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Refereed Publications


2025
  • CenPush: Blocking-Resistant Communication Using Push Notifications
    P. Kumar, D. Xue, A. Ortwein, C. Bocovich, Harry and R. Ensafi
    To appear in proceedings of Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium (PETS) 2025
  • Is Custom Congestion Control a Bad Idea for Circumvention Tools?
    W. Wang, D. Xue, P. Kumar, A. Mishra, Anonymous, and R. Ensafi
    In: Free and Open Communications on the Internet 2025
    BibTeX 
    	@inproceedings{Wang2025Congestion,
		author = {Wanye Wang and Diwen Xue and Piyush Kumar and Ayush Mishra and Anonymous and Roya Ensafi},
		title = {{Is Custom Congestion Control a Bad Idea for Circumvention Tools?}},
		booktitle = {Free and Open Communications on the Internet},
		year = {2025},
		publisher = {Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies}
	}
  • The Discriminative Power of Cross-layer RTTs in Fingerprinting Proxy Traffic
    D. Xue, R. Stanley, P. Kumar, and R. Ensafi
    In: Network and Distributed System Security Symposium 2025
    BibTeX 
    				@inproceedings{Xue2025Timing,
					author = {Diwen Xue and Robert Stanley and Piyush Kumar and Roya Ensafi},
					title = {{The Discriminative Power of Cross-layer RTTs in Fingerprinting Proxy Traffic}},
					booktitle = {Network and Distributed System Security},
					publisher = {The Internet Society},
					year = {2025}
				}
2024
  • Digital Discrimination of Users in Sanctioned States: The Case of the Cuba Embargo
    A. Ablove, S. Chandrashekaran, H. Le, R. Sundara Raman, R. Ramesh, R. Oppenheimer R. Ensafi In: USENIX Security Symposium, August 2024
    🏆 Distinguished paper award
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings {299808,
author = {Anna Ablove and Shreyas Chandrashekaran and Hieu Le and Ram Sundara Raman and Reethika Ramesh and Harry Oppenheimer and Roya Ensafi},
title = {Digital Discrimination of Users in Sanctioned States: The Case of the Cuba Embargo},
booktitle = {33rd USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security 24)},
year = {2024},
isbn = {978-1-939133-44-1},
address = {Philadelphia, PA},
pages = {3909--3926},
url = {https://www.usenix.org/conference/usenixsecurity24/presentation/ablove},
publisher = {USENIX Association},
month = aug
}
  • CalcuLatency: Leveraging Cross-Layer Network Latency Measurements to Detect Proxy-Enabled Abuse
    R. Ramesh, P. Winter, S. Korman, R. Ensafi
    In: USENIX Security Symposium, August 2024
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings{Ramesh2024Calculatency,
title={CalcuLatency: Leveraging Cross-Layer Network Latency Measurements to Detect Proxy-Enabled Abuse},
author={Ramesh, Reethika and Winter, Philipp and Korman, Sam and Ensafi, Roya},
booktitle = {33rd USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security 24)},
year = {2024},
address = {Philadelphia, PA},
publisher = {USENIX Association}
}
  • Bridging Barriers: A Survey of Challenges and Priorities in the Censorship Circumvention Landscape
    D. Xue, A. Ablove, R. Ramesh, G. Kwak Danciu, R. Ensafi
    In: USENIX Security Symposium, August 2024
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings {Xue2024CircumventionSurvey,
author = {Diwen Xue and Anna Ablove and Reethika Ramesh and Grace Kwak-Danciu and Roya Ensafi},
title = {{Bridging Barriers: A Survey of Challenges and Priorities in the Censorship Circumvention Landscape}},
booktitle = {33st USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security 24)},
year = {2024},
address = {PHILADELPHIA, PA},
publisher = {USENIX Association},
}
    Slides
  • Fingerprinting Obfuscated Proxy Traffic with Encapsulated TLS Handshakes
    D. Xue, M. Kallitsis, A. Houmansadr, and R. Ensafi
    In: USENIX Security Symposium, August 2024
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings {Xue2024TLSinTLS,
