Education
Ph.D., Computer Science
Dartmouth College, August 2019
Dissertation: Trustworthy Wireless Personal Area Networks
B.S., Mathematics & Computer Science
Western Washington University, December 2012
Teaching
Computer Security (CSCI 476) / Advanced Security (CSCI 594)
@ Montana State University
Spring 2020,
Spring 2021
Operating Systems (CSCI 460)
@ Montana State University
Fall 2019,
Fall 2020
Problem Solving via Object-Oriented Programming (COSC 10)
@ Dartmouth College
Winter 2015
Research
Conference papers, journal articles, patents, technical reports, posters, code, blogs, etc.
Selected Works
- Recurring Verification of Interaction Authenticity Within Bluetooth Networks
In Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Security and Privacy in Wireless and Mobile Networks (WiSec), June 2021.
Travis Peters, Timothy J. Pierson, Sougata Sen, José Camacho, David Kotz
pdf
slides
blog
abstract
Although user authentication has been well explored, device-to-device authentication — specifically in Bluetooth networks — has not seen the same attention. We propose Verification of Interaction Authenticity (VIA) — a recurring authentication scheme based on evaluating characteristics of the communications (interactions) between devices. We adapt techniques from wireless traffic analysis and intrusion-detection systems to develop behavioral models that capture typical, authentic device interactions (behavior); these models enable recurring verification of device behavior. To evaluate our approach we produced a new dataset consisting of more than 300 Bluetooth network traces collected from 20 Bluetooth-enabled smart-health and smart-home devices. In our evaluation, we found that devices can be correctly verified at a variety of granularities, achieving an F1-score of 0.86 or better in most cases.
- Poster: Analyzing Application-Layer Security in Bluetooth Devices: Auditing for Encryption
Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Poster Session, August 2020.
Madison Tandberg, Travis Peters
pdf
abstract
Bluetooth is a wireless technology used in a variety of settings, including home, work, transportation, and healthcare. If Bluetooth devices are not properly secured, there can be significant harm to users. Data encryption is a widely accepted security control that protects against many weaknesses in data transmission and communication between all types of devices (wired, wireless, Bluetooth, etc.). Although the Bluetooth protocol establishes encryption standards for packet transmission "over the air", devices are vulnerable to attacks that steal or manipulate data within a device if they lack internal security. This research aims to develop and implement a technique that automatically detects whether connected Bluetooth devices are using application-layer encryption.
- Trustworthy Wireless Personal Area Networks
TR2020-878, Dartmouth College, Computer Science, March 2020.
Travis Peters
pdf
abstract
In the Internet of Things (IoT), everyday objects are equipped with the ability to compute and communicate. These smart things have invaded the lives of everyday people, being constantly carried or worn on our bodies, and entering into our homes, our healthcare, and beyond. This has given rise to wireless networks of smart, connected, always-on, personal things that are constantly around us, and have unfettered access to our most personal data as well as all of the other devices that we own and encounter throughout our day. It should, therefore, come as no surprise that our personal devices and data are frequent targets of ever-present threats. Securing these devices and networks, however, is challenging. In this dissertation, we outline three critical problems in the context of Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs) and present our solutions to these problems.
First, I present our Trusted I/O solution (BASTION-SGX) for protecting sensitive user data transferred between wirelessly connected (Bluetooth) devices. This work shows how in-transit data can be protected from privileged threats, such as a compromised OS, on commodity systems. I present insights into the Bluetooth architecture, Intel’s Software Guard Extensions (SGX), and how a Trusted I/O solution can be engineered on commodity devices equipped with SGX.
Second, I present our work on AMULET and how we successfully built a wearable health hub that can run multiple health applications, provide strong security properties, and operate on a single charge for weeks or even months at a time. I present the design and evaluation of our highly efficient event-driven programming model, the design of our low-power operating system, and developer tools for profiling ultra-low-power applications at compile time.
Third, I present a new approach (VIA) that helps devices at the center of WPANs (e.g., smartphones) to verify the authenticity of interactions with other devices. This work builds on past work in anomaly detection techniques and shows how these techniques can be applied to Bluetooth network traffic. Specifically, we show how to create normality models based on fine- and course-grained insights from network traffic, which can be used to verify the authenticity of future interactions.
- Proximity Detection with Single-Antenna IoT Devices
In Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking (MobiCom), October 2019.
