Fellow: Earl Barr
I3P Member hosting fellow: University of California, Davis
Title of Work: Obfuscation Engines and Malware
Earl Barr will be studying obfuscation engines: programs that transform human readable code into indecipherable or hidden code. Obfuscation techniques have both legitimate and nefarious applications. Barr will examine each, performing cost/benefit analyses from the perspectives of both the obfuscator and the de-obfuscator.
Fellow: David Dagon
I3P Member hosting fellow: The Georgia Tech Information Security Center
Title of Work: Critical Infrastructure Monitoring, Analysis, and Protection
David Dagon’s research will focus on the Domain Name System (DNS), the method by which the names of online services are translated into numerical addresses for proper routing. Current DNS protocols can be manipulated, allowing an attacker to direct users entering legitimate URLs to malicious IP addresses. Although secure versions of the DNS are being developed, they will take years to deploy, Dagon hopes to develop interim solutions.
For more information on our current fellows, read the Spring 2009 edition of our quarterly newsetter.
See also: Past Participants in the I3P Postdoctoral Fellowship Program
