The public lecture series “Sustainability in Computer Science” continues on December 2, 2024.

Sebastian Schrittwieser is a Senior Scientist at the Faculty of Computer Science at the University of Vienna. He will hold his lecture on “Protecting Software Against Man-At-The-End Attacks: The Efficiency Challenge”.

Abstract

In today’s world, software is ubiquitous and deeply integrated into many aspects of our lives, including critical industries. This widespread use of software creates a need for effective security measures, especially in scenarios where software is directly exposed to potential attackers. In a so-called Man-At-The-End (MATE) attack scenario, an attacker has physical access to a device and therefore complete control over the software it runs. Maintaining the integrity of software - ensuring that it works as intended without unauthorised changes - and protecting the confidentiality of the assets it contains is therefore an essential foundation for trustworthy IT systems. Over the past 30 years, many software protection techniques have been introduced, all aimed at making MATE attacks more difficult. These can be classified as code obfuscation (protection against analysis), software tamper-proofing (protection against modification), and watermarking and fingerprinting (to mark instances of the software).

However, these security measures come at a cost. They tend to increase the size of software and significantly reduce its run-time efficiency by consuming more processing power and memory, leading to a trade-off between protection and efficiency. Finding the right balance is crucial, but challenging as no well-defined level of security for software protection exists. This is partly due to the fact that attackers are human, and therefore hard-to-measure characteristics such as motivation, creativity, and persistence play an important role in the success of code analysis attacks. The newly established Christian Doppler Laboratory for Assurance and Transparency in Software Protection borrows methods from complexity science and involves human reverse engineers to explore the quantifiability of the strength of software protection methodologies. This lecture gives an introduction to the core concepts of software protection, current research challenges towards quantifying the strength of protections, and how code efficiency of protected software can be optimised in the future.

Slides

• Sebastian Schrittwieser: Protecting Software Against Man-At-The-End Attacks: The Efficiency Challenge
  PDF / 2.91 MB / 2024-12-02-Slides-Sebastian-Schrittwieser.pdf

Join us

Whether you’re a student, a professional looking to expand your knowledge, or a citizen interested in sustainability issues – this lecture series is open to anyone. Switch on your laptop and join us via Zoom!

About Lecture Series “Sustainability in Computer Science”

With climate change rapidly advancing, Sustainability is no longer an option, but a must. Targeting economic, social, and ecological issues through sustainable development has to become our top priority - a priority that’s underpinned by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Computer Science (CS), and more recently, Artificial Intelligence (AI), has been hailed as the solution to many sustainability problems (and yes, it is!). Still, ensuring energy efficiency and reducing CO2 emissions are crucial to guarantee the responsible and equitable use of our reseources. The relationship between informatics and sustainability has two key dimensions: Sustainability with CS, often called “Computational Sustainability,” and Sustainability for CS, also known as “Sustainable CS.”

This Public Lecture Series is the first of its kind in Austria, with all Austrian CS departments and faculties participating under the auspices of Informatik Austria. After a successful first iteration, the lecture series will continue this fall. We want to raise awareness for the importance of Sustainability in CS, demonstrate research solutions to various problems, and trigger developments for a sustainable future.

The lecture series will be held in the winter semester 2024/2025, every Monday from 17:00-18:00. All lectures will be offered online and will be recorded. We also have one hybrid lecture which will be held on-site at TU Wien and online on November 4, 2024.

Students from participating universities can register to get credits for the series. Please refer to your respective institution for registration.

TU Wien students can register for VU 194.155 “Sustainability in Computer Science” via TISS. Depending on your study program, the lecture series is a free elective or a “Wahlpflichtfach”; please refer to TISS for further information.

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