and his team will make to research in cybersecurity.