Two postdoc positions in Meta-data Privacy Systems and Networks at University of Edinburgh

[grarpamp]

While at your new $job, fix the TA problem of ACN's... because some
whitepapers, analysts, researchers, and NSA are saying all current
ones stink like tor.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: ELAHI Tariq <t.elahi at ed.ac.uk>
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 2020
Subject: Two postdoc positions in Meta-data Privacy Systems and
Networks at University of Edinburgh

Hello all,

I am looking for two post-docs to join two projects in the theme of
Meta-data Privacy Systems and Networks. The post-docs are homed in the
School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh where, under my
supervision, we will investigate meta-data and data privacy techniques
as building blocks/primitives to realize an “engineered privacy layer”
that can be embedded into the Internet and communications networks in
general.

The post-docs will be a part of---and have the opportunity to interact
and potentially collaborate with---the Cybersecurity, Privacy, and
Trust group with over 15 core faculty members and 40+ Post-docs, PhD
students, and affiliated faculty spanning a broad range of theoretical
and applied topics in security, privacy, and trust. For more about the
group please see: edin.ac/3mIDdqN.

If you would like to have a casual chat to find out more before
applying or have any questions please get in touch with me
(t.elahi at ed.ac.uk).
To learn more about my research interests please see: edin.ac/2KUmT93.

Early applications will be considered as they arrive. The deadline for
both positions is 15/1/2021 17:00 GMT.

Some brief information about the two projects with links to further
details follow:

1) "Integrating Meta-data Privacy into Networked Applications through
‘Add-On’ Anonymous Communication Networks"
The aim of this project is to investigate how effectively and
efficiently anonymous communication networks (ACN) primitives (at the
network and applications layers) can act as “add-ons” between
applications that do not have privacy built-in by design (non-PbD
apps) and the Internet at large.
This project will rigorously develop and extend on the current folk
wisdom that to add anonymity or privacy properties to a non-PbD
system, the addition of sending all traffic through an ACN is
sufficient. It will provide a nuanced and technical approach to
integrating anonymous networks, and the primitives they are built on,
to systems that are not originally privacy-aware. The approach will be
to investigate and extend privacy primitives that enable routing, path
selection, and traffic shaping and compose the result into an
“engineered privacy-layer”.

Duration: 18 Months
Start: March 1st, 2021 (flexible)
More Information: edin.ac/3rnDdAb (apply by 15/1/2021)

2) "Well-behaved Anonymous Communication Networks"
Mass surveillance of email and web browsing traffic is a critical and
growing threat to individual and at-risk groups' online security and
privacy. In response, Anonymous Communication Networks (ACNs) like Tor
and Mix networks secure communications on the Internet against even
the most sophisticated and powerful adversaries.

However, it is a challenge to optimally tune ACNs by the security
non-expert system administrator in real world settings.
Misconfiguration may lead to catastrophic failures of privacy and
performance degradation that will erode trust in ACNs and hamper their
adoption.

This project will investigate novel approaches combining engineering
principles and PETS techniques to designing, tuning, and operating
ACNs at scale. The resulting systems and techniques will contribute
towards our “engineered privacy-layer” vision.

Duration 24 Months
Start: March 1st (flexible)
More Information: edin.ac/34AKDpZ (apply by 15/1/2021)

Stay safe and be healthy,

Tariq Elahi
Assistant Professor
School of Informatics
University of Edinburgh
UK
The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
Scotland, with registration number SC005336.