{"630824":{"#nid":"630824","#data":{"type":"news","title":" New Professor is Taking the Measure of Cybersecurity\u2019s Toughest Problems","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ECybercrime is one of the most pressing security threats today, but it\u0026rsquo;s almost impossible to detect. Yet new Assistant Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/~pearce\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPaul Pearce\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E thinks measuring attacks is one of the first ways to better understand them and shutdown future threats.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;If we want to figure out how to effectively mitigate these threats, really understanding how they work is a core facet of that,\u0026rdquo; Pearce said. \u0026ldquo;That\u0026rsquo;s where my work is: designing methods and systems, and conducting studies to really understand these threats.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPearce\u0026rsquo;s research in this area earned a \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.sigsac.org\/award\/diss-awards.html\u0022\u003ESpecial Interest Group on Security, Audit and Control Doctoral Dissertation Award\u003C\/a\u003E Runner-Up honor at the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.sigsac.org\/ccs\/CCS2019\/\u0022\u003EAssociation for Computing Machinery Conference on Computer and Communications Security\u003C\/a\u003E in London last month.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPractical computer science\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPearce has always been interested in computers. Although he never had a chance to take classes in high school, he won several hacking competitions at community colleges he attended before transferring to University of California, Berkeley to study electrical engineering and computer science.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDuring his studies, he preferred research with practical applications, eventually discovering an interest in cybersecurity during his Ph.D. at Berkeley. Under his advisor, Professor \u003Cstrong\u003EVern Paxson\u003C\/strong\u003E, Pearce joined the Center for Evidence-based Security Research, a research center that focuses on the economic and social motivations behind cybercrime.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I gravitate toward stuff that has direct measurable impact in problems that are still important,\u0026rdquo; he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECombatting cybercrime\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDuring his Ph.D., Pearce tackled some of the largest and most nebulous cybersecurity problems: cybercrime and censorship.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECybercrime covers everything from denial of service attacks to malware. Despite its prevalence, cybercrime is difficult to recognize because the attackers\u0026rsquo; goal is to make money as quickly as possible rather than using advanced tactics that are easier to trace.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPearce\u0026rsquo;s research has focused on advertising abuse, such as bots that click on ads to make money for companies. Applying new hybrid tools to real-world situations, Pearce identified weak links in underground advertising abuse structures. Working with law enforcement and Microsoft, Pearce mitigated fraud in the network and helped take down one of the most prominent bots.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMeasuring censorship\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECensorship is an entirely different problem, but equally as complex as cybercrimes.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;In the cybercrime case, you know where to start,\u0026rdquo; Pearce said. \u0026ldquo;With censorship, though, how do you even know what to measure and where do measure it from?\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECompounding these issues, censorship is even more challenging to measure remotely, and even if there is one consistent source, that data may not be accurate.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETo measure censorship, Pearce developed methods and layers of the network stack to be able to remotely infer censorship. By using common cybersecurity concepts such as side channels and checking manipulation of the Domain Name Servers (DNS) layer, Pearce was able to obtain measurements.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn the future, Pearce plans to continue this work here. With its strong cybersecurity department, Georgia Tech is the ideal place to pursue this research for Pearce, who joined the school in fall 2019.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Paul Pearce joins the School of Computer Science."}],"uid":"34541","created_gmt":"2020-01-09 15:54:37","changed_gmt":"2020-01-09 16:00:13","author":"Tess Malone","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2020-01-09T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2020-01-09T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"630825":{"id":"630825","type":"image","title":"Paul Pearce","body":null,"created":"1578585467","gmt_created":"2020-01-09 15:57:47","changed":"1578585467","gmt_changed":"2020-01-09 15:57:47","alt":"Paul Pearce","file":{"fid":"240131","name":"head shot session_MG_9156.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/head%20shot%20session_MG_9156.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/head%20shot%20session_MG_9156.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":345340,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/head%20shot%20session_MG_9156.jpg?itok=weOobahT"}}},"media_ids":["630825"],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"50875","name":"School of Computer Science"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"145171","name":"Cybersecurity"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETess Malone, Communications Officer\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:tess.malone@cc.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Etess.malone@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}