Timothy J. Pierson, Travis Peters, Ronald Peterson, David Kotz
doi
pdf
slides
abstract
Providing secure communications between wireless devices that encounter each other on an ad-hoc basis is a challenge that has not yet been fully addressed. In these cases, close physical proximity among devices that have never shared a secret key is sometimes used as a basis of trust; devices in close proximity are deemed trustworthy while more distant devices are viewed as potential adversaries. Because radio waves are invisible, however, a user may believe a wireless device is communicating with a nearby device when in fact the user's device is communicating with a distant adversary. Researchers have previously proposed methods for multi-antenna devices to ascertain physical proximity with other devices, but devices with a single antenna, such as those commonly used in the Internet of Things, cannot take advantage of these techniques.
We present theoretical and practical evaluation of a method called SNAP — SiNgle Antenna Proximity — that allows a single-antenna Wi-Fi device to quickly determine proximity with another Wi-Fi device. Our proximity detection technique leverages the repeating nature Wi-Fi's preamble and the behavior of a signal in a transmitting antenna's near-field region to detect proximity with high probability; SNAP never falsely declares proximity at ranges longer than 14cm.
- System, apparatus and method for providing trusted input/output communications
U.S. Patent 10,372,656, August 2019.
Srikanth Varadarajan, Reshma Lal, Steven B. McGowan, Hakan Magnus Eriksson, Travis W. Peters
pdf
google scholar
abstract
In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a wireless controller, which may include a byte stream parser to receive a stream of data from one or more wireless devices and parse the stream of data to identify a first data packet associated with a first channel identifier associated with a trusted application, and a cryptographic engine coupled to the byte stream parser to encrypt a payload portion of the first data packet in response to the identification of the first data packet associated with the first channel identifier. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
- CloseTalker: secure, short-range ad hoc wireless communication
In Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Mobile Systems, Applications, and Services (MobiSys), June 2019.
Timothy J. Pierson, Travis Peters, Reza Rawassizadeh, Ronald Peterson, David Kotz
doi
pdf
slides
abstract
Secure communication is difficult to arrange between devices that have not previously shared a secret. Previous solutions to the problem are susceptible to man-in-the-middle attacks, require additional hardware for out-of-band communication, or require an extensive public-key infrastructure. Furthermore, as the number of wireless devices explodes with the advent of the Internet of Things, it will be impractical to manually configure each device to communicate with its neighbors or with the local WLAN.
Our system, CloseTalker, allows simple, secure, ad hoc communication between devices in close physical proximity, while jamming the signal so it is unintelligible to any receivers more than a few centimeters away. CloseTalker does not require any specialized hardware or sensors in the devices, does not require complex algorithms or cryptography libraries, occurs only when intended by the user, and can transmit a short burst of data or an address and key that can be used to establish long-term or long-range communications at full bandwidth.
In this paper we present a theoretical and practical evaluation of CloseTalker, which exploits Wi-Fi MIMO antennas and the fundamental physics of radio to establish secure communication between devices that have never previously met. We demonstrate that CloseTalker is able to facilitate secure in-band communication between devices in close physical proximity (about 5cm), even though they have never met nor shared a key.
- Poster: Proximity Detection with Single-Antenna IoT Devices
» Best Poster Award!
In Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking (MobiCom), October 2018.
Timothy J. Pierson, Travis Peters, Ronald Peterson, David Kotz
doi
pdf
abstract
Close physical proximity among wireless devices that have never shared a secret key is sometimes used as a basis of trust. In these cases, devices in close proximity are deemed trustworthy while more distant devices are viewed as potential adversaries. Because radio waves are invisible, however, a user may believe a wireless device is communicating with a nearby device when in fact the user's device is communicating with a distant adversary. Researchers have previously proposed methods for multi-antenna devices to ascertain physical proximity with other devices, but devices with a single antenna, such as those commonly used in the Internet of Things, cannot take advantage of these techniques. We investigate a method for a single-antenna Wi-Fi device to quickly determine proximity with another Wi-Fi device. Our approach leverages the repeating nature Wi-Fi's preamble and the characteristics of a transmitting antenna's near field to detect proximity with high probability. Our method never falsely declares proximity at ranges longer than 14 cm.
- BASTION-SGX: Bluetooth and Architectural Support for Trusted I/O on SGX
In Proceedings of the International Workshop on Hardware and Architectural Support for Security and Privacy (HASP), June 2018.
Travis Peters, Reshma Lal, Srikanth Varadarajan, Pradeep Pappachan, David Kotz
doi
pdf
slides
blog
abstract
This paper presents work towards realizing architectural support for Bluetooth Trusted I/O on SGX-enabled platforms, with the goal of providing I/O data protection that does not rely on system software security. Indeed, we are primarily concerned with protecting I/O from all software adversaries, including privileged software. In this paper we describe the challenges in designing and implementing Trusted I/O at the architectural level for Bluetooth. We propose solutions to these challenges. In addition, we describe our proof-of-concept work that extends existing over-the-air Bluetooth security all the way to an SGX enclave by securing user data between the Bluetooth Controller and an SGX enclave.