author = {Diwen Xue and Michalis Kallitsis and Amir Houmansadr and Roya Ensafi},
title = {{Fingerprinting Obfuscated Proxy Traffic with Encapsulated TLS Handshakes}},
booktitle = {33st USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security 24)},
year = {2024},
address = {PHILADELPHIA, PA},
publisher = {USENIX Association},
}
    Slides
  • Attacking Connection Tracking Frameworks as used by Virtual Private Networks
    B. Mixon-Baca, J. Knockel, Diwen Xue, T. Ayyagari, D. Kapur, R. Ensafi and J. Crandall
    In: Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETS'24), July 2024
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings {MixonBaca2024,
author = {Benjamin Mixon-Baca and Jeffrey Knockel and Diwen Xue and Tarun Ayyagari and Deepak Kapur and Roya Ensafi and Jedidiah R. Crandall},
title = {{Attacking Connection Tracking Frameworks as used by Virtual Private Networks}},
booktitle = {Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETS 2024)},
year = {2024},
address = {Bristol, United Kingdom},
publisher = {Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium Advisory Board},
}
  • Modeling and Detecting Internet Censorship Events
    E. Tsai, R. Sundara Raman, A. Prakash, R. Ensafi
    In: Network and Distributed System Security Symposium (NDSS), February 2024
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings{tsai2024modeling,
title = {{Modeling and Detecting Internet Censorship Events}},
author = {Tsai, Elisa and Sundara Raman, Ram and Prakash, Atul and Ensafi, Roya},
booktitle = {NDSS},
year = {2024} 
}
2023
  • The Use of Push Notification in Censorship Circumvention
    D. Xue, R. Ensafi
    Free and Open Communications on the Internet (FOCI) , July 2023
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings{Xue2023PUSH,
author = {Diwen Xue and Roya Ensafi},
title = {{The Use of Push Notification in Censorship Circumvention}},
booktitle = {Free and Open Communications on the Internet},
year = {2023},
address = {Lausanne, Switzerland},
publisher = {Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies}
}
    Slides
  • Network Responses to Russia's Invasion of Ukraine in 2022: A Cautionary Tale for Internet Freedom
    R. Ramesh*, R. Sundara Raman*, A. Virkud, A. Dirksen, A. Huremagic, D. Fifield,
    D. Rodenburg, R. Hynes, D. Madory, and R. Ensafi (* joint first authors)
    In: USENIX Security Symposium, August 2023
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings{ramesh2023network,
title = {{Network Responses to Russia's Invasion of Ukraine in 2022: A Cautionary Tale for Internet Freedom}},
author = {Ramesh, Reethika and Sundara Raman, Ram and Virkud, Apurva and Dirksen, Alexandra and Huremagic, Armin and Fifield, David and Rodenburg, Dirk and Hynes, Rod and Madory, Doug and Ensafi, Roya},
booktitle = {USENIX Security Symposium}, year = {2023} 
}
    Slides
  • CERTainty: Detecting DNS Manipulation using TLS Certificates
    E. Tsai, D. Kumar, R. Sundara Raman, G. Li, Y. Eiger,R. Ensafi
    In: Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium (PETS), July 2023
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings{tsai2023detecting,
title = {CERTainty: Detecting DNS Manipulation using TLS Certificates},
author = {Tsai, Elisa and Kumar, Deepak and Sundara Raman, Ram and Li, Gavin and Eiger, Yael and Ensafi, Roya},
booktitle={Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium (PETS)},
year={2023}
}
    Slides
  • "All of them claim to be the best": Multi-perspective study of VPN users and VPN providers
    R. Ramesh, A. Vyas, R. Ensafi
    In: USENIX Security Symposium, August 2023
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings{Ramesh2023VPNUserStudy,
author = {Reethika Ramesh and Anjali Vyas and Roya Ensafi},
title = {{"All of them claim to be the best": Multi-perspective study of VPN users and VPN providers}},
booktitle = {32nd USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security 23)},
