Liz Izhikevich

Research Abstract:

Internet security and performance problems often start invisible because no ground truth exists on how the Internet operates. While there are systems that collect data and models that predict operations, they make simplifying assumptions that dramatically restrict their visibility. Consequently, performance troubles and security vulnerabilities exist undetected and repeatedly evolve into wide-spread catastrophe. My research will show how building data-collecting systems that rigorously account for the Internet's complexities reveal previously-unseen critical operational challenges and threats. These include the discovery of billions of IPv4 services, which often belong to vulnerable devices, and egregiously-convoluted satellite routing patterns that increase latency by an order of magnitude.

Bio:

Liz Izhikevich is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Computer Science Department at Stanford University working with Zakir Durumeric. Liz's research brings a data-driven approach to understanding the Internet's performance and security. She builds systems that collect data about network, operator, and attacker behaviors and uses quantitative analysis, including rigorous statistics, to surface critical operational challenges and threats. Her work has received ACM IMC's Community Contribution Award, helps protect the assets of multiple governments, and is used by numerous companies. Liz is a graduate of UC San Diego (BS '17, MS '18), and is both an NSF Fellow and a Stanford Graduate Fellow.