[CSEE Talk] talk: Forensics to Security: Securing Complex Systems through Data-driven Investigation, 1pm 2/19 UMBC

[Tim Finin]

           From Forensics to Security: Securing Complex
             Systems through Data-driven Investigation

                           Robert Walls
                   Pennsylvania State University

           1:00 Friday, 19 February 2016, ITE 325b, UMBC

The cornerstone of modern security is understanding when and how
systems are abused and exploited. Gathering such knowledge is
essential as decades of experience demonstrate the infeasibility
of building perfectly secure systems.  Yet, the systems with the
greatest need of securing---such as those underpinning critical
Internet services---are often the most difficult to study.

In this talk, I will focus on my research efforts in digital
forensics and security to study the abuse of complex and
inter-connected systems.  My work has focused on multiple aspects
of this endeavor, including the analysis of partially structured
data, the use of semantic relationships and investigator feedback
to identify relevant information, and the transition of research
results into practical tools and techniques.


Robert Walls is a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Department of
Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at The Pennsylvania
State University. His research interests include systems security
and digital forensics. He is currently studying the abuse of
Internet infrastructure, including advertising networks and the
Domain Name System (DNS).  Previously, he worked with law
enforcement to develop novel forensic techniques for
investigating crimes. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science
from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2014.  He is also
a recipient of the Yahoo!  Key Scientific Challenges Award.

Host: Tim Finin, finin at umbc.edu

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