year = {2023},
address = {Anaheim, CA},
publisher = {USENIX Association}
}
    Slides
  • Advancing the Art of Censorship Data Analysis
    R. Sundara Raman, A. Virkud, S. Laplante, V. Fortuna R. Ensafi
    Free and Open Communications on the Internet (FOCI) , February 2023
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings{sundararaman2023advancing,
title = {Advancing the Art of Censorship Data Analysis},
author = {Sundara Raman, Ram and Virkud, Apurva and Laplante, Sarah and Fortuna, Vinicius and Ensafi, Roya},
booktitle={Free and Open Communications on the Internet (FOCI)},
year={2023}
}
    Slides
2022
  • Network Measurement Methods for Locating and Examining Censorship Devices
    R. Sundara Raman, M. Wang, J. Dalek, J. Mayer, R. Ensafi
    In: ACM Conference on emerging Networking EXperiments & Technologies (CoNEXT), December 2022
    🏆 IRTF Applied Networking Research Prize winner
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings{sundararaman2022network,
title = {Network Measurement Methods for Locating and Examining Censorship Devices},
author = {Sundara Raman, Ram and Wang, Mona and Dalek, Jakub and Mayer, Jonathan and Ensafi, Roya},
booktitle={ACM International Conference on emerging Networking EXperiments and Technologies (CoNEXT)},
year={2022}
}
    Slides Video
  • TSPU: Russia's Decentralized Censorship System
    D. Xue, B. Mixon-Baca, ValdikSS, M. Kallitsis, A. Ablove, B. Kujath, J. Crandall, R. Ensafi
    In: Internet Measurement Conference (IMC ’22), October 2022
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings{Xue2022TSPU,
author = {Diwen Xue and Benjamin Mixon-Baca and ValdikSS and Anna Ablove and Beau Kujath and Jedidiah R. Crandall and Roya Ensafi},
title = {{TSPU: Russia’s Decentralized Censorship System}},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 22nd ACM Internet Measurement Conference},
year = {2022},
address = {Nice, France},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery}
}
    Slides Video
  • OpenVPN is Open to VPN Fingerprinting
    D. Xue, R. Ramesh, A. Jain, M. Kallitsis, A. Halderman, J. R. Crandall, R. Ensafi
    In: USENIX Security, August 2022
    🏆 Distinguished paper award
    🏆 Won First Prize in the 2022 Internet Defense Prize
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings {Xue2022OpenVPN,
author = {Diwen Xue and Reethika Ramesh and Arham Jain and Michalis Kallitsis and J. Alex Halderman and Jedidiah R. Crandall and Roya Ensafi},
title = {{OpenVPN} is Open to {VPN} Fingerprinting},
booktitle = {31st USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security 22)},
year = {2022},
address = {Boston, MA},
publisher = {USENIX Association},
}
    Slides Video
  • A Large-scale Investigation into Geodifferences in Mobile Apps
    R. Kumar, A. Virkud, R. Sundara Raman, A. Prakash, R. Ensafi
    In: USENIX Security, August 2022
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings{kumar2022geodifferences,
title={A Large-scale Investigation into Geodifferences in Mobile Apps},
author={Renuka Kumar and Apurva Virkud and Ram Sundara Raman and Atul Prakash and Roya Ensafi},
booktitle={USENIX Security Symposium},
year={2022} 
}
    Slides Video
  • Investigating the VPN Recommendation Ecosystem
    R. Ramesh, A. Huremagic, C. Sharp, R. Ensafi
    In: The IEEE SPW 6th Workshop on Technology and Consumer Protection (ConPro'22) , May 2022
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings{Ramesh2022ConPro,
author={Ramesh, Reethika and Huremagic, Armin and Sharp, Chad and Ensafi, Roya},
title = {{Investigating the VPN Recommendation Ecosystem}},
booktitle = {6th Workshop on Technology and Consumer Protection (ConPro '22)},
year = {2022}
}
  • VPNalyzer: Systematic Investigation of the VPN Ecosystem
    R. Ramesh, L. Evdokimov, D. Xue, R. Ensafi
    In: NDSS, April 2022
    🏆 Won First Place at the CSAW '22 Applied Research Competition.
