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Local Computer Experts Search for Cyber Criminals

Written by KEYT Anchor

Story Created: Sep 13, 2011 at 6:24 PM PDT

Story Updated: Sep 14, 2011 at 11:31 AM PDT

Santa Barbara - It looks like a scene from a movie.

Computer experts who know how to "hack" scouring websites searching for spyware, malware and botnets. Researchers pretending to be cyber victims, diving into the "underground economy", hunting for the cyber criminals.

This is UCSB's Computer Security Group. It's been around for about 30 years, but is becoming more and more important as the threat of online attacks becomes an everyday reality.

A new study from the Intelligence and National Security Alliance warns that the U.S. must develop a better approach to cyber intelligence.

According to Richard Kemmerer, founder of the UCSB Computer Security Group, its' researchers have been studying cyber crime for 30 years.

"The idea is to know what the bad guys are doing or what the bad guys are likely to do so that you can protect against it, " Kemmerer said.

The Computer Security Group has worked for agencies like the NSA and Department of Defense, but researchers also work on projects to make sure your computer and personal information is secure.

"We look at how criminals operate and we try to find ways to identify them to analyze them and to find counter measures to stop their actions anyway we can," says Giovanni Vigna, professor of computer science.

"We do everything that is relevant to make sure that computer systems, the internet, your home computer is secure," according to Christopher Kruegel, associate professor of computer science.

All of what the Computer Security Group does is research-based but it can be applied to practical applications. Recently they have focused their attention on the so-called "underground economy", sometimes acting as cyber victims to rout cyber criminals.

In total, there are three professors, about 12 Ph.D students and interns all working in the lab at UCSB.

KEY News Reporter Scott Hurst has the story.
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