I'm an associate professor in the Secure Systems group (Team Gruss/CoreSec) at the Graz University of Technology, Institute of Applied Information Processing and Communications. In my research I explore software-based microarchitectural attacks and operating system features. I teach undergraduate courses such as Operating Systems (see Hall of Fame), and System-Level Programming, and graduate courses such as Embedded Security, and Security Aspects in Software Development.
Publications
Awards
- Intel's Outstanding Researcher Award, 2020
- NSA Best Scientific Cybersecurity Paper Award: "Spectre Attacks: Exploiting Speculative Execution", 2020
- IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy Distinguished Paper Award for "Spectre Attacks: Exploiting Speculative Execution", 2019
- Prize for Excellence in Teaching with the course "Operating Systems" (Graz University of Technology) 2017/2018
- ACM SIGSAC Doctoral Dissertation Award for outstanding PhD theses in Computer and Information Security 2017
- GI-Dissertationspreis for the best PhD thesis in computer science in German-speaking countries 2017
- Forum for Technology and Society (Graz University of Technology) Award for the best PhD thesis with particular Societal Relevance 2017
- Heinz Zemanek Award for the best PhD thesis in Computer Science in Austria 2016/2017
- Best Bachelor Thesis Award 2010/2011 (Institute of Applied Information Processing and Communications, Graz University of Technology)
Presentations
2021
September |
Rowhammer is here to stay
Talk @ DEEP conference, Virtual (PetrĨane, Croatia), September 29-30, 2021 |
June |
Platypus
Talk @ Red Hat Research Days 2021, Virtual, June 23, 2021 |
Inspectre Gadget
Talk @ ICHSA 2021, Virtual (Beer Sheva, Israel), June 1-2, 2021 |
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2020
November |
Faulting Hardware from Software
Talk @ SBA Research 2020, Virtual (Vienna, Austria), November 23, 2020 |
October |
Complexity Killed Security
Keynote @ BlackHat Asia 2020, Virtual (Marina Bay Sands, Singapore), September 29 - October 2, 2020 |
Page Cache Attacks: Microarchitectural Attacks on Flawless Hardware
Talk @ BlackHat Asia 2020, Virtual (Marina Bay Sands, Singapore), September 29 - October 2, 2020 |
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September |
Faulting Hardware from Software
Keynote @ FDTC 2020, Virtual, September 13, 2020 |
August |
Panel: The Joy of Coordinating Vulnerability Disclosure
Panelist @ DEF CON 2020, Virtual (Las Vegas, USA), August 6 - August 9, 2020 |
Plundervolt: Flipping Bits from Software without Rowhammer
Talk @ BlackHat USA 2020, Virtual (Las Vegas, USA), August 1 - August 6, 2020 |
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April |
LVI: Hijacking Transient Execution with Load Value Injection
Talk @ Hardwear.io Virtual Con, Online, April 30, 2020 |
Janaury |
Leaky Processors: Lessons from Spectre, Meltdown, and Foreshadow
Talk @ Redhat Research Day Europe, Brno, Czech Republic, January 23, 2020 |
2019
December |
ZombieLoad Attack
Talk @ 36th Chaos Communication Congress, Leipzig, Germany, December 27-30, 2019 |
Plundervolt: Flipping Bits from Software without Rowhammer
Talk @ 36th Chaos Communication Congress, Leipzig, Germany, December 27-30, 2019 |
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Side Channels and Transient Execution Attacks
Guest Talk @ Spritz Group, Padova, Italy, December 11, 2019 |
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Side Channels and Transient Execution Attacks
Guest Talk @ IST Austria, Klosterneuburg, Austria, December 5, 2019 |
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November |
Panel: Trade-offs in Cyber Security: what is the cost of security?
