Kevin Leach
Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Intellectual Neighborhoods
Research Focus
We seek to develop techniques that rigorously secure safety-critical systems and software against sophisticated, stealthy attacks that actively subvert detection. We approach this in two ways. First, we leverage deep technical understanding of hardware capabilities such as Trusted Execution Environments to securely instrument systems with low overhead and high fidelity. Second, we investigate how software developers and operators make decisions in the presence of adversaries seeking to compromise a target system. By leveraging this two-pronged approach, we will improve how people develop, learn about, and interact with complex, safety-critical systems.
Biography
Kevin Leach is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Vanderbilt. Kevin's research spans the areas of cybersecurity and software engineering. He is particularly focused on designing dependable systems that operate correctly in spite of being compromised by sophisticated adversaries. He has published over 30 refereed articles, 3 of which have received awards. Previously, he was a research scientist and lecturer at the University of Michigan. He earned the PhD from the University of Virginia in 2016, where he received the Louis T Rader Outstanding Research Award.