CSE433/533 - Computer and Network Security Security Research Methods

Professor Kevin Butler Winter 2011

Computer and Information Science

Reading papers
What is the purpose of reading papers? How do you read papers?

CIS 433/533: Computer and Network Security

Understanding what you read

Things you should be getting out of a paper What is the central idea proposed/explored in the paper?
Abstract Introduction Conclusions

These are the best areas to find an overview of the contribution

How does this work fit into others in the area? Related work - often a separate section, sometimes not, every paper should detail the relevant literature. Papers that do not do this or do a superficial job are almost sure to be bad ones. An informed reader should be able to read the related work and understand the basic approaches in the area, and how they differ from the present work.
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Understanding what you read (cont.)

What scientific devices are the authors using to

communicate their point? Methodology - this is how they evaluate their solution.
Theoretical papers typically validate a model using

mathematical arguments (e.g., proofs)

Experimental papers evaluate results based on test

apparatus (e.g., measurements, data mining, synthetic workload simulation, trace-based simulation).
Empirical research evaluates by measurement. Some papers have no evaluation at all, but argue the

merits of the solution in prose (e.g., paper design papers)

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Understanding what you read (cont.)

What do the authors claim? Results - statement of new scientific discovery.
Typically some abbreviated form of the results will be

present in the abstract, introduction, and/or conclusions.

Note: just because a result was accepted into a

conference or journal does necessarily not mean that it is true. Always be circumspect.

What should you remember about this paper? Take away - what general lesson or fact should you take away from the paper. Note that really good papers will have take-aways that are more general than the paper topic.
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Summarize Thompson Article

Contribution Motivation Related work Methodology Results Take away

CIS 433/533: Computer and Network Security

A Sample Summary
Contribution: Ken Thompson shows how hard it is to trust the security of

software in this paper. He describes an approach whereby he can embed a Trojan horse in a compiler that can insert malicious code on a trigger (e.g., recognizing a login program). Motivation: People need to recognize the security limitations of programming. Related Work: This approach is an example of a Trojan horse program. A Trojan horse is a program that serves a legitimate purpose on the surface, but includes malicious code that will be executed with it. Examples include the Sony/BMG rootkit: the program provided music legitimately, but also installed spyware. Methodology: The approach works by generating a malicious binary that is used to compile compilers. Since the compiler code looks OK and the malice is in the binary compiler compiler, it is difficult to detect. Results: The system identifies construction of login programs and miscompiles the command to accept a particular password known to the attacker. Take away: What is the transcendent truth????? (see next slide)
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Turtles all the way down ...

Take away: Thompson states the obvious moral that you cannot trust code

that you did not totally create yourself. We all depend on code, but constructing a basis for trusting it is very hard, even today. ... or trust in security is an infinite regression ...
A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: "What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise." The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, "What is the tortoise standing on?" "You're very clever, young man, very clever", said the old lady. "But it's turtles all the way down!" - Hawking, Stephen (1988). A Brief History of Time.
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Reading a paper
Everyone has a different way of reading a paper. Here are some guidelines I use:
Always have a copy to mark-up. Your margin notes will serve

as invaluable sign-posts when you come back to the paper (e.g., here is the experimental setup or main result described here)
After reading, write a summary of the paper containing

answers to the questions in the preceding slides. If you cant answer (at least at a high level) these questions without referring to the paper, it may be worth scanning again.

Over the term, try different strategies for reading

papers and see which one is the most effective for you.
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Reading a systems security paper

What is the security model? Who are the participants and adversaries What are the assumptions of trust (trust model) What are the relevant risks/threats What are the constraints? What are the practical limitations of the environment To what degree are the participants available What is the solution? How are the threats reasonably addressed How do they evaluate the solution What is the take away? key idea/design, e.g., generalization (not solely

engineering) Hint: I will ask these questions when evaluating course project.
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Course Projects
The course project requires the students execute

some limited research in security.

Demonstrate applied knowledge Dont try to learn some new non-security field Be realistic about what is possible in a one quarter. However, the work should reflect real thought and effort.

The grade will be based on: novelty, depth,

correctness, clarity of presentation, and effort. Structure

1-4 students per group Single person suggested if you will work in security.
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Deliverables
The chief product of the project will be a 10-15 page

conference style paper. There will be several milestones:

Project Choice (1/13/11) Abstract, Background and Related Work (1/27/11) Experiment Proposal (2/10/11) Project Status Slides (2/24/11) Project Presentation (3/10/11) Final Project Write-up (3/13/11)

This is a very important factor in your grade (30%)

An exceptionally good (poor) project may help (kill) grade
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Project Choice
Due on Jan 13, 5:00 PM Order list of projects
Choose three projects in order of interest

Choose up to 3 collaborators (optional)

Get a sense of groupings

I will approve/choose your project and group

Hopefully, I can resolve the constraints implied One group per project A functional group
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Topic Examples
Web systems
Evaluate the security of PHP, Apache extension ...

