ISTS

What ISTS does

ISTS (Institute for Security, Technology and Society) is a non-profit academic research institute at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, founded in 1999 and designated as an NSA Center of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity Research. It conducts multidisciplinary research across Internet of Things security, machine learning and AI for security, social hacking, deception and deterrence, insider threats, and compositional security, and operates research programs including SPLICE ($10M NSF-funded national program on IoT consumer security), the Cyber-Resilient Health Care initiative, and the MIND device (DARPA GAPS-funded secure cross-domain communications with GE and Xilinx).

Its portfolio includes open-source research tools such as the Amulet wearable platform (developed with Clemson University) and ELFbac (a software mechanism for mitigating Spectre-class hardware exploits from Dartmouth's TrustLab), alongside theoretical work like Hetero-Functional Graph Theory for cyber-physical system resilience. Educational offerings include the public Colloquium Series, peer-reviewed publications, and the NSA/NSF-funded GenCyber summer program for high school students.

Revenue is generated through competitive federal research grants (NSF, DARPA, NSA, NIH), private foundation gifts, and educational programs — ISTS has no commercial product sales. Primary stakeholders are federal agencies (NSF, DARPA, NSA, NIH), industrial partners (GE Research, Xilinx, Vibrent Health), partner universities, and the broader academic and policy community. The institute is governed under Dartmouth College and currently led by Interim Director Sean W. Smith.

Name

ISTS

Legal name

Institute for Security, Technology and Society at Dartmouth College

Website

https://ists.dartmouth.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

1999

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

ISTS is a Dartmouth College academic research institute conducting multidisciplinary cybersecurity research on IoT privacy, hardware vulnerabilities, healthcare security, and critical infrastructure, funded by federal grants (NSF, DARPA, NSA, NIH) and serving government, defense, and healthcare stakeholders.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cybersecurity Research

NAICS

Other Computer Related Services (541519), Computer Systems Design Services (541512)

SIC

Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700), Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Threat Monitoring, Intrusion Detection & Incident Response for Smart Home (HSAHAJAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

OT/ICS & Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity Services (BPAKAHAN), Institutes of Technology (IoT / Technical Universities) (EDAHAEAC), Intrusion Prevention/Detection Systems (IPS/IDS) (HDADABAH)

Keywords

• Cybersecurity research
• IoT security
• Privacy protection
• Hardware security
• Critical infrastructure

Headquarters

HQ city

Hanover

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations

Revenue model

1. Federal Research Grants: ISTS generates revenue through competitive federal research grants from agencies including NSF, NSA, DARPA, NIH, and other government bodies. The institute has received major awards including a $10M NSF award for SPLICE and $8.6M DARPA award for the MIND project.
2. Educational Programs: ISTS generates revenue through educational programs including the GenCyber summer camp for high school students, funded by NSA/NSF.
3. Private Foundation Funding: The institute receives funding from private foundations including support for the Academic Cluster in Cybersecurity from anonymous donors and the $100 million gift supporting academic clusters.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

ISTS is an academic research institute at Dartmouth College that conducts multidisciplinary cybersecurity research spanning Internet of Things security, machine learning and AI for security, social hacking, deception and deterrence, insider threats, and compositional security. The institute develops tools for privacy protection in smart home environments, hardware/software security solutions, and secure communications, distributing outputs through academic publications, open-source software (ELFbac, Amulet), and educational programs.

Product overview

ISTS (Institute for Security, Technology and Society) is a research institute at Dartmouth College, not a commercial product company. It operates as an NSA Center of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity Research. The institute offers a portfolio of research programs including SPLICE (IoT security), Cyber-Resilient Health Care initiative, and the MIND project (secure communications). Educational offerings include the Colloquium Series (public lectures), GenCyber Summer Program for high school students, and various publications. The institute does not offer commercial products or services in the traditional sense, but rather conducts academic research and education in cybersecurity.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• SPLICE (Security and Privacy in the Lifecycle of IoT for Consumer Environments) A national research program developing tools and approaches for security and privacy in smart home IoT devices. Targeted at smart device users, homeowners, and policymakers seeking privacy protections in connected consumer environments.
• MIND (Monitoring & INspection Device) A high-speed data transfer device developed for secure communications between different security domains, supporting defense and military communication systems.
• Cyber-Resilient Health Care Initiative Research initiative focused on protecting patients and healthcare organizations from technology-related disasters, including workshops on cyber resiliency for healthcare and insider threat programs (TISH, THAW, SITH series).
• GenCyber Summer Program Educational summer camp program funded by NSA/NSF that introduces high school students to interdisciplinary research in cybersecurity and privacy, supporting workforce development.
• ISTS Colloquium Series Public lecture series featuring experts from around the world presenting on cybersecurity, cyber trust, privacy, and analysis of economic and public policy impact of cyber vulnerabilities.
• ELFbac Security Software Open-source software developed by Dartmouth's TrustLab that isolates secret information within programs to prevent exploitation of Spectre and related hardware vulnerabilities.
• Amulet Wearable Platform Open-source computational jewelry platform for mobile health applications with privacy-preserving design, used in health monitoring research.
• ISTS Fellowship Program Fellowship program that brings distinguished cybersecurity experts such as former NIST expert Ron Ross and emergency physician Malcolm Schongalla to collaborate on institute research.