Panelist @ CYSARM, London, UK, November 15, 2019 |
Panel: Speculative Execution Attacks and Cloud Security
Panelist @ ACM CCSW, London, UK, November 11, 2019 |
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October |
Meltdown, Spectre, ZombieLoad
Invited Talk @ IKT-Sicherheitskonferenz, Fürstenfeld, Austria, October 1-2, 2019 |
SGX - Secure Enclaves als Angriffsvektor
Invited Talk @ IKT-Sicherheitskonferenz, Fürstenfeld, Austria, October 1-2, 2019 |
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September |
Cards Against Confusion
Talk @ SHARD Workshop, Leiden, Netherlands, September 23-27, 2019 |
Jumping Abstraction Layers: Microarchitectural Attacks in JavaScript
Guest Talk @ KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, September 18, 2019 |
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Side Channels and Transient Execution Attacks
Keynote @ No Hat 2019, Bergamo, Italy, September 14, 2019 |
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Hardware-Software Co-Design against Microarchitectural Attacks
Guest Talk @ KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, September 4, 2019 |
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August |
Microarchitectural Attacks
Talk / Lab @ FOSAD Summer School, Bertinoro, Italy, August 26-30, 2019 |
July |
Side Channels and Transient Execution Attacks
Guest Talk @ University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany, July 30, 2019 |
Software-based Microarchitectural Attacks and Operating System Features
Keynote @ International Conference on Software Security and Assurance, St. Pölten, Austria, July 25-26, 2019 |
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Mitigation Plans for Microarchitectural Attacks
Talk @ Security Group, ARM Research, Cambridge, UK, July 15, 2019 |
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Transient Execution Attacks
Guest Talk @ Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany, July 11, 2019 |
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Software-based Microarchitectural Attacks
Invited Talk @ Huawei Trusted Computing Workshop, Leuven, Belgium, July 8, 2019 |
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June |
Transient Execution Attacks
Invited Talk @ Summer School on Real-World Crypto and Privacy, Šibenik, Croatia, June 17-21, 2019 |
Introduction to Microarchitectural Attacks
Invited Talk @ Summer School on Real-World Crypto and Privacy, Šibenik, Croatia, June 17-21, 2019 |
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Hardware-Software Co-Design to Eliminate Cache Leakage
Talk @ Intel Side Channel Academic Program (SCAP) Annual Meeting, Hillsboro, OR, US, June 11-13, 2019 |
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May |
Microarchitectural Attacks
Training @ RuhrSec, Bochum, Germany, May 27-29, 2019 |
Meltdown, Spectre, ZombieLoad
Guest Talk @ VOICE CISO Meeting Berlin, Graz, Austria, May 16, 2019 |
|
April |
A Christmas Carol - The Spectres of the Past, Present, and Future
Talk @ Grazer Linuxtage, Graz, Austria, April 26-27, 2019 |
March |
Software-based Microarchitectural Attacks: What do we learn from Meltdown and Spectre?
Invited Talk @ #LetsCluster, Graz, Austria, March 26, 2019 |
How the Hardware undermines Software Security
Keynote @ ACM EuroSec'19 Workshop, Dresden, Germany, March 25, 2019 |
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February |
Microarchitectural Attacks and Beyond
Guest Talk @ CSAIL, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA, February 21, 2019 |
Microarchitectural Security
Keynote @ Boston University Red Hat Collaboratory Microarchitecture Workshop, Boston, MA, USA, February 20, 2019 |
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January |
Software-based Microarchitectural Attacks
Guest Talk @ SBAPrime, Vienna, Austria, January 23, 2019 |
2018
December |
A Christmas Carol - The Spectres of the Past, Present, and Future
Talk @ 35th Chaos Communication Congress, Leipzig, Germany, December 27-30, 2018 |
Meltdown, Spectre and Beyond
Invited Talk @ The Digital Society Conference 2018: Empowering Ecosystems, Berlin, Germany, December 10-11, 2018 |
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November |
Software-based Microarchitectural Attacks: What do we learn from Meltdown and Spectre?
Keynote @ inday students 2018, Innsbruck, Austria, November 29, 2018 |
Transient Execution Attacks: Meltdown, Spectre, and how to mitigate them
Invited Talk @ German OWASP Day 2018, Muenster, Germany, November 20, 2018 |
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October |
Software-based Microarchitectural Attacks: What do we learn from Meltdown and Spectre?
Invited Talk @ Aarhus University CS Colloqium, Aarhus, Denmark, October 26, 2018 |
September |
Recent Developments in Microarchitectural Attacks: Meltdown, Spectre, and Rowhammer
Invited Talk @ Conference on Cryptanalysis in Ubiquitous Computing Systems (CRYPTACUS), Rennes, France, September 18 - September 20, 2018 |
Software-based Microarchitectural Attacks: Meltdown and Spectre
Invited Talk @ Riscure User Workshop 2018, Amsterdam, Netherlands, September 13 - September 14, 2018 |
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Transient Execution Attacks
Guest Talk @ VUsec, Amsterdam, Netherlands, September 12, 2018 |
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(Why) Are Microarchitectural Attacks Really Different than Physical Side-Channel Attacks?
