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CSE Colloquium: Benjamin Ujcich
March 26, 2020 @ 9:00 am - 10:00 am UTC-5
Speaker: Benjamin Ujcich, Ph.D. candidate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Date: Thursday, March 26
Time: 9-10am
Location: Zoom, https://illinois.zoom.us/j/497383299
Meeting ID: 497 383 299
Title:
Securing Software-Defined Networking and Network Operating Systems
Abstract:
Software-defined networking (SDN) has seen rapid growth because of its unparalleled flexibility in network configuration. This flexibility results from programmable control planes in which developers can write network apps and operators can execute them. Network operating systems oversee shared control plane resources. Although SDN has been touted as a solution to long-standing challenges of consistent network security policy enforcement, SDN is vulnerable to new attack vectors that undermine such policies. In this talk, I will detail my efforts to explore attack vectors that impact the SDN control plane and network operating system security. These efforts have led to the design and implementation of information flow control in the SDN control plane, the systematic discovery of 15 novel control plane vulnerabilities in popular network operating systems used by telecommunications and cloud providers, and the use of data provenance and program analysis techniques to analyze and record the SDN control plane’s control and data dependencies. Using these approaches, I will demonstrate that we can prevent cross-app and cross-plane attack classes during design time and during execution. By addressing key security concerns about SDN, this work builds a solid foundation for better and more secure network operating system design.
Biography:
Benjamin E. Ujcich is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he is co-advised by Professors Adam Bates and William H. Sanders in the study of secure computer systems and networks. Ben has conducted research on topics in network security, network dependability, and legal and regulatory influence on systems design. His dissertation is in the area of securing software-defined networks and network operating systems using data provenance and program analysis techniques. He was the recipient of the University of Illinois’ Grainger College of Engineering Carver Fellowship in 2014. He received his B.S. in Computer Engineering in 2014 from Clemson University, his M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2016 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and will earn his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering in the spring of 2020 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Ben has participated in graduate research internships at MIT Lincoln Laboratory.
