Livestream: Statistics Department Seminar Series Presents: Michael Kallitsis, Research Scientist, Merit Research

Abstract: “Darknet” is the common term for all unassigned (dark) network addresses. Merit Network, as the academic ISP for the State of Michigan, manages a large network address space, which includes a Darknet component. Merit’s “Darknet” or “Network Telescope” is networking instrumentation that receives and collects all traffic to Merit’s portion of the Darknet. Since the Darknet offers no user applications or services, all (unidirectional) traffic destined to a network telescope is the result of malicious activities or misconfigurations. Thus, network telescopes offer a unique vantage point to cybersecurity analysts to understand macroscopic Internet phenomena such as nefarious scanning or Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) activities. In this talk, we will introduce the Network Telescope operated by Merit Network and discuss some preliminary results in detecting and characterizing malware activities using tools from extreme value theory. We will demonstrate that by focusing on “extreme phenomena” that occur simultaneously, one can discover clusters of malicious behavior that would otherwise be difficult to uncover. Further, we will present how these clusters or “hypergraphs” of extremal dependence shift over time, indicating a dynamic and rapidly evolving cyberspace. This work is funded by the National Science Foundation.


Livestream Info
This Seminar will be livestreamed using Zoom at this link:
https://umich.zoom.us/j/986017258

When you click the meeting link on your PC or mobile device, it will direct you to the Zoom app (which you may wish to download in advance).

You will be able to see/hear the presenter and they will be able to see/hear you if you turn on your camera and/or microphone. If you’d like to ask a question, you can simply unmute yourself and ask it. Depending on the number of participants, you may be prevented from unmuting yourself, and you can signal the moderator that you’d like to ask a question by (1) Clicking “Participants” and then (2) Clicking “Raise Hand”. There are a number of other “nonverbal” options (e.g., “speed up/slow down”) that you can use to communicate with the presenter and moderator. You can also ask typed questions using the chat (be sure to direct it to “Everyone).

If you encounter problems, you can email stat-livestream@umich.edu for assistance.