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings{Ramesh2022VPNalyzer,
author = {Reethika Ramesh and Leonid Evdokimov and Diwen Xue and Roya Ensafi},
title = {{VPNalyzer: Systematic Investigation of the VPN Ecosystem}},
booktitle = {Network and Distributed System Security},
publisher = {The Internet Society},
year = {2022},
url = {https://dx.doi.org/10.14722/ndss.2022.24285}
}
    Slides Video
2021
  • Throttling Twitter: An Emerging Censorship Technique in Russia
    D. Xue, R. Ramesh, ValdikSS, L. Evdokimov, A. Viktorov, A. Jain, E. Wustrow, S. Basso, R. Ensafi
    In: ACM IMC, November 2021
    🏆 Recognized as the Highest Scoring Short Paper
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings{xue2021Throttling,
author = {Xue, Diwen and Ramesh, Reethika and ., ValdikSS and Evdokimov, Leonid and Viktorov, Andrey and Jain, Arham and Wustrow, Eric and Basso, Simone and Ensafi, Roya},
title = {Throttling Twitter: An Emerging Censorship Technique in Russia},
year = {2021},
isbn = {9781450391290},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3487552.3487858},
doi = {10.1145/3487552.3487858},
keywords = {Russia, throttling, interception, censorship},
series = {IMC '21}
}
    Slides Video
  • Lost in Transmission: Investigating Filtering of COVID-19 Websites
    A. Vyas, R. Sundara Raman, N. Ceccio, P. Lutscher, R. Ensafi
    In: Financial Cryptography and Data Security (FC), March 2021
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings{vyas2021lost,
title = {Lost in Transmission: Investigating Filtering of COVID-19 Websites},
author = {Vyas, Anjali and Sundara Raman, Ram and Ceccio, Nick and Lutscher, Philipp and Ensafi, Roya},
booktitle={Financial Cryptography and Data Security (FC)},
year={2021}
}
    Slides Video
2020
  • Censored Planet: An Internet-wide, Longitudinal Censorship Observatory
    R. Sundara Raman, P. Shenoy, K. Kohls, R. Ensafi
    In: ACM CCS, November 2020
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings{sundararaman2020censoredplanet,
title = {Censored Planet: An Internet-Wide, Longitudinal Censorship Observatory},
author = {Sundara Raman, Ram and Shenoy, Prerana and Kohls, Katharina and Ensafi, Roya},
booktitle={ACM SIGSAC Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS)},
year={2020}
}
    Slides Video
  • Investigating Large Scale HTTPS Interception in Kazakhstan
    R. Sundara Raman, L. Evdokimov, E. Wustrow, A. Halderman, R. Ensafi
    In: ACM IMC, October 2020
    🏆 Nominated for Best Paper
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings{sundararaman2020investigating,
title={{Investigating Large Scale HTTPS Interception in Kazakhstan}},
author={Sundara Raman, Ram and Evdokimov, Leonid and Wustrow, Eric and Halderman, Alex and Ensafi, Roya},
booktitle={ACM Internet Measurement Conference (IMC)},
year={2020}
}
    Slides Video
  • Characterizing Transnational Internet Performance and the Great Bottleneck of China
    P. Zhu, K. Man, Z. Wang, Z. Qian, R. Ensafi, A. Halderman, H. Duan
    In: ACM SIGMETRICS, March 2020
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings{2020-zhu-zpa3,
author = {Zhu, P and Man, K and Wang, Z and Qian, Z and Ensafi, R and Halderman, J and Duan, H},
title = {{Characterizing Transnational Internet Performance and the Great Bottleneck of China}},
bookTitle = {Proceedings of the ACM on Measurement and Analysis of Computing Systems},
volume = {4},
pages = {1-23},
year = {2020},
month = {March},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3379479}
}
  • Measuring and Analysing the Chain of Implicit Trust: A Study of Third-party Resources Loading
    M. Ikram, R. Masood, G. Tyson, M. Kaafer, N. Loizon, R. Ensafi
    In: ACM Transaction on Privacy and Security (TOPS), March 2020
    BibTeX 
    @article{article,
author = {Ikram, Muhammad and Masood, Rahat and Tyson, Gareth and Kaafar, Dali and Loizon, Noha and Ensafi, Roya},
year = {2020},
month = {04},
pages = {1-27},
title = {Measuring and Analysing the Chain of Implicit Trust: A Study of Third-party Resources Loading},
volume = {23},
journal = {ACM Transactions on Privacy and Security},
doi = {10.1145/3380466}
}
  • Measuring the Deployment of Network Censorship Filters at Global Scale
    R. Sundara Raman, A. Stoll, J. Dalek, R. Ramesh, W. Scott, R. Ensafi
    In: NDSS, February 2020
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings{sundararaman2020measuring,
