Security

The goal of our group is to provide a scientific understanding of the sources of insecurity in computer systems, and to apply this understanding to the construction of new software and systems that come with guarantees about how they will behave when under attack.

Security and privacy are concerns that cut across all subdisciplines in Computer Science, so we continually work closely with researchers from other areas to find new challenges and opportunities. As a result, our research covers a broad range of topics, including authentication, language-based security, secure information flow, system and network security, cryptographic protocols, privacy, and mechanisms for accountability and transparency. However, our work on these topics is united by the view that security is impossible to achieve without a solid footing in rigorous techniques, precise definitions, and an appreciation of the nuances in real systems that are oftentimes at the core of these problems.