Professor Shree Nayar's Little Camera Is a Big Idea for Children Around

Columbia University in the City of New York Department of Computer Science NON-PROFIT ORG. 1214 Amsterdam Avenue U.S. POSTAGE Mailcode: 0401 PAID New York, NY 10027-7003 NEW YORK, NY PERMIT 3593 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED NEWSLETTER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY VOL.6 NO.2 SPRING 2010 CUCS Resources Young photographers at work on their Bigshot camera Nayar, the T.C. Chang Professor assembly process. Eventually, it Stay in Touch! Professor Shree Nayar’s of Computer Science, came will serve as a kind of Flickr for up with a prototype as sleek kids, with young photographers Visit the CUCS Alumni Portal at You can subscribe to the CUCS news mailing list at as an iPod and as tactile as a from around the world sharing Little Camera is a Big Idea Lego set: the Bigshot digital their pictures. “The idea here https://mice.cs.columbia.edu/alum to: http://lists.cs.columbia.edu/mailman/listinfo/cucs-news camera. It comes as a kit, was not to create a device that • Update your contact information for Children Around the World allowing children as young as was an inexpensive toy,”says CUCS colloquium information is available at eight to assemble a device Nayar. “The idea was to create • Look at recent job postings http://www.cs.columbia.edu/lectures as sophisticated as the kind something that could be used • Get departmental news Professor Shree Nayar has grown-ups use—with a as a platform for education flash and standard, 3-D and across many societies.” Read the CUCS Newsletter online at dedicated much of his computer panoramic lenses—only cooler. http://www.cs.columbia.edu/resources/newsletters Nayar, chair of the Columbia If you know another alumni who may not be science career to improving the Its color palette is inspired by University Computer Science receiving the newsletter, please forward the way cameras take pictures. Four M&Ms, a hand crank provides Department, worked on Bigshot Alumni Portal link to them. years ago, he decided to move power even when there are for two years. The project no batteries and a transparent In the spirit of environmental responsibility, in a new direction: to design a is an extension of his work back panel shows the camera’s as director of the Computer we are moving towards more electronic (and camera that could improve the inner workings. less hard-copy) distribution of the newsletter. Science Department’s way children learn about science Nayar also worked with a Computer Vision Lab, where If you’d like to continue receiving paper T. C. Chang Professor and one another. group of engineering students, he has expertise in highly copies of the newsletter, please visit the of Computer Science led by Guru Krishnan, An Tran sensitive cameras. Among his Alumni Portal to sign up. Shree Nayar and Brian Smith, to create a inventions is the Omnicam, website, bigshotcamera.org, a video camera that shoots that walks children, teachers seamless 360-degree images, and parents through the and a technology—recently NEWSLETTER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY WWW.CS.COLUMBIA.EDU CS@CU SPRING 2010 1 Cover Story (continued) Featured Articles developed in collaboration with In the meantime, Nayar, Sony—that extends the range Krishnan, Tran and Smith have of brightness and color that been field-testing the camera cameras can capture. with children around the world. But, as the father of two young Over the summer, Krishnan Scan of Internet Uncovers children, he wanted to have an and Tran took several Bigshot impact beyond the high-tech prototypes to their hometowns: Thousands of Vulnerable sector on a humanitarian level. Bangalore, India, and Vung Tau, He was inspired by the 2005 Vietnam, respectively. Nayar Oscar-winning documentary also brought the camera to Embedded Devices Born Into Brothels, which two New York City Schools, depicts the lives of children the private School at Columbia Linksys Router Vulnerability Rate growing up in Calcutta’s red- and Mott Hall in Harlem. light district. The filmmaker, Each spent a morning teaching Researchers scanning the internet for interfaces were remotely government agency have so British photographer Zana Briski, several small groups of children vulnerable embedded devices have found accessible from anywhere on far asked to be exempt from gave 35 mm film cameras to how to assemble the cameras; the internet. The 21,000 devices the scan. eight children and watched as after lunch, their charges nearly 21,000 routers, webcams and VoIP with default passwords are the those cameras transformed went out to take pictures. The products open to remote attack. The researchers have provided most vulnerable, but the rest are ISPs with their findings in the their lives. response from the kids was one theoretically vulnerable to brute- of overwhelming enthusiasm. hope that they will do something “The film reaffirmed something force password-cracking attacks, to protect vulnerable customers. I’ve believed for a long time, “They were ready to buy the Stolfo said. Extrapolating from which is that the camera, as a camera then and there,”says attacks or to launch attacks on the numbers they’ve gathered, “It’s not clear how an ISP piece of technology, has a very Krishnan.