- Challenges to ensuring human safety throughout the life-cycle of Smart Environments
In Proceedings of the ACM Workshop on the Internet of Safe Things (SafeThings), November 2017.
David Kotz, Travis Peters
doi
pdf
slides
abstract
The homes, offices, and vehicles of tomorrow will be embedded with numerous ``Smart Things,'' networked with each other and with the Internet. Many of these Things are embedded in the physical infrastructure, and like the infrastructure they are designed to last for decades — far longer than is normal with today's electronic devices. What happens then, when an occupant moves out or transfers ownership of her Smart Environment? This paper outlines the critical challenges required for the safe long-term operation of Smart Environments. How does an occupant identify and decommission all the Things in an environment before she moves out? How does a new occupant discover, identify, validate, and configure all the Things in the environment he adopts? When a person moves from smart home to smart office to smart hotel, how is a new environment vetted for safety and security, how are personal settings migrated, and how are they securely deleted on departure? When the original vendor of a Thing (or the service behind it) disappears, how can that Thing (and its data, and its configuration) be transferred to a new service provider? What interface can enable lay people to manage these complex challenges, and be assured of their privacy, security, and safety? We present a list of key research questions to address these important challenges.
- A Survey of Trustworthy Computing on Mobile & Wearable Systems
Technical Report TR2017-823, Dartmouth Computer Science, May 2017.
Travis Peters
pdf
abstract
Mobile and wearable systems have generated unprecedented interest in recent years, particularly in the domain of mobile health (mHealth) where carried or worn devices are used to collect health-related information about the observed person. Much of the information — whether physiological, behavioral, or social — collected by mHealth systems is sensitive and highly personal; it follows that mHealth systems should, at the very least, be deployed with mechanisms suitable for ensuring confidentiality of the data it collects. Additional properties — such as integrity of the data, source authentication of data, and data freshness — are also desirable to address other security, privacy, and safety issues. Developing systems that are robust against capable adversaries (including physical attacks) is, and has been, an active area of research. While techniques for protecting systems that handle sensitive data are well-known today, many of the solutions in use today are not well suited for mobile and wearable systems, which are typically limited with respect to power, memory, computation, and other capabilities. In this paper we look at prior research on developing trustworthy mobile and wearable systems. To survey this topic we begin by discussing solutions for securing computing systems that are not subject to the type of strict constraints associated with mobile and wearable systems. Next, we present other efforts to design and implement trustworthy mobile and wearable systems. We end with a discussion of future directions.
- Amulet: An Energy-Efficient, Multi-Application Wearable Platform
In Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Embedded Networked Sensor Systems (SenSys), November 2016.
Josiah Hester, Travis Peters, Tianlong Yun, Ronald Peterson, Joseph Skinner, Bhargav Golla, Kevin Storer, Steven Hearndon, Kevin Freeman, Sarah Lord, Ryan Halter, David Kotz, Jacob Sorber
doi
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slides
code
blog
abstract
Wearable technology enables a range of exciting new applications in health, commerce, and beyond. For many important applications, wearables must have battery life measured in weeks or months, not hours and days as in most current devices. Our vision of wearable platforms aims for long battery life but with the flexibility and security to support multiple applications. To achieve long battery life with a workload comprising apps from multiple developers, these platforms must have robust mechanisms for app isolation and developer tools for optimizing resource usage.
We introduce the Amulet Platform for constrained wearable devices, which includes an ultra-low-power hardware architecture and a companion software framework, including a highly efficient event-driven programming model, low-power operating system, and developer tools for profiling ultra-low-power applications at compile time. We present the design and evaluation of our prototype Amulet hardware and software, and show how the framework enables developers to write energy-efficient applications. Our prototype has battery lifetime lasting weeks or even months, depending on the application, and our interactive resource-profiling tool predicts battery lifetime within 6-10 % of the measured lifetime.
- The Amulet Wearable Platform: Demo Abstract
In Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Embedded Networked Sensor Systems (SenSys), November 2016.
Josiah Hester, Travis Peters, Tianlong Yun, Ronald Peterson, Joseph Skinner, Bhargav Golla, Kevin Storer, Steven Hearndon, Sarah Lord, Ryan Halter, David Kotz, Jacob Sorber
doi
pdf
code
blog
abstract
In this demonstration we present the Amulet Platform; a hardware and software platform for developing energy- and resource-efficient applications on multi-application wearable devices. This platform, which includes the Amulet Firmware Toolchain, the Amulet Runtime, the ARP-View graphical tool, and open reference hardware, efficiently protects applications from each other without MMU support, allows developers to interactively explore how their implementation decisions impact battery life without the need for hardware modeling and additional software development, and represents a new approach to developing long-lived wearable applications. We envision the Amulet Platform enabling long-duration experiments on human subjects in a wide variety of studies.
