November 1, 2019
11:00am - 12:00pm
Donald Bren Hall 6011

My research group builds measurement tools to provide actionable observations of widespread issues with the reliability, security, and efficiency of computing and network infrastructure. Our approach is to develop and deploy data collection tools that can observe an entire population of systems and networks. Then, we design studies to capture the heterogeneity in how problems manifest in the real world. Finally, we develop and apply analysis techniques to identify how to mitigate the effects of these problems. In this talk I will present the results of our studies of two widespread problems with critical infrastructure: weather-induced Internet outages and criminals stealing payment card information from point of sale terminals. Inclement weather is one of the most persistent threats to Internet reliability. I will present the results of our eight year student that provides the first conclusive evidence that most weather conditions are accompanied by a statistically significant increase in the probability of Internet outages, and I will describe how weather has a disproportionate effect on specific regions and Internet link types. Although embedded systems are designed to make our lives easier, unfortunately criminals have repurposed our embedded technology for nefarious activity. Notably, criminals have created custom circuits inside point of sale terminals (namely gas pumps) that use Bluetooth to covertly steal payment card information from unsuspecting patrons. I will describe a tool we designed to evaluate if we can detect the Bluetooth signature of these devices with off-the-shelf smartphones. We provided the tool to federal (i.e., US Secret Service) and state inspectors (e.g., Weights and Measures Agencies) who used the tool at over 1,000 gas stations, and I will present the results of this large-scale study of its effectiveness.

Aaron Schulman is an Assistant Professor at University of California, San Diego. He develops and deploys tools to study the efficiency, reliability, and security of computing infrastructures. He earned his PhD in Computer Science from University of Maryland where he studied Internet reliability, he was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Michigan where he designed a tool to measure energy mobile device energy efficiency, and he was a Postdoc at Stanford where he found bottlenecks in cellular infrastructure and founded a company that helped Google improve the battery life of the Chrome web browser. He received the 2013 ACM SIGCOMM Doctoral Dissertation Award.