Research
Data Driven Security Research (ongoing)
I work in systems security, with a particular focus on applying Big Data
techniques to security problems.
While at Symantec Research Labs, I built the Worldwide Intelligence Network Environment
(WINE), which provides a unique analytics platform that is available to the research
community.
This platform allowed us to measure the duration of zero-day attacks, to design
Internet-wide models of software dissemination and to evaluate the
real-world impact of security technologies.
[more information …]
Past Projects
My overall research goal is to address the questions of why computer systems fail or behave unpredictably, why they become unavailable to their users for extended periods of time, and why they fall victim to cyber attacks. I worked on improving the dependability of large-scale distributed systems (addressing operator errors during software upgrades), of enterprise systems (addressing the predictability of fault-tolerant middleware), and of embedded systems (addressing soft errors in networks-on-chip).
Dependable, Online Upgrades in Distributed Systems
In my Ph.D. thesis, I identified the leading causes of both unplanned failures (breaking hidden dependencies) and planned downtime (migrating persistent data) when upgrading large-scale enterprise systems. Building on empirically-derived insights on current upgrade practices and problems, I proposed a mechanism that harnesses the opportunities provided by emerging technologies, such as cloud computing, to improve the dependability of end-to-end upgrades in distributed systems.
[more information …]Adaptive Dependability for Fault-Tolerant Middleware
I designed and implemented the MEAD (Middleware for Embedded Adaptive Dependability) system, for providing transparent fault-tolerance and adaptation to legacy CORBA applications.
[more information …]Fault-Tolerant Communication in Networks-on-Chip
I proposed the first fault-tolerant communication protocol for networks-on-chip (NoC).
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