Abstract: Protecting sensitive user data and proprietary programs are fundamental and important challenges. For instance, when users outsource their private data to the cloud, they risk leakage of the data in the event of a data breach; encrypting their data is not a workable solution since it impedes the cloud provider's ability to offer user-specific services. When companies execute proprietary programs on third-party cloud providers, they similarly face the risk of leaking trade secrets.
In this talk, I will discuss efficient data-oblivious computation and show how it can be applied to address each of the above. In particular, I will introduce GraphSC, an efficient, parallel, secure-computation framework for running data-mining algorithms on private user data that allows programmers to express computation tasks using the familiar GraphLab abstraction. I will then present HOP, a secure processor designed to obfuscate proprietary programs. I will conclude with an overview of my other ongoing and future research on privacy-preserving computation and blockchains.
Bio: I am a fifth year Ph.D. student in the Computer Science Department at the University Of Maryland, College Park. I am advised by Professor Jonathan Katz and Professor Elaine Shi. I am a recipient of the 2016 Google PhD fellowship in Security.
I work in the area of security and applied cryptography. My research is directed towards designing and building systems for privacy-preserving computation using approaches such as secure multiparty computation and secure processor design. I have also worked towards efficient oblivious computation which provides a foundation for these, and other related systems. Specifically, I have worked to improve the I/O efficiency (bandwidth, locality, etc.) of oblivious computation for general RAM programs as well as specific data-structures and algorithms.
In the past year, I have started working towards the design of efficient and robust blockchains. My work has identified problems in existing blockchains such as Bitcoin as well as designed blockchains in both, permissioned and permissionless settings.
A reception for attendees will be held at 3:30 p.m. in CS 150