Operating systems
Create your own Linux security module to monitor all system

calls and measure inter-process communication (*) Cloud Systems Design a cloud component for ensuring data security

User Studies
Measure the effectiveness of passwords, card systems

Network security
Build a intrusion detection system that watches IM msgs (*)

Note: picking a topic is very important, and should

almost certainly involve an area that you know well

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Why write a paper?

There are many reasons to write a paper:
Articulate a new idea, thought, or observation ... Document your research ... Talk about new (observed) phenomenon .... Advance your career ... Because you have to ... Reality: publication is the coin of the realm in science,

failure to do this successfully will lead to failure. You have to be effective at this to be a good (a) graduate student, (b) faculty member, or [sometimes] (c) researcher in professional research laboratory (IBM/AT&T/MS)
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Where to publish?
Venues for publication:
Tech report Workshop Conference Journal

Often your work will work through

these from preliminary to archival versions of the work, sometimes branching or joining.

Book: less frequent, more work.

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Publication Tiers
Not all publication venues are valued the same.

Publication tiers tell the story

1st tier - IEEE S&P, USENIX Sec, CCS,

TISSEC, JCS
1.5 NDSS

2nd tier - ACSAC, ACNS, ESORICS, CSF,

RAID, TOIT
3rd tier - SecureComm, ICISS 4th tier - HICSS
SCIgen (WMSCI 2005)
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Journal publication
EIC Assign AE

Start

The editor-in-chief (EIC)

AE Assign to Reviewers

receives the papers as they are submitted.

The papers are assigned to
Assign to Reviewer Author Prepare Revision

Assign to Reviewer

Assign to Reviewer

associate editors for handling.

Anonymous reviewers rate the

Review Assign Rating

Review Assign Rating

Review Assign Rating

paper:
Major Revision or Minor Revision

Accept without changes Minor revision Major revision Reject

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AE Evaluate

Reject

Accept

Reject

Accept

CIS 433/533: Computer and Network Security

Conference Publication
Start

The PC Chair is the

Chair Assign to PC Members

person who marshals the reviewing and decisions of a conference. This is different than the general chair.
PC Member Assign Rating

PC Member Assign Rating

PC Member Assign Rating

PC members review, rate

Reject

No

Discuss at PC Meeting?

and discuss, the paper, then vote on which ones are accepted.
The acceptance rate is the
Accept

PC Meeting Discussion

ratio of accepted to submitted papers.

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CIS 433/533: Computer and Network Security

Paper evaluation
A paper is evaluated on
Novelty Correctness Impact Presentation Relevance hotness

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Parts of a paper
Parts of paper (vast generalization)

1.Abstract 2.Introduction 3.Related Work/Background 4.Solution/Problem 5.Evaluation/Analysis/Experiment 6.Discussion (often, but not always) 7.Conclusions
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Abstract
One sentence each for:
Area Topic of work Problem Whats the issue? Solution How do you propose to address the problem? Methodology Whats the experiment? Results What did you find? Take Away: Lesson
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Introduction
One paragraph each on: Area
More elaborate

Problem
Scenario

Why is problem not solved

Brief of related work or the challenge

Proposed insight (In this paper, ...)

What is the experiment?

Contributions -- What will the reader learn? Boilerplate outline (?)

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Related work/Background
This is a statement of the work that led to this one.
who this work relies on who has done work in the area areas that inspired this work (not just technology)

There are several reasons for related work section:

Motivate the current work Differentiate from past work Establish bona fides

Background
Outline the Problem May use an example scenario Material Related to the Solution Why hasnt it been solved
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Background and Experiment

Experiment Means of showing truth Big Insight -- Hypothesis -- Claim
Show why it is interesting

Expected Results
Informal proof/argument that is true

Experiment types
Empirical - measure some aspect of the solution Analytical - prove something about solution Observational - show something about solution
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Implementation and Results

Implementation: Experimental Platform Exact specification of platform Design may have more than implementation -- what did you implement? How are key design features/mechanisms implemented? Results Summarize -- what do the results mean? Specific experiments
We did X, saw Y

What do the experiments prove What other experiments would you want to do based on

these results?
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Conclusion
Like the abstract in past tense Problem What was the problem? Solution What was the insight and why was it expected to work? Method and Results What did you find? Take away: Lesson Future work
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Hint
Intro: tell them what you are going to tell them Body: tell them Conclusion: tell them what you told them.

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