DeMott finalist for Microsoft BlueHat Prize

Jared DeMott, Ph.D. candidate in Computer Science & Engineering, has been announced as one of the three finalists for Microsoft's $200,000 BlueHat Prize. The inaugural Microsoft BlueHat Prize contest challenges security researchers to design a novel runtime mitigation technology designed to prevent the exploitation of memory safety vulnerabilities. Jared DeMott's advisors are Richard Enbody and Bill Punch, Associate Professors in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. Jared's entry summary:

This novel defense lowers the effect of address space disclosures and mitigates known return-oriented programming (ROP) exploits. ROP, as it is named, operates by checking that the target address of every (intended or unintended) return instruction is safe. This works because current ROP exploits contain return instructions. The protection is not perfect, but operates quickly and integrates cleanly with Microsoft technology.

http://www.microsoft.com/security/bluehatprize/finalists.aspx

(Date Posted: 2012-06-21)