- Poster: Security in IoT: What is IoT Security, Really?!
Intel Labs Open House, September 2016.
Travis Peters, Srikanth Varadarajan, Reshma Lal
abstract
In this work we conduct a survey of the Internet of Things, primarily focused around identifying security, privacy, and safety concerns in consumer-centric scenarios (e.g., SmartHealthcare, SmartHomes, SmartCars). Our primary goal in this work is to identify gaps in the security and threat models that are being considered today in order to gain insight into what needs to be done in the future to ensure the security of our interconnected things. To begin to try to understand the threats in the IoT we began by first trying to understand the usages, technologies, and standards that are driving the adoption of IoT.
- Poster & Demo: Protecting Bluetooth Input from Malware
Intel Labs Open House, September 2015.
Travis Peters, Srikanth Varadarajan, Pradeep Pappachan, Reshma Lal
abstract
The role of securing I/O data is generally understood to be a responsibility of a modern OS. This is, however, inherently assuming that we trust the OS and the various drivers that handle I/O data with potentially sensitive information. Of particular interest in I/O data security is the security of input data for authentication such as passwords and PINs, as well as other sensitive information that is entered in popular applications including, but not limited to, addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers, and credit/debit card information. When input data is entered via a Bluetooth Human Interface Device (HID) such as a keyboard, this data is secured over the air, however, upon arriving in the Bluetooth Controller of the host machine, the data is decrypted and passed up through various drivers in the OS before ultimately reaching an application. Trusted I/O (TIO) for Bluetooth devices aims to secure data between a Trusted Application (e.g., an application running in a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE)) and the Bluetooth Controller which receives Bluetooth data over the air. In this document, I will present some of the challenges that must be addressed in implementing TIO for Bluetooth devices, review our plan for a firmware-based approach to cryptographically protecting Bluetooth keyboard input data and our actual Proof of Concept work which (1) implements an interface by which a Trusted Application can program/clear a TIO session key into the Bluetooth Controller, (2) modifies the Bluetooth Controller’s firmware to maintain TIO-related connection information for connected devices, and (3) modifies the firmware to implement L2CAP-level packet parsing to identify packets containing HID Report data and encrypt the data if a TIO session has been enabled for that device. I will close with an overview of remaining challenges and future work.
- Poster: Trusted I/O and Bluetooth Devices
Intel Labs Intern Poster Show, August 2015.
Travis Peters, Srikanth Varadarajan, Pradeep Pappachan, Reshma Lal
abstract
The role of securing I/O data is generally understood to be a responsibility of a modern OS. This is, however, inherently assuming that we trust the OS and the various drivers that handle I/O data with potentially sensitive information. Of particular interest in I/O data security is the security of input data for authentication such as passwords and PINs, as well as other sensitive information that is entered in popular applications including, but not limited to, addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers, and credit/debit card information. When input data is entered via a Bluetooth Human Interface Device (HID) such as a keyboard, this data is secured over the air, however, upon arriving in the Bluetooth Controller of the host machine, the data is decrypted and passed up through various drivers in the OS before ultimately reaching an application. Trusted I/O (TIO) for Bluetooth devices aims to secure data between a Trusted Application (e.g., an application running in a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE)) and the Bluetooth Controller which receives Bluetooth data over the air. In this document, I will present some of the challenges that must be addressed in implementing TIO for Bluetooth devices, review our plan for a firmware-based approach to cryptographically protecting Bluetooth keyboard input data and our actual Proof of Concept work which (1) implements an interface by which a Trusted Application can program/clear a TIO session key into the Bluetooth Controller, (2) modifies the Bluetooth Controller’s firmware to maintain TIO-related connection information for connected devices, and (3) modifies the firmware to implement L2CAP-level packet parsing to identify packets containing HID Report data and encrypt the data if a TIO session has been enabled for that device. I will close with an overview of remaining challenges and future work.
- Amulet: A secure architecture for mHealth applications for low-power wearable devices
In Proceedings of the Workshop on Mobile Medical Applications — Design and Development (WMMADD), November 2014.
