The Center for Research on Computation and Society continues its
weekly lunch seminar:

CRCS Privacy and Security Lunch Seminar
Date: Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Time: 12:00pm-1:30 pm
Place: Maxwell Dworkin 2nd Floor Lounge Area

Speaker: Carl Landwehr

Title: IARPA Information Assurance Research

Abstract: IARPA, just past its first birthday, sponsors high-risk/high-payoff research that has the potential to provide the U.S. with an overwhelming intelligence advantage over our future adversaries. This talk will introduce IARPA and survey recent information assurance research conducted under IARPA sponsorship that aims to raise the bar substantially for attackers and to support accountable information flow. The technologies involved cover a broad range, from techniques that support tying a computation to a particular silicon chip to assuring that routers are configured in accordance with specified policies to automatically diversifying software to renewing the Internet. A new program to develop practical methods for symmetric private information retrieval will be introduced. The talk will close with a short discussion of potential new program areas aimed at providing trustworthy computing in an infrastructure that may be compromised. Audience participaton in this discussion will be welcomed.

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The Center for Research on Computation and Society continues its
weekly lunch seminar:

CRCS Privacy and Security Lunch Seminar
Date: Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Time: 12:00pm-1:30 pm
Place: Maxwell Dworkin 119

Speaker: Ben Edelman

Title: The Darker Side of Online Advertising

Abstract: The best online ads are well-targeted, unobtrusive, and even useful. But ads can also go far astray. For example, various scammers claim payment for purportedly delivering ads, when in fact the ads were invisible, duplicative, or never shown at all. For advertisers, this fraud wastes limited budgets. For publishers and networks, fraud destabilizes platforms and reduces the earnings of legitimate participants. I’ll show a variety of the examples I’ve uncovered in several years of hands-on testing. Then we’ll think through the implications of these attacks, including suitable defenses through manual auditing, automated detection, and economic incentives.

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