title={Measuring the Deployment of Network Censorship Filters at Global Scale},
author={Sundara Raman, Ram and Stoll, Adrian and Dalek, Jakub and Ramesh, Reethika and Scott, Will and Ensafi, Roya},
booktitle={Network and Distributed System Security Symposium (NDSS)},
year={2020}
}
    Slides Video
  • Decentralized Control: A Case Study of Russia
    R. Ramesh, R. Sundara Raman, M. Bernhard, V. Ongkowijaya,
    L. Evdokimov, A. Edmundson, S. Sprecher, M. Ikram, R. Ensafi
    In: NDSS, February 2020
    🏆 Finalist at the CSAW '20 Applied Research Competition
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings{ramesh2020decentralized,
title={Decentralized Control: A Case Study of Russia},
author={Ramesh, Reethika and Sundara Raman, Ram and Bernhard, Matthew and Ongkowijaya, Victor and Evdokimov, Leonid and Edmundson, Annie and Sprecher, Steve and Ikram, Muhammad and Ensafi, Roya},
booktitle={Network and Distributed System Security Symposium (NDSS)},
year={2020}
}
    Slides Video
2019
  • The Chain of Implicit Trust: An Analysis of the Web Third-party Resources Loading
    M. Ikram, R. Masood, G. Tyson, M. Kaafer, N. Loizon, R. Ensafi
    In: WWW 2019, May 2019
    BibTeX 
    @misc{ikram2019chainimplicittrustanalysis,
title={The Chain of Implicit Trust: An Analysis of the Web Third-party Resources Loading}, 
author={Muhammad Ikram and Rahat Masood and Gareth Tyson and Mohamed Ali Kaafar and Noha Loizon and Roya Ensafi},
year={2019},
eprint={1901.07699},
archivePrefix={arXiv},
primaryClass={cs.CR},
url={https://arxiv.org/abs/1901.07699}, 
}
2018
  • 403 Forbidden: A Global View of CDN Geoblocking
    A. McDonald, M. Bernhard, B. VanderSloot, W. Scott, J. A. Halderman, R. Ensafi
    In: ACM IMC, November 2018
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings{10.1145/3278532.3278552,
author = {McDonald, Allison and Bernhard, Matthew and Valenta, Luke and VanderSloot, Benjamin and Scott, Will and Sullivan, Nick and Halderman, J. Alex and Ensafi, Roya},
title = {403 Forbidden: A Global View of CDN Geoblocking},
year = {2018},
isbn = {9781450356190},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3278532.3278552},
doi = {10.1145/3278532.3278552},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the Internet Measurement Conference 2018},
pages = {218–230},
numpages = {13},
series = {IMC '18}
}
  • Quack: Scalable Remote Measurement of Application-Layer Censorship
    B. VanderSloot, A. McDonald, W. Scott, J. A. Halderman, R. Ensafi
    In: USENIX Security, August 2018
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings {217587,
author = {Benjamin VanderSloot and Allison McDonald and Will Scott and J. Alex Halderman and Roya Ensafi},
title = {Quack: Scalable Remote Measurement of {Application-Layer} Censorship},
booktitle = {27th USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security 18)},
year = {2018},
isbn = {978-1-939133-04-5},
address = {Baltimore, MD},
pages = {187--202},
url = {https://www.usenix.org/conference/usenixsecurity18/presentation/vandersloot},
publisher = {USENIX Association},
month = aug
}
    Slides Video
  • Nation-State Hegemony in Internet Routing
    A. Edmundson, R. Ensafi, N. Feamster, J. Rexford
    In: ACM SIGCAS Conference on Computing and Sustainable Societies, June 2018
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings{10.1145/3209811.3211887,
author = {Edmundson, Anne and Ensafi, Roya and Feamster, Nick and Rexford, Jennifer},
title = {Nation-State Hegemony in Internet Routing},
year = {2018},
isbn = {9781450358163},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3209811.3211887},
doi = {10.1145/3209811.3211887},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 1st ACM SIGCAS Conference on Computing and Sustainable Societies},
articleno = {17},
numpages = {11},
location = {Menlo Park and San Jose, CA, USA},
series = {COMPASS '18}
}
  • Towards Continual Measurement of Global Network-Level Censorship
    P. Pearce, R. Ensafi, F. Li, N. Feamster, V. Paxson
    In: IEEE Security & Privacy Magazine, 2018 Special Issue, February 2018
    BibTeX 
    @article{8283433,
author={Pearce, Paul and Ensafi, Roya and Li, Frank and Feamster, Nick and Paxson, Vern},
journal={IEEE Security & Privacy}, 
title={Toward Continual Measurement of Global Network-Level Censorship}, 
year={2018},
volume={16},
number={1},
pages={24-33},
keywords={Censorship;Internet;Measurement;Perturbation methods;Computer security;IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy;security;censorship;Augur;measurement;network measurement;Internet measurement;side channel},
