About
Hi, my name is Sebastian Österlund. I currently work as an Offesive Security Researcher at Intel STORM/ SPEAR. Previously I was a PhD Candidate at the Systems and Network Security Group (VUsec) at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. My research was funded by Cisco. Before joining Intel STORM, I did an internship at Intel, working on Linux Kernel fuzzing for TDX guests.
Previously I have taught the university courses Project Application Development and Advanced Operating Systems.
Before joining the VUsec group I was a master’s student at the same university, studying Parallel and Distributed Computer Systems.
At the VU I also worked as a Teaching-Assistant in the Department of Computer Science. Some of the courses for which I have been a TA/ am currently teaching:
- Project Application Development
- Algorithm Engineering
- Computer Networks
- Compiler Construction
- Equational Programming
- Introduction to Programming (Java)
- Programming for Economists (Python)
- Datastructures and Algorithms
- Pervasive Computing
- Computer Systems
- Advanced Programming
- Web Technologies
- Databases
For more info you can have a look at my curriculum vitae.
After finishing high-school at Katedralskolan in Turku, Finland, I decided to start studying in the Netherlands. I completed my bachelor’s in Computer Science at the VU in 2015.
For my Bachelor thesis I developed a defense against Just-in-Time Return-Oriented-Programming (JIT-ROP) attacks using execute-only memory: Strengthening diversification defenses by means of a non-readable code segment.
For my Master’s thesis I developed a defense against kernel-level exploits: Detecting information leaks using kernel-level multi-variant execution . The ASPLOS 2019 paper on kMVX is titled kMVX: Detecting Kernel Information Leaks with Multi-variant Execution. Also available here: kMVX: Detecting Kernel Information Leaks with Multi-variant Execution.
I did some work on speculative execution-based side-channels: RIDL: Rogue In-flight Data Load (S&P 2019) that got some significant media attention (Wired, Ars Technica, Engadget, Red Hat, New York Times).
Fields of interest:
- Systems security
- Operating Systems
- Distributed Systems
- GPU Programming
- Binary analysis
- Compilers
- Fuzzing
- Side-channels
Here is a list of some of the programming languages and technologies that I have experience with:
- Rust
- C/ C++
- Python
- Java
- Go
- LLVM
- Haskell
- Docker, Kubernetes
- Hadoop, Spark
Publications
Talks:
- Linux Security Summit North America 2023, Virtual, MPK/PKS Linux Kernel Compartmentalization
- Intel DTTC 2022, Virtual, TDX Guest Kernel Fuzzing
- InfoSecurity.dk Keynote 2020, Copenhagen, RIDL: Rogue In-Flight Data Load
- NLUUG Najaarsconferentie 2019, Utrecht, RIDL: Rogue In-Flight Data Load
- InfoSecurity.nl Jaarbeurs, Utrecht, RIDL: Rogue In-Flight Data Load
- HITB CyberWeek 2019, Abu Dhabi, RIDL: Rogue In-Flight Data Load
- Offzone 2019, Moscow, RIDL: Rogue In-Flight Data Load
- CySep 2019, Stockholm, kMVX: Detecting Kernel Information Leaks with Multi-variant Execution
- Cisco internal talk, Knoxville, TN, kMVX: Detecting Kernel Information Leaks with Multi-variant Execution and RIDL: Rogue In-Flight Data Load
Other work
- I was featured in LiveOverflow’s video How The RIDL CPU Vulnerability Was Found
- I did a radio interview on Intel CPU vulnerabilites on Dutch radio (NPO1).
- Together with some colleagues we analysed the election software used in the Netherlands, and found it to be seriously vulnerable in multiple ways.
Awards
- 2022 Intel Security Leadership award for TDX Linux Guest kernel hardening and fuzzing
- 2021 ASPLOS Distinguished Paper Award for our paper Who’s Debugging the Debuggers? Exposing Debug Information Bugs in Optimized Binaries.
- 2020 Dutch Cybersecurity Research Award (DCSRP) for RIDL: Rogue In-flight Data Load.
You can find some of my public programming projects on my public GitHub repo.