EAGER: REDTEAM: Research Environment Defense Through Expert Attack Modeling

There is a growing tension between the collaborative, open nature of academia and national security risks. Current cybersecurity threat models fail to predict or prevent actions most likely to occur in research settings and don't account for the social challenges of research security. Research security frameworks such as NSPM-33 emphasize compliance and traditional risk assessment but often overlook the context-specific human behaviors that lead to security breaches. Effective research security requires an approach that accounts for the human factors that drive researcher decision making and distinguish between honest mistakes and genuine threats.

The REDTEAM project uses scenario-based tabletop exercises to conduct threat modeling for research security. This approach builds on established red teaming traditions from military and intelligence communities while employing Role Playing Game (RPG) architectures proven effective for exploring novel strategic problems without predetermined solutions. Two facilitated workshops will use nuanced, realistic scenarios led by experts to uncover behavioral and contextual drivers of security vulnerabilities. Unlike traditional analytical methods that presume rationality, interactive workshops allow participants to explore real trade-offs between collaboration, loyalty, financial incentives, career success, and security obligations. The results are research security frameworks that preserve the openness essential to science while safeguarding research investments from foreign interference and provide evidence-based recommendations to enhance NSF's TRUST framework.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

Award Number: 2545020
Principal Investigator: Anita Nikolich
Funds Obligated: $199,853
State: IL