Title: Securing Modern Systems by Preventing Information Leaks
Kangjie Lu
Ph.D. Candidate
School of Computer Science
College of Computing
Georgia Institute of Technology
Date: Wednesday, July 19, 2017
Time: 10AM-12PM EDT
Location: KACB 3100
Committee:
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Dr. Wenke Lee (Advisor), School of Computer Science, Georgia Tech
Dr. Taesoo Kim (Co-advisor), School of Computer Science, Georgia Tech
Dr. Mustaque Ahamad, School of Computer Science, Georgia Tech
Dr. William R. Harris, School of Computer Science, Georgia Tech
Dr. Debin Gao, Singapore Management University
Dr. Michael Backes, Saarland University and MPI-SWS
Abstract:
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Foundational software systems such as operating systems and web
servers are always implemented in unsafe programming languages for
efficiency, and system designers often prioritize performance over
security. Hence, these systems inherently suffer from a variety of
vulnerabilities and insecure designs that have been exploited by
adversaries to launch critical system attacks. Two typical goals of
these attacks are to leak sensitive data and to control victim
systems.
This thesis work aims to defeat both data leaks and control attacks.
We first identify that, in modern systems, preventing information
leaks can be a general defense that not only stops data leaks but
also defeats control attacks. We then investigate three ways to
prevent information leaks: eliminating information-leak
vulnerabilities in code, re-designing system mechanisms against
information leaks, and protecting certain sensitive data from
information leaks. We develop multiple tools for each way. While
automatically and reliably securing complex systems, all these tool
impose negligible performance overhead. We conclude that preventing
information leaks can be a general and practical approach to
securing complex modern systems.
- In Campus Calendar
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No
- Groups
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Graduate Studies
- Invited Audience
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Faculty/Staff, Public, Undergraduate students
- Categories
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Other/Miscellaneous
- Keywords
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Phd Defense
- Status
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- Created By: Tatianna Richardson
- Workflow Status: Published
- Created On: Jul 17, 2017 - 2:16pm
- Last Updated: Jul 17, 2017 - 2:16pm