Quantifiable outcome

• Created security fix for Spectre/Meltdown hardware vulnerabilities affecting billions of devices
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Vibrent HealthcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 2 September 2020Dartmouth, led by Professor David Kotz, collaborates with Vibrent Health under NIH's All of Us Research Program to develop privacy-preserving approaches for mobile, wearable, and pervasive health technologies.
• University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaigncoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 June 2020Research partner in SPLICE (Security and Privacy in the Lifecycle of IoT for Consumer Environments), a $10M NSF-funded national research program led by Dartmouth to improve smart home security and privacy.
• Johns Hopkins UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 June 2020Research partner in SPLICE project focusing on security and privacy in IoT consumer environments.
• University of MarylandcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 June 2020Research partner in SPLICE project, bringing expertise in cybersecurity and privacy research.
• University of MichigancoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 June 2020Research partner in SPLICE project for smart home IoT security research.
• Morgan State UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 June 2020Research partner in SPLICE project, contributing to broadening participation in computing initiative.
• Tufts UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 June 2020Research partner in SPLICE project for consumer IoT security and privacy research.
• GE ResearchcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 11 September 2019Dartmouth partners with GE and Xilinx on a $8.6M DARPA GAPS program to develop the MIND (Monitoring & INspection Device) for secure high-speed data transfer across military communication systems.
• XilinxcoreTechnology or Integration · 11 September 2019Technology partner on DARPA GAPS program providing FPGA technology for the MIND secure communication device.
• VeChain FoundationminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 May 2019ISTS hosted a two-day blockchain technology workshop with the VeChain Foundation in May 2019. Dartmouth students and faculty learned from distinguished speakers on blockchain, bitcoin, smart contracts, and scalability.
• Clemson UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint development partner on the Amulet wearable/computational jewelry platform, combining Dartmouth's expertise with Clemson's research capabilities.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• MITRE Corporation: Federally funded research and development center operating the CVE program and CERT Coordination Center. Operates at larger scale than ISTS but is comparable in driving federally funded cybersecurity research and standards.
• RAND Corporation: Policy-oriented research organization with a substantial cybersecurity policy research portfolio. Comparable in producing federally funded research reports and convening expert panels on cyber topics.
• SRI International: Large nonprofit research institute with significant cybersecurity programs including government-sponsored research. Comparable in being a nonprofit institute conducting multi-disciplinary security research, though at substantially larger scale.

Direct peers

• UC Berkeley Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity (CLTC): UC Berkeley's cybersecurity research center focused on societal-scale cyber risk. Comparable academic model conducting research, public programs, and policy-oriented cybersecurity work with industry and government funding.
• University of Maryland Cybersecurity Center: UMD's NSA-recognized cybersecurity center with similar research breadth including hardware security, cryptography, and intrusion detection. Comparable academic model with strong defense agency research funding.
• MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL): MIT's flagship computer science research lab with substantial cybersecurity research groups. Comparable in conducting foundational cybersecurity research, training graduate students, and publishing open research outputs.
• Stanford Internet Observatory: Stanford's research program studying abuse of information technologies. Comparable academic cybersecurity research operation with federal and philanthropic funding and technology-driven focus on emerging threats.
• Georgia Tech Institute for Information Security & Privacy: Academic cybersecurity research institute at Georgia Tech with NSA/DHS Center of Academic Excellence designation. Conducts comparable research in hardware security, IoT, and privacy with similar federally funded portfolio.
• ICSI (International Computer Science Institute): Independent nonprofit computer science research lab affiliated with UC Berkeley. Comparable academic-style research organization with similar funding models, faculty-style researchers, and a focus on networking and security research.
• Carnegie Mellon CyLab: CMU's cybersecurity and privacy research hub, similarly designated as an NSA Center of Academic Excellence. Comparable academic model conducting multi-disciplinary cybersecurity research with strong industry and federal funding.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ISTS_Dartmouth
• YouTubeyoutube.com/dartmouthcollege/search?query=ists
• Facebookfacebook.com/ISTS.Dartmouth
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/dartmouth-college

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about ISTS