Though the projects are designed to be completed by undergraduate students over the course of one month, the topics do relate to current, real-world research. For Dr. Abdelrehim, that meant taking research into security threats on cloud computing data centers and scaling it down for a comparably bite-sized version.
The data centers that power Amazon Cloud, Microsoft Azure and similar systems reside in rooms full of processors. Like smaller devices like personal laptops, these machines can overheat, degrading its component parts. Thermal sensors are designed to trigger cooling when processors run too hot, but if the thermal sensor is not from a reputable source, it could be vulnerable to incorrect temperature readings.
If the sensors report a temperature lower than the machine actually is, cooling systems won’t turn on to cool down and it could overheat. If the reported temperature is hotter than the machine’s actual temperature, cooling systems will turn on and consume additional power unnecessarily.
“These data centers consume 1% of the total energy consumption in the United States, so it’s a really big problem because if you have this attack, it will increase this even more,” Dr. Abdelrehim explained. “Of course, it will affect a company’s cost of cooling and also the lifetime of the processors.”
To replicate this attack, Dr. Abdelrehim’s students used a small computer called a Raspberry Pi and a desk fan. If they could program the computer’s thermal sensor to read a higher temperature, the desk fan would automatically turn on to cool it down.
“It’s a very small scale that is perfect for an undergrad to imitate and visualize what is going to happen,” Dr. Abdelrehim said. “It’s a real-life problem they can visualize easily using this small system, and they can see the effect of improper cooling and improper security of the data centers just in the lab on a very small scale.”
Andrew Ibrahim, a computer science major going into his sophomore year this fall, said he was shocked to see the results of their experiment, noting that the reported hotter temperature led to a lot of power consumption for his computer. For his part, he also looked at how the increase in power translates to a financial cost.
“The most fun is coding it, and then seeing the code work,” Ibrahim said. “When you see the fan turn on for the first time, it’s like wow! It was fun seeing all this stuff work together in unison, the culmination of all these different parts helping each other out and forming research.”
The SURE program is Ibrahim’s first experience with research, and he admits it was a little overwhelming at first.
“I really wanted to try something new, something different,” he said. “I wanted to go out of my comfort zone, and thankfully Dr. Mostafa helped me with that.”
Ibrahim also received some help from Kausch, who is pursuing a post-baccalaureate degree after earning his bachelor’s in biology with minors in chemistry and physics. Kausch has published nine peer-reviewed papers already, but even with past research experience, he is thankful for the opportunity that SURE provides to gain new experience in the field of computer science.
“I think that the SURE program is a great way to introduce students to the world of research,” Kausch said. “Everything from the funding that students receive to the soft skills that this opportunity mandates are great. It’s important to highlight that the skills utilized in this experience are going to be helpful no matter what we as the students decide to do in the future.”
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