CREATOR OF TECHNOLOGY TO COMBAT ONLINE AUCTION FRAUD
In the beginning: If Associate Professor Yong Guan hadn’t begun his master’s program immediately after earning his bachelor’s degree in 1990, he might not today be one of the world’s emerging authorities on computer security. During that time, he spent three years building China’s first Internet and later his advisor encouraged him to pursue network security issues.
Getting focused: Today, Guan’s research focuses on securing wireless networks. “Wireless networks are different from wired networks because of their broadcasting nature,” Guan says. “Because of its wireless nature, anyone has the capacity to monitor a wireless network.”
Advancing his career: In 2007, Guan received a National Science Foundation CAREER award to explore two areas of wireless network security in depth: secure network coding and location verification on wireless networks. The main challenge for secure network coding is ensuring security across multiple nodes of a network. For location verification, Guan says the goal is to secure a network by allowing people to access the network from one room, rather than from anywhere, such as from a car in a parking lot.
Combating online fraud: Guan’s research extends beyond wireless networks, too. He recently filed a patent application about technology he developed to combat online auction fraud and “click” fraud that can artificially inflate the numbers of hits on website advertising.