Keynote Speakers
On the three central days of the conference week, a keynote will be delivered as the opening event to address hot topics of relevance in the conference scope.
Paulo Esteves-Veríssimo
University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Security and Dependability Challenges of IT/OT Integration
(Tuesday 19th)
Chair: António Casimiro
Abstract. A great deal of society's stakes is today placed on the cyber sphere. The pillars of this new environment are critical information infrastructures (CII), where an accelerated convergence, or integration, of information technology (IT) like the internet-cloud complex, and operational technology (OT) like cyber-physical systems, is becoming the norm e.g., in utilities, like power grid operators, or transportation systems, including autonomous vehicles.
This global convergence leads to extremely large-scale and decentralised computer and network systems, in whose interconnection the natural difference of the threat and risk models of both kinds of realms (IT/OT) is sometimes not taken into account, opening threat surfaces both to occasional accidents and targeted attacks, or advanced persistent threats (APT).
We believe, and discuss in the talk, that paradigms and techniques are required that endow systems with the capacity of defeating incremental adversary power and sustaining perpetual and unattended operation, in a systematic and automatic way.
Short Bio. Paulo Esteves-Veríssimo is a Professor and FNR PEARL
Chair at the University of Luxembourg Faculty of Science, Technology and Communication
(FSTC), since fall 2014, and head of the CritiX lab (Critical and Extreme Security and
Dependability) at SnT, the Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust
at the same University (https://wwwen.uni.lu/snt). He is adjunct Professor of the ECE
Dept., Carnegie Mellon University. Previously, he has been a Professor of the Univ. of
Lisbon, member of the Board of the same university and Director of LaSIGE (http://lasige.di.fc.ul.pt).
Veríssimo is Fellow of the IEEE and Fellow of the ACM, and he is associate
editor of the IEEE Transactions on Computers (TC - 2015---). He is currently Chair of
the IFIP WG 10.4 on Dependable Computing and Fault-Tolerance and vice-Chair of the
Steering Committee of the IEEE/IFIP DSN conference. He is currently interested in
secure and dependable distributed architectures, middleware and algorithms for:
resilience of large-scale systems and critical infrastructures, privacy and integrity
of highly sensitive data, and adaptability and safety of real-time networked embedded
systems. He is author of over 180 peer-refereed publications and co-author of 5 books.
Carl Brandon
Vermont Technical College, USA
From Physicist to Rocket Scientist, and how to make a CubeSat that works
(Wednesday 20th)
Chair: Marco Panunzio
Abstract. After getting experience with SPARK/Ada on an Artic Sea Ice Buoy, we used the same CPU and software system on our first CubeSat. Our CubeSat, launched on November 13, 2013, was in orbit for two years and two days, travelling 293 million miles during 11,071 orbits of the Earth. It was operational the entire time, sending us many photos, until burning up over the Pacific during re-entry. It is still the only successful university satellite on the East coast of the US. I will explain how to have a successful CubeSat, where many, many others have failed, in which the reliability of SPARK/Ada software plays a big part. We are now developing a complete spacecraft software system, CubedOS, using SPARK/Ada, and are looking forward to being part of a deep space, self-propelled CubeSat mission with partners at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, visiting asteroids controlled by SPARK/Ada software.
Short Bio. I was interested in space from an early age,
but my education led to a B.S. in physics from Michigan State. I worked on
the cyclotron there, starting out with a vacuum tube computer. Then at IBM,
with two colleagues, I designed their first memory chip. I used computer
analysis for my M.S. on the aerodynamics of seagull soaring flight and Ph.D.
on bat flight aerodynamics and flight mechanics with bats flying in a wind
tunnel, at UMass, Amherst. I got involved with Ada at its beginning, teaching
the first undergrad course in Ada in the early 1980's. I just finished my 41st
year teaching physics at Vermont Technical College. 13 years ago, I got involved
with CubeSats (10 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm, 1 kg satellites). Being a physicist
(with a good software background) is a great background for CubeSats.
We built the first CubeSat launched by any university in New England or New York.
We credit our success with the use of SPARK/Ada for our software. We are
now working on a complete spacecraft software package, CubedOS written in SPARK/Ada.
Erhard Plödereder
University of Stuttgart, Germany
Vulnerabilities in Safety, Security, and Privacy
(Thursday 21st)
Chair: Tullio Vardanega
Abstract. Prof. Plödereder will discuss the differences and commonalities in threats that affect safety, security or privacy in today's systems. He will argue that vulnerabilities made possible by programming language features form a common base for violating safety, security, or privacy. None of these three concerns can be satisfied without first eliminating these vulnerabilities in the code of today's systems. Regrettably all known languages in actual use contain constructs that give rise to such vulnerabilities. He will describe several useful information sources about vulnerabilities and about rules that are geared to prevent them from arising in real code. Examples will illustrate the knowledge conveyed by these sources.
Short Bio. Erhard Plödereder holds the Chair for Programming
Languages and Compilers at the University of Stuttgart, Germany. His research
interests are static program analysis tools to detect vulnerabilities in
safety-critical code. He is a member of ISO WG23, which focuses on identifying
vulnerabilities in programming languages and on providing advice for their
prevention generally and in various programming languages.
In the past Erhard Plödereder was president of Ada-Europe (2001-2008), chairman of IFIP 2.4. (2002-2008), ISO WG9/ARG (1994 - 2001), ISO WG9/XRG and the Distinguished Reviewers for Ada95 (1989-94), and maintains an active involvement in today's Ada and ISO groups. He served as vice dean and dean at the Faculty of Computer Science, Electrical Engineering and Information Technology of the University of Stuttgart (1998-2010). He earned M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees at Harvard University and a Diploma in Computer Science at the TU Munich, Germany.