Carnegie Mellon University officially signed an agreement Nov. 17 with high-ranking Korean officials to create a new collaborative research lab for the study and development of leading-edge security technologies.

Officials from the Korea Information Security Agency (KISA) have pledged $6 million over the next three years to establish CyLab Korea at Carnegie Mellon. KISA will also establish CyLab Korea in Seoul, Korea, with more than 10 research staff members. Both sites will work together on research projects, develop new technologies and paradigms that will usher in an era of more secure computers, networks and communications systems.

The Korea Information Security Agency was established in 1996 to create a safe and reliable information distribution environment by reacting effectively to a variety of electronic infringement and intrusions. KISA is a center of excellence responsible for the computer network security of commercial information technology infrastructure that covers nearly 90 percent of the entire infrastructure of information technology in the Republic of Korea (South Korea).

"This unprecedented international initiative represents the important first step in CyLab's innovative international strategy," said Pradeep Khosla, dean of Carnegie Mellon's College of Engineering and founding co-director of CyLab, a university-wide, multidisciplinary initiative to advance research and education in trustworthy computing.

"That strategy recognizes the need for international partnerships to successfully protect our information infrastructure, and the critical physical infrastructures that depend on it. As global economies become more digital and global supply chains more integrated our economic interests can be jeopardized," Khosla said.

"The main thrust of this agreement is to continue to work with our Korean colleagues to develop a next generation intelligent system that will develop ways to monitor, detect and prevent the sabotage of data and networks by viruses, worms and malicious attacks," said Hyong Kim, an electrical and computer engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon and director of CyLab Korea.

The global business community estimates that network attacks and a flood of annoying spam accounts for 45 percent of worker downtime and costs companies more than $150 billion a year.

"This important collaboration with Carnegie Mellon will provide a more secure digital environment for Korea and increase our capabilities in today's competitive information technology market," said Hong-Sub Lee, president of KISA, an agency of Korea's Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC).

Carnegie Mellon Provost Mark Kamlet said the new collaborative agreement underscores the university's growing leadership in the area of internet security research.

"We have more than 200 faculty, students and staff from six departments working at Carnegie Mellon's CyLab to develop and deploy self-healing computer networks, and create cyber awareness at all levels,'' Kamlet said.

The Korean delegation also will be briefed on a variety of CyLab research projects ranging from development of a new password identification system to self-securing devices that erect their own security perimeters and defend their own critical resources.