Andrés Molina-Markham, Ronald Peterson, Joseph Skinner, Tianlong Yun, Bhargav Golla, Kevin Freeman, Travis Peters, Jacob Sorber, Ryan Halter, David Kotz
doi
pdf
code
blog
abstract
Interest in using mobile technologies for health-related applications (mHealth) has increased. However, none of the available mobile platforms provide the essential properties that are needed by these applications. An mHealth platform must be (i) secure; (ii) provide high availability; and (iii) allow for the deployment of multiple third-party mHealth applications that share access to an individual's devices and data. Smartphones may not be able to provide property (ii) because there are activities and situations in which an individual may not be able to carry them (e.g., while in a contact sport). A low-power wearable device can provide higher availability, remaining attached to the user during most activities. Furthermore, some mHealth applications require integrating multiple on-body or near-body devices, some owned by a single individual, but others shared with multiple individuals. In this paper, we propose a secure system architecture for a low-power bracelet that can run multiple applications and manage access to shared resources in a body-area mHealth network. The wearer can install a personalized mix of third-party applications to support the monitoring of multiple medical conditions or wellness goals, with strong security safeguards. Our preliminary implementation and evaluation supports the hypothesis that our approach allows for the implementation of a resource monitor on far less power than would be consumed by a mobile device running Linux or Android. Our preliminary experiments demonstrate that our secure architecture would enable applications to run for several weeks on a small wearable device without recharging.
- MobiSys 2014
IEEE Pervasive Computing, Oct–Dec 2014.
Travis Peters, Puneet Jain
doi
pdf
abstract
This conference report on MobiSys 2014 covers the keynote by James Landay on balancing design and technology to tackle global grand challenges; highlights selected papers from the various conference sessions on topics ranging from wearable computing to security to localization; and discusses some of the posters and demos.
- An Assessment of Single-Channel EMG Sensing for Gestural Input
Technical Report TR2015-767, Dartmouth Computer Science, September 2014.
Travis Peters
pdf
abstract
Wearable devices of all kinds are becoming increasingly popular. One problem that plagues wearable devices, however, is how to interact with them. In this paper we construct a prototype electromyography (EMG) sensing device that captures a single channel of EMG sensor data corresponding to user gestures. We also implement a machine learning pipeline to recognize gestural input received via our prototype sensing device. Our goal is to assess the feasibility of using a BITalino EMG sensor to recognize gestural input on a mobile health (mHealth) wearable device known as Amulet. We conduct three experiments in which we use the EMG sensor to collect gestural input data from (1) the wrist, (2) the forearm, and (3) the bicep. Our results show that a single channel EMG sensor located near the wrist may be a viable approach to reliably recognizing simple gestures without mistaking them for common daily activities such as drinking from a cup, walking, or talking while moving your arms.
- Computing Along the Big Long River
The UMAP Journal for Undergraduate Mathematics & Research, Fall 2012.
Chip Jackson, Lucas Bourne, Travis Peters
pdf
abstract
We develop a model to schedule trips down the Big Long River. The goal is to optimally plan boat trips of varying duration and propulsion so as to maximize the number of trips over the six-month season. We model the process by which groups travel from campsite to campsite. Subject to the given constraints, our algorithm outputs the optimal daily schedule for each group on the river. By studying the algorithm’s long-term behavior, we can compute a maximum number of trips, which we define as the river’s carrying capacity. We apply our algorithm to a case study of the Grand Canyon, which has many attributes in common with the Big Long River. Finally, we examine the carrying capacity’s sensitivity to changes in the distribution of propulsion methods, distribution of trip duration, and the number of campsites on the river.
Activities
Professional Activities
Reviewing for Journals & Conferences
- 2020, Reviewer for Transactions on Mobile Computing
- 2020, Technical Program Committee Member for the International Conference on Emerging Security Information, Systems and Technologies (SECURWARE)
- 2020, Reviewer for IEEE Communications Letters
- 2020, Technical Program Committee Member for the International Conference on Wireless and Mobile Communications (ICWMC)
- 2020, Technical Program Committee Member for the Workshop on Sensing Systems and Applications Using Wrist Worn Smart Devices (WristSense), co-located with IEEE PerCom
- 2020, Reviewer for the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (2020)
University, College, and Department Committees
- 2021, VPR Task Force for Grand Challenges of Montana, Member (Area of Expertise: Cybersecurity)
- 2019-present, CS Graduate Recruiting Committee, Member
Selected Awards
Best Teaching Assistant Award, 2014-2015
Awarded through Dartmouth College Department of Computer Science.
Nominated by faculty.
Outstanding Graduate Student Teacher, April 2015
Awarded through the Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning (DCAL).
Nominated by students.
Graduate Student Teaching Award, 2013-2014
Awarded through Dartmouth College. A campus-wide award.
Nominated by faculty.