doi={10.1109/MSP.2018.1331018}
}
2017
  • A Look at Router Geolocation in Public and Commercial Databases
    M. Gharaibeh, A. Shah, B. Huffaker, H. Zhang, R. Ensafi, C. Papadopoulos
    In: ACM IMC, November 2017
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings{10.1145/3131365.3131380,
author = {Gharaibeh, Manaf and Shah, Anant and Huffaker, Bradley and Zhang, Han and Ensafi, Roya and Papadopoulos, Christos},
title = {A look at router geolocation in public and commercial databases},
year = {2017},
isbn = {9781450351188},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3131365.3131380},
doi = {10.1145/3131365.3131380},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2017 Internet Measurement Conference},
pages = {463–469},
numpages = {7},
keywords = {router geolocation, geolocation databases, IP geolocation},
location = {London, United Kingdom},
series = {IMC '17}
}
  • Global Measurement of DNS Manipulation
    P. Pearce, B. Jones, F. Li, R. Ensafi, N. Feamster, V. Paxson
    In: USENIX Security, August 2017
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings {203832,
author = {Paul Pearce and Ben Jones and Frank Li and Roya Ensafi and Nick Feamster and Nick Weaver and Vern Paxson},
title = {Global Measurement of {DNS} Manipulation},
booktitle = {26th USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security 17)},
year = {2017},
isbn = {978-1-931971-40-9},
address = {Vancouver, BC},
pages = {307--323},
url = {https://www.usenix.org/conference/usenixsecurity17/technical-sessions/presentation/pearce},
publisher = {USENIX Association},
month = aug
}
    Slides Video
  • Global Measurement of DNS Manipulation
    P. Pearce, B. Jones, F. Li, R. Ensafi, N. Feamster, V. Paxson
    In: USENIX ;login:, Winter 2017 Issue, Winter 2017
  • Augur: Internet-Wide Detection of Connectivity Disruptions
    P. Pearce*, R. Ensafi*, F. Li, N. Feamster, V. Paxson (* joint first authors)
    In: IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (Oakland), May 2017
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings{7958591,
author={Pearce, Paul and Ensafi, Roya and Li, Frank and Feamster, Nick and Paxson, Vern},
booktitle={2017 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (SP)}, 
title={Augur: Internet-Wide Detection of Connectivity Disruptions}, 
year={2017},
volume={},
number={},
pages={427-443},
keywords={Censorship;Internet;IP networks;Extraterrestrial measurements;Radiation detectors;Monitoring;Time measurement;Censorship;Network and systems security;Security and privacy policies;Measurement},
doi={10.1109/SP.2017.55}
}
2016
  • Identifying and Characterizing Sybils in the Tor Network
    P. Winter, R. Ensafi, K. Loesing, N. Feamster
    In: USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security), August 2016
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings {197120,
author = {Philipp Winter and Roya Ensafi and Karsten Loesing and Nick Feamster},
title = {Identifying and Characterizing Sybils in the Tor Network},
booktitle = {25th USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security 16)},
year = {2016},
isbn = {978-1-931971-32-4},
address = {Austin, TX},
pages = {1169--1185},
url = {https://www.usenix.org/conference/usenixsecurity16/technical-sessions/presentation/winter},
publisher = {USENIX Association},
month = aug
}
    Slides Video
  • A First Look into Transnational Routing Detours
    A. Edmundson, R. Ensafi, N. Feamster, J. Rexford
    In: Position paper – Poster & Demo Session, 30th ACM SIGCOMM, August 2016
    SIGCOMM Student Research Competition winner
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings{10.1145/2934872.2959081,
author = {Edmundson, Anne and Ensafi, Roya and Feamster, Nick and Rexford, Jennifer},
title = {A First Look into Transnational Routing Detours},
year = {2016},
isbn = {9781450341936},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/2934872.2959081},
doi = {10.1145/2934872.2959081},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2016 ACM SIGCOMM Conference},
pages = {567–568},
numpages = {2},
keywords = {surveillance, routing},
location = {Florianopolis, Brazil},
series = {SIGCOMM '16}
}
  • A Case Study of Traffic Demand Response to Broadband Service-Plan Upgrades
    S. Grover, R. Ensafi, N. Feamster
    In: Passive and Active Measurement Conference (PAM), April 2016
