David Lazar

I am a computer science researcher focused on systems security and privacy. I completed my PhD at MIT in 2019 under the guidance of Nickolai Zeldovich and the PDOS research group.

Publications

• Groove: Flexible Metadata-Private Messaging (OSDI 2022)
• Yodel: Strong Metadata Security for Voice Calls (SOSP 2019)
• Karaoke: Distributed Private Messaging Immune to Passive Traffic Analysis (OSDI 2018)
• What's a little leakage between friends? (WPES 2018)
• Alpenhorn: Bootstrapping Secure Communication Without Leaking Metadata (OSDI 2016)
• Riffle: Efficient Communication System with Strong Anonymity (PETS 2016)
• Vuvuzela: Scalable Private Messaging Resistant to Traffic Analysis (SOSP 2015)
• Circuit Fingerprinting Attacks: Passive Deanonymization of Tor Hidden Services (USENIX Security 2015)
• Mjölnir: The Magical Web Application Hammer (APSys 2015)
• Jitk: A Trustworthy In-Kernel Interpreter Infrastructure (OSDI 2014)
• Why does cryptographic software fail? A case study and open problems (APSys 2014)
• Executing Formal Semantics with the K Tool (FM 2012)

Software

Most of my software projects are on my Github. Here are some highlights:

• Vuvuzela: private text messaging system that hides metadata
• Alpenhorn: system for bootstrapping secure communication
• Seal: easily encrypt files, notes, and passwords
• acme-nano: tool for generating HTTPS certificates
• kebab: proof-of-concept backup tool focused on security
• jotmuch: proof-of-concept bookmark manager based on notmuch
• PCPL: the first domino-oriented programming language
• K definitions: OCaml, LLVM
• Cryptol specifications: Keccak, Simon, SipHash

Contact

For secure communication, I am happy to establish contact on Signal. I am also reachable on Keybase or by email: lazard csail mit edu.