Invited Talk @ CHES (Conference on Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems) 2018, Amsterdam, Netherlands, September 9 - September 12, 2018 |
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Side-Channel Lab
Lab @ Graz Security Week 2018, Graz, Austria, September 3 - September 7, 2018 |
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Software-based Microarchitectural Attacks
Invited Talk @ Graz Security Week 2018, Graz, Austria, September 3 - September 7, 2018 |
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Hacking (in) Games - Protecting your Games and your Gamers
Invited Talk @ Game Dev Days Graz 2018, Graz, Austria, August 31 - September 2, 2018 |
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August |
Another Flip in the Row
Talk @ BlackHat USA 2018, Las Vegas, USA, August 4 - August 9, 2018 |
Meltdown: Basics, Details, Consequences
Talk @ BlackHat USA 2018, Las Vegas, USA, August 4 - August 9, 2018 |
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June |
Microarchitectural Attacks: From the Basics to Arbitrary Read and Write Primitives without any Software Bugs
Talk @ Radboud University Digital Security Group, Nijmegen, Netherlands, June 19, 2018 |
Microarchitectural Attacks: From the Basics to Arbitrary Read and Write Primitives without any Software Bugs
Invited Talk @ Austrian Computer Science Day, Salzburg, Austria, June 15, 2018 |
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Software-based Microarchitectural Attacks
Shortlisted Candidate Talk @ Forum Technik und Gesellschaft, Received the Graz University of Technology Förderpreis 2017/18 (Best Dissertation), Graz, Austria, June 6, 2018 |
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May |
Software-based Microarchitectural Attacks
Shortlisted Candidate Talk @ Oesterreichische Computer Gesellschaft, Received the Heinz Zemanek Preis for the Best Dissertation in Computer Science in Austria in 2016/2017, Vienna, Austria, May 30, 2018 |
Fehlerfreie Software und trotzdem unsicher? Eine Einführung in die Mikroarchitekturangriffe anhand von Meltdown, Spectre, und Rowhammer
Talk @ Monat der freien Bildung, Graz, Austria, May 25, 2018 |
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The Story of Meltdown and Spectre
Talk @ RuhrSec, Bochum, Germany, May 17-18, 2018 |
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Software-basierte Mikroarchitekturangriffe
Shortlisted Candidate Talk @ GI-Dissertationspreis 2017 Kolloquium, Dagstuhl, Germany, May 6-9, 2018 |
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April |
Microarchitectural Attacks: Meltdown and Spectre
Invited Talk @ Natixis Open Day, Porto, Portugal, April 21, 2018 |
How to have a Meltdown
Training @ CRYPTACUS Training School, Azores, Portugal, April 16-20, 2018 |
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Software-based Microarchitectural Attacks
Invited Talk @ CRYPTACUS Training School, Azores, Portugal, April 16-20, 2018 |
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Microarchitectural Attacks: From the Basics to Arbitrary Read and Write Primitives without any Software Bugs
Invited Talk @ Symposium and Bootcamp on the Science of Security (HotSoS), Raleigh, NC, USA, April 10-11, 2018 |
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March |
Software-based Microarchitectural Attacks
Invited Talk @ RISE Spring School, Cambridge, UK, March 28-29, 2018 |
Software-based Microarchitectural Attacks: What do we learn from Meltdown and Spectre?