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings{10.1007/978-3-319-30505-9_10,
author="Grover, Sarthak
and Ensafi, Roya
and Feamster, Nick",
editor="Karagiannis, Thomas
and Dimitropoulos, Xenofontas",
title="A Case Study of Traffic Demand Response to Broadband Service-Plan Upgrades",
booktitle="Passive and Active Measurement",
year="2016",
publisher="Springer International Publishing",
address="Cham",
pages="124--135",
isbn="978-3-319-30505-9"
}
< 2015
  • Examining How the Great Firewall Discovers Hidden Circumvention Servers
    R. Ensafi, D. Fifield, P. Winter, N. Feamster, N. Weaver, V. Paxson
    In: ACM Internet Measurement Conference (IMC), October 2015
    🏆 IRTF Applied Networking Research Prize winner
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings{10.1145/2815675.2815690,
author = {Ensafi, Roya and Fifield, David and Winter, Philipp and Feamster, Nick and Weaver, Nicholas and Paxson, Vern},
title = {Examining How the Great Firewall Discovers Hidden Circumvention Servers},
year = {2015},
isbn = {9781450338486},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/2815675.2815690},
doi = {10.1145/2815675.2815690},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2015 Internet Measurement Conference},
pages = {445–458},
numpages = {14},
keywords = {active probing, censorship circumvention, deep packet inspection, great firewall of China, tor},
location = {Tokyo, Japan},
series = {IMC '15}
}
  • An Analysis of China’s Great Cannon
    B. Marczak, N. Weaver, J. Dalek, R. Ensafi, D. Fifield, S. McKune, A. Rey, J. Railton, R. Deibert, V. Paxson
    In: USENIX Workshop on Free and Open Communications on the Internet (FOCI) and Citizen Lab report, August 2015
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings {191996,
author = {Bill Marczak and Nicholas Weaver and Jakub Dalek and Roya Ensafi and David Fifield and Sarah McKune and Arn Rey and John Scott-Railton and Ron Deibert and Vern Paxson},
title = {An Analysis of {China{\textquoteright}s} {{\textquotedblleft}Great} {Cannon{\textquotedblright}}},
booktitle = {5th USENIX Workshop on Free and Open Communications on the Internet (FOCI 15)},
year = {2015},
address = {Washington, D.C.},
url = {https://www.usenix.org/conference/foci15/workshop-program/presentation/marczak},
publisher = {USENIX Association},
month = aug
}
  • Ethical Concerns for Censorship Measurement
    B. Jones, R. Ensafi, N. Feamster, V. Paxson, N. Weaver
    In: ACM SIGCOMM Workshop on Ethics in Networked Systems Research (NS Ethics), August 2015
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings{10.1145/2793013.2793015,
author = {Jones, Ben and Ensafi, Roya and Feamster, Nick and Paxson, Vern and Weaver, Nick},
title = {Ethical Concerns for Censorship Measurement},
year = {2015},
isbn = {9781450335416},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/2793013.2793015},
doi = {10.1145/2793013.2793015},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2015 ACM SIGCOMM Workshop on Ethics in Networked Systems Research},
pages = {17–19},
numpages = {3},
location = {London, United Kingdom},
series = {NS Ethics '15}
}
  • Analyzing the Great Firewall of China Over Space and Time
    R. Ensafi, P. Winter, M. Abdullah, J. Crandall
    In: Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium (PETS), July 2015
    BibTeX 
    @article{article,
author = {Ensafi, Roya and Winter, Philipp and Mueen, Abdullah and Crandall, Jedidiah},
year = {2015},
month = {04},
pages = {},
title = {Analyzing the Great Firewall of China Over Space and Time},
volume = {1},
journal = {Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies},
doi = {10.1515/popets-2015-0005}
}
  • Detecting Intentional Packet Drops on the Internet via TCP/IP Side Channels
    R. Ensafi, J. Knockel, G. Alexander, J. Crandall
    In: Passive and Active Measurement Conference (PAM), April 2014
    BibTeX 
    @article{DBLP:journals/corr/EnsafiKAC13,
author = {Roya Ensafi and Jeffrey Knockel and Geoffrey Alexander and Jedidiah R. Crandall},
title = {Detecting Intentional Packet Drops on the Internet via {TCP/IP} SideChannels: Extended Version},
journal = {CoRR},
volume = {abs/1312.5739},
year = {2013},
url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/1312.5739},
eprinttype = {arXiv},
eprint = {1312.5739},
timestamp = {Mon, 13 Aug 2018 16:48:30 +0200},
biburl = {https://dblp.org/rec/journals/corr/EnsafiKAC13.bib},
