[UCI-Calit2] WINE for Repeatable Experiments in Computer Security - 2/28

[Anna Lynn Spitzer]

SCONCE (Secure Computing and Networking Center) and Department of Computer Sciences Seminar:

 

Title:                               WINE for Repeatable Experiments in Computer Security

Speaker:                          Marc Dacier, senior director, Symantec Research

Time:                               9:30-10:30 a.m.

Date:                               Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012

Location:                         Donald Bren Hall, Room 6011

 

 

ABSTRACT:

Despite several decades of existence, research in computer security does not seem to have reached maturity yet; activities remain highly partitioned, a number of different communities exist that too often fail to cross-fertilize each other, old problems get rejuvenated despite past accomplishments, etc. More importantly, results are rarely obtained by the rigorous application of a scientific method. The reasons certainly lie, among other things, in the fact that the object under scrutiny is constantly changing. The threats landscape is a moving target. This has especially been true during the last two years, with outbreaks of worms such as Hydraq, Stuxnet and, very recently, Duqu. They were real eye-openers for many. Furthermore, this rapid evolution is worsening by the mere existence of malicious adversaries who aim at defeating or circumventing any progress made towards a safer world. 

 

In this talk, we claim that finding efficient, acceptable and usable solutions against these threats require the possibility for researchers to conduct rigorous empirical research. Unfortunately, very few teams have access to large, real-world, representative data sets that would enable them to carry out such experimental validation of new ideas. Absence of such data often leads to what we call "Dahusian research," initiatives that are intellectually stimulating but not very useful when confronted with real-world problems. 

 

Symantec Research has built a new environment, named WINE (Worldwide Intelligence Network Environment), which aims to address this problem. We will briefly present the core ideas behind it, what it is made of and how to get access to it. WINE offers access to sampled data feeds, which are used internally at Symantec. It allows researchers to define reference data sets, for validating new techniques or for conducting empirical studies, and provides the metadata needed for understanding the results. WINE archives these reference data sets in order to facilitate repeatable experiments and to enable meaningful comparisons against the prior art. Moreover, the field data included in WINE will likely provide key insights across a broad spectrum of disciplines, such as software reliability, computer security, machine learning, networking, economics or visual analytics, to name a few. 

 

More information on WINE is also available online: www.symantec.com/WINE

 

BIO:

Marc Dacier, Ph.D., is a senior director at Symantec Research Labs, where he is in charge of the Collaborative Advanced Research Department (CARD). His team is located in Sophia Antipolis (France), Washington D.C and Los Angeles. CARD focuses on innovation and development of next-generation technologies. In addition to internal advancements, Dacier¹s team collaborates on joint projects with external government agencies, universities and businesses that include both long-term studies and short-range improvements that provide immediate benefit to Symantec customers across all business segments and markets.  Prior to joining Symantec, Dacier taught networking and operational  computing security at Eurecom, a graduate school and research centre in communications systems and one of Europe¹s most active academic research institutions, especially in the field of network and computer security. In addition to his extensive work in academia, Dacier was manager of the Global Security Analysis Lab at IBM Zurich Research Laboratory for seven years. An internationally recognized expert in computer and network security, he has served on more than 100 program committees of major security and dependability conferences and as a member of the editorial board of several technical journals. He has co-authored more than 60 papers in peer-reviewed conferences and journals. Dacier holds a master's degree in computer sciences from the Université Catholique de Louvain and a Ph.D. in computer sciences from the Institute National Polytechnique de Toulouse.

 

HOST:                              Gene Tsudik, gene.tsudik at uci.edu.

 

 

 

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