Niels Provos is a German-American researcher in

security engineering Security engineering is the process of incorporating security controls into an information system so that the controls become an integral part of the system’s operational capabilities. It is similar to other systems engineering activities in tha ...

malware Malware (a portmanteau for ''malicious software'') is any software intentionally designed to cause disruption to a computer, server, client, or computer network, leak private information, gain unauthorized access to information or systems, depri ...

, and

cryptography Cryptography, or cryptology (from grc, , translit=kryptós "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or ''-logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adver ...

. He received a PhD in

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. From 2003 to 2018, he worked at

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

as a Distinguished Engineer on

security Security is protection from, or resilience against, potential harm (or other unwanted coercive change) caused by others, by restraining the freedom of others to act. Beneficiaries (technically referents) of security may be of persons and social ...

for

Google Cloud Platform Google Cloud Platform (GCP), offered by Google, is a suite of cloud computing services that runs on the same infrastructure that Google uses internally for its end-user products, such as Google Search, Gmail, Google Drive, and YouTube. Alongside ...

. In 2018, he left Google to join Stripe as its new head of security. For many years, Provos contributed to the

OpenBSD OpenBSD is a security-focused, free and open-source, Unix-like operating system based on the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). Theo de Raadt created OpenBSD in 1995 by forking NetBSD 1.0. According to the website, the OpenBSD project em ...

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...

, where he developed the

bcrypt bcrypt is a password-hashing function designed by Niels Provos and David Mazières, based on the Blowfish cipher and presented at USENIX in 1999. Besides incorporating a salt to protect against rainbow table attacks, bcrypt is an adaptive fu ...

adaptive cryptographic hash function. He is the author of numerous software packages, including the

libevent libevent is a software library that provides asynchronous event notification. The libevent API provides a mechanism to execute a callback function when a specific event occurs on a file descriptor or after a timeout has been reached. libevent als ...

event driven programming system, the

Systrace Systrace is a computer security utility which limits an application's access to the system by enforcing access policies for system calls. This can mitigate the effects of buffer overflows and other security vulnerabilities. It was developed by Ni ...

access control system, the

honeyd Honeyd is an open source computer program created by Niels Provos that allows a user to set up and run multiple virtual hosts on a computer network. These virtual hosts can be configured to mimic several different types of servers, allowing the ...

honeypot system, the StegDetect

steganography Steganography ( ) is the practice of representing information within another message or physical object, in such a manner that the presence of the information is not evident to human inspection. In computing/electronic contexts, a computer file, ...

detector, the

Bcrypt bcrypt is a password-hashing function designed by Niels Provos and David Mazières, based on the Blowfish cipher and presented at USENIX in 1999. Besides incorporating a salt to protect against rainbow table attacks, bcrypt is an adaptive fu ...

password encryption technique, and many others. Provos has been an outspoken critic of the effect of the

DMCA The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a 1998 United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or s ...

and similar laws on security researchers, arguing that they threaten to make criminals of people conducting legitimate security research. Provos has also served as the Program Chair of the Usenix Security Symposium, on the program committees of the Network and Distributed System Security Symposium,

ACM ACM or A.C.M. may refer to: Aviation * AGM-129 ACM, 1990–2012 USAF cruise missile * Air chief marshal * Air combat manoeuvring or dogfighting * Air cycle machine * Arica Airport (Colombia) (IATA: ACM), in Arica, Amazonas, Colombia Computing * ...

SIGCOMM, and numerous other conferences, and served on the board of directors of Usenix from 2006 to 2010. Provos's hobbies include swordsmithing, and he has forged swords in both Japanese and Viking styles. It started with his father collecting

sabres A sabre is a type of sword. Sabre, Sabres, saber, or SABRE may also refer to: Weapons and weapon systems * Sabre (fencing), a sporting sword * Sabre (tank), a modern British armoured reconnaissance vehicle * Chinese sabre or ''dao'', a variety ...

. Niels routinely posts videos of his blacksmithing activities online. By his words "At work, we try to fight the bad guys and make the world safer for our users. And swords are maybe an expression in a similar way. You create

weapons A weapon, arm or armament is any implement or device that can be used to deter, threaten, inflict physical damage, harm, or kill. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, crime, law enforcement, s ...

to defend yourself against the hordes of

barbarians A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be less c ...

Education

* Ph.D., Computer Science & Engineering, August 2003, the University of Michigan (Dissertation: "Statistical Steganalysis") * Diplom in Mathematics, August 1998, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany. (Masters in Mathematics). (Thesis: "Cryptography, especially the RSA algorithm on elliptic curves and Z/nZ") * Vordiplom in Mathematics, March 1995, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany. * Vordiplom in Physics, March 1995, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.

Selected publications

All Your iFrames Point to Us
Niels Provos, Panayiotis Mavrommatis, Moheeb Rajab and Fabian Monrose, 17th USENIX Security Symposium, August 2008.
The Ghost in the Browser: Analysis of Web-based Malware
Niels Provos, Dean McNamee, Panayiotis Mavrommatis, Ke Wang, and Nagendra Modadugu, USENIX Workshop on Hot Topics in Understanding Botnets, April 2007.
Detecting Steganographic Content on the Internet
Niels Provos and Peter Honeyman, ISOC NDSS'02, San Diego, CA, February 2002
Improving Host Security with System Call Policies
Niels Provos, 12th USENIX Security Symposium, Washington, DC, August 2003 *
Detecting pirated applications
(Oct 2014) Ashish Bhatia, Min Gyung Kang, Monirul Islam Sharif, Niels Provos, Panayiotis Mavrommatis, and Sruthi Bandhakavi

References

External links

Wired Profile of Provos
Modern cryptographers Cypherpunks Living people Year of birth missing (living people) University of Michigan College of Engineering alumni OpenBSD people Google employees University of Hamburg alumni {{compu-bio-stub