bibsource = {dblp computer science bibliography, https://dblp.org}
}
  • Global Censorship Detection over the RIPE Atlas Network
    C. Anderson, P. Winter, R. Ensafi
    In: USENIX Workshop on Free and Open Communications on the Internet (FOCI), August 2014
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings {185059,
author = {Collin Anderson and Philipp Winter and Roya},
title = {Global Network Interference Detection Over the {RIPE} Atlas Network},
booktitle = {4th USENIX Workshop on Free and Open Communications on the Internet (FOCI 14)},
year = {2014},
address = {San Diego, CA},
url = {https://www.usenix.org/conference/foci14/workshop-program/presentation/anderson},
publisher = {USENIX Association},
month = aug
}
    Video
  • A Case Study in Helping Students to Covertly Eat Their Classmates
    R. Ensafi, M. Jacobi, J. Crandall
    In: USENIX Workshop on Gaming, Games, and Gamification in Security Education (3GSE), August 2014
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings {183459,
author = {Roya Ensafi and Mike Jacobi and Jedidiah R. Crandall},
title = {A Case Study in Helping Students to Covertly Eat Their Classmates},
booktitle = {2014 USENIX Summit on Gaming, Games, and Gamification in Security Education (3GSE 14)},
year = {2014},
address = {San Diego, CA},
url = {https://www.usenix.org/conference/3gse14/summit-program/presentation/ensafi},
publisher = {USENIX Association},
month = aug
}
    Video
  • Students Who Don’t Understand Information Flow Should Be Eaten: An Experience Paper
    R. Ensafi, M. Jacobi, J. Crandall
    In: USENIX Workshop on Cyber Security Experimentation and Test (CSET), August 2012
    BibTeX 
    @conference{758b1ed5c8ac419981c88bc7d6041e82,
title = "Students who don{\textquoteright}t understand information flow should be eaten: An experience paper",
author = "Roya Ensafi and Mike Jacobi and Crandall, {Jedidiah R.}",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2012 USENIX Association. All rights reserved.; 5th Workshop on Cyber Security Experimentation and Test, CSET 2012 ; Conference date: 06-08-2012",
year = "2012",
language = "English (US)",
}
  • Idle Port Scanning and Non-interference Analysis of Network Protocol Stacks Using Model Checking
    R. Ensafi, J. Park, D. Kapur, J. Crandall
    In: USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security), August 2010
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings {267217,
author = {Roya Ensafi and Jong Chun Park and Deepak Kapur and Jedidiah R. Crandall},
title = {Idle Port Scanning and Non-interference Analysis of Network Protocol Stacks Using Model Checking},
booktitle = {19th USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security 10)},
year = {2010},
address = {Washington, DC},
url = {https://www.usenix.org/conference/usenixsecurity10/idle-port-scanning-and-non-interference-analysis-network-protocol-stacks},
publisher = {USENIX Association},
month = aug
}
    Video
  • Ecology of Malware
    J. Crandall, R. Ensafi, S. Forrest, J. Ladau, B. Shebaro
    In: New Security Paradigms Workshop (NSPW), September 2008
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings{10.1145/1595676.1595692,
author = {Crandall, Jedidiah R. and Ensafi, Roya and Forrest, Stephanie and Ladau, Joshua and Shebaro, Bilal},
title = {The ecology of Malware},
year = {2008},
isbn = {9781605583419},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/1595676.1595692},
doi = {10.1145/1595676.1595692},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2008 New Security Paradigms Workshop},
pages = {99–106},
numpages = {8},
keywords = {worms, viruses, malware ecology, malware analysis, botnets},
location = {Lake Tahoe, California, USA},
series = {NSPW '08}
}

Theses

  • Advanced Network Inference Techniques based on Network Protocol Stack Information Leaks
    R. Ensafi
    Ph.D. thesis, Department of Computer Science, University of New Mexico, December 2014
    UNM Ph.D. Dissertation Distinction Award winner
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings{Ensafi2015AdvancedNI,
title={Advanced Network Inference Techniques Based on Network Protocol Stack Information Leaks},
author={Roya Ensafi},
year={2015},
url={https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:61244724}
}
  • Deployment of the Globus Toolkit on University's Local Clusters
    R. Ensafi
    B.Sc. thesis Computer Engineering, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, July 2006