With NSF support, a team of computer scientists is using a novel, two-pronged approach to protect websites from hackers

Computer scientists are fighting back against hackers with the company StopTheHacker.com. Credit and Larger Version

July 23, 2010

Hackers are capitalizing on new chinks in Internet security as the public gains greater access to sophisticated web operations, according to cybersecurity experts.

"Websites are the next battleground in the war for computer security," said computer scientist Michalis Faloutsos, who, with collaborator and fellow computer scientist Anirban Banerjee, cofounded the company StopTheHacker.com to counter the threat.

StopTheHacker.com specifically addresses the security of websites, an issue that is often overlooked in favor of personal-computer safeguards. According to the researchers, the same concerns that users had for personal computer security 10 years ago are applicable to website safety today. "We are in the early stages of this war, and any website is vulnerable," Faloutsos added.

http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=117354&WT.mc_id=USNSF_1