What we do

The key research questions we are investigating in the Mon(IoT)r research group are:

• What personally identifiable information (PII) is being leaked, intentionally or otherwise, from IoT devices?
• What can we do to mitigate privacy risks beyond simply encrypting, modifying, or blocking PII?

Our methodology entails recording and analyzing all network traffic generated by a variety of IoT devices that we have acquired. We not only inspect traffic for PII in plaintext, but attempt to man-in-the-middle SSL connections to understand the contents of encrypted flows. Our analysis allows us to uncover how IoT devices are currently protecting users’ PII, and determine how easy or difficult it is to mount attacks against user privacy.

The Mon(IoT)r Lab

The Mon(IoT)r Lab is a first-of-its-kind IoT “living lab” for measuring IoT device network leakage. The lab consists of a studio apartment that encloses a space replete with smart devices. Specifically, all of the IoT devices in the lab are configured to use a router instrumented with packet-recording software. We use this lab to conduct controlled experiments, to observe IoT behavior in uncontrolled experiments (through its use by consenting researchers in the research group), and to provide demonstrations of security and privacy research.

Getting involved
There are two ways to get involved in the lab activities:

1. Enroll in our IRB-approved research study with no minimum commitment
2. Join any of our research opportunities for students

SPHERE IoT Enclave

The SPHERE IoT Enclave is a remotely accessible research infrastructure for large-scale experimentation on physical consumer IoT devices. Developed as part of the broader SPHERE project in collaboration with the University of Southern California Information Sciences Institute (USC ISI) and the University of Utah, the enclave enables researchers to remotely interact with real off-the-shelf smart-home devices as if they physically owned them.

The enclave currently includes hundreds of Internet-connected consumer devices spanning smart TVs, smart speakers, cameras, smart-home devices, and more, with the infrastructure expected to scale to approximately 500 IoT devices by the end of 2027.

Learn more about the SPHERE IoT Enclave →