Research Projects
Active research areas and projects at the Georgetown Security Lab.
The SecLab pursues research across several interconnected areas of computer security and privacy. Current projects are described below. Current and prospective students interested in any of these areas are encouraged to contact the affiliated faculty.
Censorship Circumvention & Traffic Obfuscation
We develop techniques that help users evade Internet censorship and traffic analysis by repressive adversaries. Our work spans covert channel design, protocol obfuscation, censorship-resistant proxy infrastructure, and detection of censorship circumvention in the wild.
- Micah Sherr (PI)
- Harel Berger
- Ryan Wails
- Dhiraj Saharia
- Benjamin Ujcich
Security of Programmable Network Data Planes
Modern programmable network infrastructure (such as P4-based switches and SmartNICs) introduces new security challenges. We develop fuzzing tools and formal analysis techniques to discover bugs and vulnerabilities in programmable data planes, and investigate how P4 can also be used to improve network security capabilities.
- Benjamin Ujcich (PI)
- Dhiraj Saharia
Security of Intent-Based Networking
Intent-based networking (IBN) promises to simplify network management by letting operators specify high-level goals rather than low-level configurations. We identify and analyze security vulnerabilities introduced by IBN architectures, including novel attack vectors in intent-flow state management, temporal vulnerabilities, and cross-layer security challenges.
- Benjamin Ujcich (PI)
Privacy-Preserving Statistics & Measurement
We develop cryptographic protocols that allow organizations to collect and analyze aggregate statistics about their users while providing strong privacy guarantees for individuals. Applications include privacy-preserving Tor measurement, distributed private set operations, and secure multiparty computation for network analytics.
- Micah Sherr (PI)
- Jianan Su
- Harel Berger
Privacy & Security of Online Exam Proctoring
The widespread adoption of remote proctoring systems in education raises significant privacy and security concerns for students and educators. We study both the technical and human aspects: how students circumvent proctoring systems, how educators perceive and decide to use (or not use) these tools, and the policy implications for institutions.
- Micah Sherr (co-PI, with Adam Aviv at GWU)
Mobility-Based Communication Protocols
We design and analyze communication systems that exploit human mobility patterns to create censorship-resistant messaging channels. When digital infrastructure is compromised or controlled, physical movement can serve as a communication medium. This project builds simulation tools, routing protocols, and privacy-preserving architectures for such delay-tolerant, mobility-based networks.
- Micah Sherr (PI)
- Harel Berger
Usable Privacy & Social Media Trust
We study how users perceive and interact with privacy and security technologies in everyday online contexts. Recent work examines how changes to social media verification policies affect user trust in verified accounts, and explores how identity and credibility claims are understood online.
- Micah Sherr