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

Dr. Robert Walls
Pennsylvania State University

1:00pm 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.

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