Empirical Analysis Of Side-Channel Attacks On Commercial Microkernels
Ailsa Sun (Any Pronouns) (2028) | Mathematics and Computer Science
Ailsa Sun is a SURF L&S scholarship recipient double majoring in Mathematics and Computer Science. For her SURF project this summer, Ailsa is investigating the security of HarmonyOS 5, a commercial microkernel operating system used by millions of people across Asia. Her research focuses on side-channel attacks, a type of security vulnerability that can expose information through the way a system operates. By analyzing HarmonyOS’s communication protocols and potential weaknesses, Ailsa aims to help improve understanding of the security challenges facing modern microkernel-based systems.
What made you choose this research project? How did your interest in your research topic emerge?
I was originally excited about the general area of hardware security after attending the office hours of my advisor, Prof. Chris Fletcher, who teaches Computer Architecture & Engineering. He made the problems he was solving sound both exciting and approachable, and I decided that semester that I was going to work with him one day. Luckily, it worked out!
Prof. Fletcher asks undergraduates interested in security attack research to finish “introduction labs.” I was originally interested in more verification-oriented research (and still am!), but honestly, the labs were so fun I just kept doing attack work. Eventually, I started talking with other researchers and cold emailed one of my current project mentors. She introduced me to this project idea, and I decided it seemed like fun.
In complete sincerity, there was and still is doubt about how feasible the project was—but I thought that it was worth pursuing. It has the potential to be impactful to a lot of people’s lives, and it will teach me the nuts and bolts of security research. Regardless of the “success” of the project long term, that’s enough justification for me to pursue it.
What is your project about? How does it relate to issues or ideas you have been studying in your coursework?
In simple terms, it involves testing out the security properties of an interesting operating system. Technically, it hasn’t really related to any coursework I’ve done—I have primarily taken math classes in college. However, it is an expression of all the work I’ve done in undergraduate to grow as an engineer and thinker. Even though I haven’t taken directly relevant courses, I have spent great energy to train myself into someone who can theorize, test, and create computer systems. I really look forward to further growing!
What are you most excited about this summer? Will your research entail travel, access to special collections, or experiments?
What I am most excited about is growing as an independent researcher :). I have a couple of projects going on simultaneously, and I will have to learn how to navigate them at the same time and set goals for what I want. I’m also just excited to do some hacking. It’s pretty fun to learn about new systems and to pressure test them. More than anything, though, I’m excited to have fun with my awesome mentors, colleagues in the lab, and peers in the SURF cohort. The best part of research is exploring the world with other nerds!
What do you hope to learn from this experience? What would success look like for you? What challenges do you anticipate confronting?
Success will be coming into my own as a researcher. I want to learn how to do a literature review, how to read papers thoughtfully, how to talk to people and ask for advice, how to decide what advice to take, and how to direct a vision that I believe in. Undergraduate is the lowest stakes time in my future as a researcher—I look forward to taking full advantage of that and exploring ideas unburdened by the pressure to publish. At the end of the summer, I want to have failed a lot, to have tested a lot of ideas, and to have re-drawn up my vision a few times. I want to have built stronger relationships with the mentors in my life, and to have friends that I can talk about research with (both within and outside of my SURF cohort!)
I expect to face fear and uncertainty and welcome it. I’m not sure how many challenges will materialize for me, but I’m incredibly excited to find out!
What do you hope comes out of this research? What impact do you hope your research will have?
Projects come and go in research. The greatest impact of my research this summer lies in forming me as a researcher :). My main goal as a researcher is to shape the development of secure systems of the future. As long as I can become a version of myself who is capable of living this dream, the impact will come naturally.