“One offered me other systems. (See Wired’s the researchers estimate that 6 is going to do a general 10,000 rupees ($200).”More T. C. Chang Professor Shree Nayar special place in society,”says recent Threat Level story about million vulnerable devices are announcement, but we hope with his Bigshot digital camera Nayar, who grew up in New importantly, tests that Nayar vulnerable routers used by likely connected to the internet. there will be some way to and his team gave out two days Time Warner customers.) communicate to the home Delhi.“It allows us to express The group has so far focused on later showed that the students Someone with remote access user in particular about what ourselves and to communicate residential routers and devices had retained the science to the administrative interface they have to do to reconfigure with each other in a very but is now looking at scanning concepts that Bigshot was of a VoIP system would also their device,”Stolfo said. powerful way.” Professor Ph.D. student more sensitive networks to expected to teach. be able to install firmware to With the Bigshot, Nayar wants Sal Stolfo Ang Cui search for vulnerable devices But Stolfo says product makers record conversations. to not only empower children For Nayar, the best part of this inside large corporations and are the real culprits and need to Their administrative interfaces and encourage their creative experience has been looking at The research project, devised government networks. hide their administrative inter- the pictures.“I am addicted to are viewable from anywhere on by Columbia University grad faces by default and provide vision, but also get them excited “People tend to buy stuff and the pictures; I can’t get enough the internet and their owners student Ang Cui at the univer- clear instructions for users who about science. Each building bring them to work and just of them,”he says.“The fact have failed to change the man- sity’s Intrusion Detection want to alter that configuration. block of the camera is designed plug them in,”Stolfo said.“So that some of the kids were ufacturer’s default password. Systems Laboratory, involves Vendors should also be more to teach a basic concept of we think we’ll be able to find using a camera for the first Linksys routers had the highest scanning networks belonging forceful in communicating to physics: why light bends when vulnerable devices in highly time, and they were able to percent of vulnerable devices to the largest internet service users that default passwords it passes through a transparent sensitive places.” object, how mechanical energy frame what they thought was found in the United States— providers in North America, need to be changed to robust is converted into electrical important and capture that 45 percent of 2,729 routers Europe and Asia. The lab is The researchers didn’t attempt alphanumeric passwords that energy, how a gear train works. moment so beautifully, was that were publicly accessible sponsored by the Defense to explore the administrative include special characters to really remarkable.” still had a default password Advance Research Projects interfaces or tamper with the thwart brute force attacks. Nayar would like to roll out the in place. Polycom VoIP units Agency (Darpa), the Department devices they found, so they camera, now in prototype form, It’s an experience he hopes to “This is not a password you’re came in second, with default of Homeland Security and believe their work isn’t illegal. along the lines of the One bring to many more children, going to need every day, so passwords lingering on about other federal agencies. Laptop Per Child campaign: For locally and globally. “The scan script sends the setting a very hard password 29 percent of 585 devices each one sold at the full price “Vulnerable devices can be public password for the product, and recording it at home on a accessible over the internet. of around $100, several would found in significant numbers in and if the device responds piece of paper is probably a be donated to underprivileged “You can reflash the firmware all parts of the world covered with the ‘command prompt’ safe thing to do,”Stolfo says. schools in the United States or install any software you by our scan,”the researchers for that product interface, The group plans to run the scan and abroad.

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