Prof. Berk Sunar
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
14th March 2024, 4:00pm - 5:00pm (GST)
| Title: | Cost Effective Patching of Microarchitectural Vulnerabilities using Large Language Models |
| Abstract: | Over the past decade Microarchitectural vulnerabilities have progressed to the point where they pose serious risks to everyday computing especially on shared platforms and cloud servers. What makes such threats especially dangerous is that (1) they can be mounted via only software access and (2) they leave hard to detect fingerprints and hence are more stealthy compared to more traditional attacks. In this talk we briefly summarize our efforts in detecting and mitigating microarchitacural vulnerabilities using machine learning techniques, and more recently using LLMs in open source software. Specifically, we will present our earlier BERT based FastSpec detection tool, and the later ZeroLeak Framework that uses LLMs to patch vulnerabilities. |
| Bio: | Professor Sunar received my PhD in ECE from Oregon State University in 1998. In 2000 he joined the faculty of Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He is the founder of Vernam Cybersecurity and Applied Cryptography Lab. His research interests include hardware security, applied cryptography, and broadly in cybersecurity. |