Computer Science Alum Seminar by Daniel Votipka - A Career in Software Vulnerability Discovery: From Practitioner to Researcher

Speaker: Daniel Votipka

Title: A Career in Software Vulnerability Discovery: From Practitioner to Researcher

Abstract: In this talk, Illinois Institute of Technology alum Daniel Votipka (CS '10), will discuss his career after graduating from Illinois Tech, with a focus on his work in software reverse engineering. This includes his time at the National Security Agency working in Computer Network Exploitation, as well as his past and ongoing research which takes a human-centric approach to software reverse engineering to build tools and education to make these tasks more accessible. 

Speaker Bio: Daniel Votipka is the Lin Family Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Tufts University. He received his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Maryland and holds a BS in Computer Science from the Illinois Institute of Technology. His work focuses on understanding the processes and mental models of professionals who perform security-related tasks such as secure development, vulnerability discovery, network defense, and malware analysis to make security work more accessible and inclusive through improvements in automation, education, and policy. His work has been recognized with multiple best paper awards at top security and HCI venues, as well as a Google Research Scholar Award. Previously, he served in the US Air Force as a Cyber Warfare Officer assigned to the National Security Agency.