Guest Talk @ Apple, Cupertino, California, USA, March 27, 2018 |
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Microarchitectural Attacks and the Case of Meltdown and Spectre
Invited Talk @ Insomni'hack, Geneva, Switzerland, March 22-23, 2018 |
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Software-based Microarchitectural Attacks
Talk @ Security and Privacy Group, University of Birmingham, UK, March 21, 2018 |
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Microarchitectural Attacks: Meltdown, Spectre, Rowhammer
Talk @ King's College London, UK, March 20, 2018 |
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Microarchitectural Attacks: From the Basics to Arbitrary Read and Write Primitives without any Software Bugs
Talk @ CISPA Saarland, Saarbrücken, Germany, March 16, 2018 |
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Microarchitectural Attacks: Meltdown, Spectre, Rowhammer
Invited Talk @ Austrian Trust Circle der öffentlichen Verwaltung, Salzburg, Austria, March 1, 2018 |
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February |
Kurzüberblick zu Meltdown und Spectre
Invited Talk @ Digitaldialog, Graz, Austria, February 27, 2018 |
Software-based Microarchitectural Attacks
Invited Talk @ NeCS Cyber Security Winter School, Trento, Italy, February 12-16, 2018 |
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Microarchitectural Attacks: From the Basics to Arbitrary Read and Write Primitives
Guest Talk @ Microsoft Research Cambridge, UK, February 05, 2018 |
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January |
Brief Overview on Meltdown and Spectre
Talk @ European Government CERT Meeting, Vienna, Austria, January 26, 2018 |
Microarchitectural Attacks and Defenses in JavaScript
Guest Talk @ Google, Munich, Germany, January 25, 2018 |
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Beyond Belief: The Case of Spectre and Meltdown
Keynote @ BlueHat IL, Tel Aviv, Israel, January 24, 2018 |
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Software-based Microarchitectural Attacks
Invited Talk @ CERT.at IT Security Stammtisch, Vienna, Austria, January 10, 2018 |
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2017
November |
Why SGX design flaws hinder its application in cloud computing
Invited Talk @ Workshop on Cryptography for the Internet of Things and Cloud, Bochum, Germany, November 06-07, 2017 |
October |
Oh my Cache! 2 - More fun with caches.
Guest Talk @ QSP Lab, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria, October 13, 2017 |
September |
Cash Attacks on SGX
Invited Talk @ Breaking Bitcoin, Paris, France, September 09-10, 2017 |
June |
Rowhammer Attacks: An Extended Walkthrough Guide
Guest Talk @ SBA Research, Vienna, Austria, June 27, 2017 |
May |
How processor performance is tied to side-channel leakage: With great speed comes great leakage
Talk @ Qualcomm Mobile Security Summit, San Diego, CA, USA, May 18-19, 2017 |
Rowhammer Attacks: A Walkthrough Guide
Talk @ RuhrSec, Bochum, Germany, May 4-5, 2017 |
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2016
October |
Microarchitectural Incontinence - You would leak too if you were so fast!
Invited talk @ 13th Hacktivity conference, Budapest, Hungary, October 21-22, 2016 |
Oh my Cache! - Introduction to having fun with your Cache.
Guest Talk @ QSP Lab, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria, October 21, 2016 |
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August |
Microarchitectural Attacks (and what we can do against them)
Guest Talk @ Constructive Security Group, Microsoft Research Cambridge, UK, August 25, 2016 |
Software-based Microarchitectural Attacks
Guest Talk @ Qualcomm, San Diego, California, USA, August 8, 2016 |
|
Using Undocumented CPU Behavior to See into Kernel Mode and Break KASLR in the Process
Talk @ BlackHat USA 2016, Las Vegas, USA, July 30 - August 4, 2016 |
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April |
Cache Side-Channel Attacks and the case of Rowhammer
Invited talk @ RuhrSec, Bochum, Germany, April 28-29, 2016 |
2015
December |
Rowhammer.js: Root privileges for web apps?
Talk @ 32nd Chaos Communication Congress, Hamburg, Germany, December 27-30, 2015 |
November |
Software-based Side-Channel and Fault Attacks
Invited Talk @ MooseCon 2015, Palo Alto, California, USA, November 19-20, 2015 |
Service
- Conference Chair: DIMVA'23 (PC chair), DIMVA'22 (PC co-chair)
- Technical Program Committee: DIMVA'23, DIMVA'22, SEC'22, AsiaCCS'22, CCS'21, SEC'21, AsiaCCS'21, WOOT'21, EuroSec'21, ESORICS'21, EuroSec'20, SEC'20, TCHES'20, WOOT'20, DIMVA'20, WOOT'19, SEC'19, CARDS'19, BlueHat IL'19, CCS'18, WOOT '18, SPACE'18, WoSSCA'18, Kangacrypt'18