The Semantics, Cybersecurity and Services (SCS) group at the University of Twente is looking for a full-time PhD to join the research team, working on Software Security. The position is embedded in the context of the NWO project
“P6: Prioritization for Prompt Patching of Programs with Pernicious Problems”, in collaboration with the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and several industry partners.
In this PhD project, we intend to research automated techniques to analyze, exploit, and patch software vulnerabilities, after the detection phase. In fact, current tools, such as fuzzers, detect more potential flaws than organizations can fix. We plan to design and develop automated techniques to analyze discovered vulnerabilities, assess their risk, prioritize the critical ones, and generate patches. Unlike prior work, we consider vulnerabilities in their context, including interactions between vulnerabilities and defenses, allowing for prompt mitigation.
As the prospective PhD candidate, you will be appointed for a period of four years, and you are expected to perform high-quality research that gets published at some of the top security conferences and implement open-source research prototypes that the community can benefit from. The SCS group is internationally recognized in the broad areas of systems and data security and is unique for its collaborative and friendly atmosphere, in which researchers have considerable freedom in picking their projects and receive substantial support from supervisors and colleagues. We publish in top-tier conferences to maximize our visibility and impact, and we can guide you toward becoming a top researcher and boosting your CV. Besides, during the PhD, you will have the opportunity to broaden your knowledge and network by joining international exchange programs, participating in national and international conferences, and visiting other research institutes and universities worldwide.