NRI, Dr. Prabhu Goel grant of US$ 1million for Research Centre for Computer
and Internet Security at IIT Kanpur

Prabhu Goel Research Centre for Computer and Internet Security

The Prabhu Goel Research Centre for Computer and Internet Security at IIT Kanpur was established by Dr. Prabhu Goel with a generous grant of US$ 1million. Dr. Prabhu Goel is an alumnus of IIT Kanpur, and is a well-known entrepreneur. He is the chairman of iPolicy Networks, company dealing with hi-Tech security. He has also established a Chair Poonam and Prabhu Goel Chair at the department of CSE (Computer Science and Engineering), IIT Kanpur. The centre was inaugurated on June 3, 2003 by Dr. Vidyasagar, Executive Vice President, Advanced Technology Centre, TCS Hyderabad.

The vision of the centre is to become the nodal R&D centre in the country for all aspects of computer security and to educate various governmental and non-governmental organizations on the security issues and help them in this regard. The centre is therefore undertaking research, training, and consulting activities in the area of computer and Internet security. The centre also collaborates with defence and security agencies in developing various security technologies. IIT Kanpur has already been doing work in the area of Computer Security. The establishmcnt of this centre is expected to give a tremendous fillip to this activity.

In order to increase the awareness of various agencies about Computer Security, centre plans to hold short term training courses in this area. We have already twice conducted intensive, two-month training courses on Computer Security for Indian Air Force officers. In addition, once sufficient expertise is developed, centre plans to undertake consulting activities for various agencies for designing of security policies, designing of networks or other information systems for secure use, penetration testing, security audit etc.

IIT Kanpur already regularly offers an elective course on Cryptography. We plan to complement this course with a more broad-based course on Computer and Internet Security. These courses are available to senior undergraduate and post-graduate students. As the centre evolves and activities grow in the area of security, we will also consider starting a Computer Security stream in the Computer Science MTech programme. In order to interact with other researchers working in the security area in the country and abroad, we plan to conduct joint projects, and organize some conferences or workshops regularly.

• Prabhu Goel is Chairman of iPolicy Networks. Prabhu is also an active private venture investor, participating on the Board of Directors of several startup companies. He founded Duet Corporation, which merged with Tunnelnet to form iPolicy Networks, Inc. Prior to founding Duet, Dr. Goel was Division President and Director of Cadence Design Systems, Inc. Before joining Cadence, Dr. Goel was the CEO/Chairman of Gateway Design Automation Corporation, which was acquired by Cadence Design Systems in 1989. Prior to Gateway, Dr. Goel held management and technical positions at IBM and Wang Labs. At IBM, he received several Invention Achievements Awards and the IBM Corporate Award for Outstanding Innovation. Dr. Goel won the 2003 IEEE Industrial Pioneer Award for his work on design modeling and design verification through Verilog and Verilog-based design. The award honors outstanding scientists and engineers who successfully translate research into commercial products or applications. Dr. Goel graduated from IIT Kanpur and received a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.