Fall 2021 Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) Seminar Series

"Secure Heterogeneous Systems"
 Hoda Naghibijouybari, 
Binghamton University

Faculty Host: Prof. Hyeran Jeon

Abstract:

Modern Computing systems are increasingly heterogeneous. This is true at every scale, from high-end servers and high-performance computing clusters all the way down to low-power end-user devices including mobile phones and tablets. Typically heterogeneous systems combine one or more traditional processors (CPUs) to run the operating system and traditional workloads along with general-purpose or specialized accelerators to perform application-specific computations. While these systems offer superior performance and power efficiency, they also expose new vulnerabilities and security problems due to their complex architectures. It is necessary to understand the security properties of such systems and develop systems that are not only performant but also secure.

In this talk, I will present my research on security of heterogeneous systems against microarchitectural attacks, with a focus on covert- and side-channel attacks. Such attacks exploit shared microarchitectural resources to exfiltrate sensitive information. I will also discuss research opportunities and my planned research at the intersection of emerging heterogeneous architectures and security.

Speaker Bio:

Hoda Naghibijouybari is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Computer Science at Binghamton University. Prior to joining Binghamton University, she received her Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from the University of California, Riverside in 2020. Her research interests include architectural support for security, computer architecture, and heterogeneous systems. In particular, her research focuses on investigating vulnerabilities in modern system architectures and designing secure systems. Her research has resulted in finding new attacks that have been disclosed to processor manufacturing companies, and received coverage from technical news outlets. Her paper on GPU security was selected as top pick in Hardware and Embedded Security in 2019.