N. Asokan @asokan.org · 24/11/2025ACM invited our ACM CCS 2025 paper BLACKOUT (led by my student Hossam ElAtali and our collaborators at Ericsson, Merve Gülmez and Thomas Nyman) to be featured in the ACM Kudos Showcase. Congratulations Hossam, Merve, and Thomas! link.growkudos.com/1dxqtlm0k5clink.growkudos.comBLACKOUT: Making software both memory-safe and free from side-channel leaksSide channels are indirect way a hacker can spy on a computer program—for example, by measuring how long it takes to run, or watching how it uses the CPU cache. These tiny clues can reveal sensitive i... 000
N. Asokan @asokan.org · 14/10/2025On Wednesday, at ACM CCS, my student Hossam will be presenting BLACKOUT, a hardware-software codesign to simultaneously provide memory safety and data-oblivious execution. Work done with Ericsson experts Merve Gülmez & my former student Thomas Nyman. Blog post at crysp.uwaterloo.ca/ssg/blog/202...crysp.uwaterloo.caMaking Software Both Memory-Safe and Leak-Proof: Introducing BLACKOUTTwo major challenges stand in the way of protecting critical software like cryptographic libraries that secure websites, messaging apps, and... 020
N. Asokan @asokan.org · 11/06/2025My student Anudeep Das initiated this work when he was an undergrad researcher. With doctoral students @vasishtduddu.bsky.social & Rui Zhang, he worked relentlessly and has won a best paper award. This is rare, even in a place like @uwcheritoncs.bsky.social with high-achieving undergrads! 020
N. Asokan @asokan.org · 17/05/2025I heard that some people found it difficult to navigate the medium . com link I sent above. So here is a pdf version as an alternative. drive.google.com/file/d/1boCI... Please let me know if you have trouble accessing this version. 000
N. Asokan @asokan.org · 16/05/2025Today, I was asked to speak at the morning assembly at my old high school, Trinity College - Kandy, Sri Lanka. This is what I said: medium.com/@asokan.publ...medium.comPromises and pitfalls of technological revolutionsI was asked to give a short “morning assembly talk” at my high school. I decided to take the notes I wrote up in preparation into this blog… 100
N. Asokan @asokan.org · 27/03/2025The "Grad Conference" organized by CPI (cpi.uwaterloo.ca) and GSPA @uwaterloo.ca is about to begin. It is a first of a kind event bringing together #cybersecurity and #privacy grad students and industry from this region.cpi.uwaterloo.caWelcome to the Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute | Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute | University of WaterlooCanada can be a world leader in cybersecurity and privacy, exploiting a growing need for solutions by exporting innovations in platforms, software and services 131
N. Asokan @asokan.org · 21/03/2025I wanted to post a link to this article because I thought it is one worth reading. Surprisingly, Bluesky keeps getting "Internal error!" Facebook doesn't allow Canadians to post articles to newspapers or magazines. So I am reduced to posting it on X and linking to it! x.com/asokan_int/s...x.com 000
N. Asokan @asokan.org · 11/03/2025@vajra.me's website now has the full text of my #Tamil translation of his #SF story “The Translator, At Low Tide” which appeared in the January 2024 issue of the Tamil literary magazine, kalachuvadu. Earlier, I wrote about my experience in doing this translation at medium.com/@asokan.publ...medium.comSri Lankan Science FictionWhen I was fourteen, my parents decided to move me to a Christian school. Back then the medium of instruction for most Sri Lankan students… 1129
N. Asokan @asokan.org · 18/02/2025Congratulations @vasishtduddu.bsky.social first among my students to bag an #IBM PhD Fellowship. cs.uwaterloo.ca/news/vasisht...cs.uwaterloo.caVasisht Duddu awarded 2024 IBM PhD Fellowship | Cheriton School of Computer Science | University of WaterlooA news article about Vasisht Duddu, who was awarded an IBM PhD Fellowship 020
N. Asokan @asokan.org · 24/01/2025Have you noticed any other such recent terminology transmogrification? 000
N. Asokan @asokan.org · 24/01/2025"Adversarial attacks" betray either laziness or carelessness. "Adaptive attacker" is now one who is unaware of the defense it is trying to defeat (Kerckhoff spinning in his grave), and not one who adapts the attack strategy based on the responses of the target system. 110
N. Asokan @asokan.org · 24/01/2025Allow me a rant: the security/crypto community has had to swallow terminology imposed from the outside, like "crypto" changing from "cryptology" to "crypto currencies" or the domain becoming "cybersecurity" (or even "cyber", ugh!). It is happening again in the ML security/privacy space. 120
N. Asokan @asokan.org · 04/01/2025The challenge is that before I can make my translations of #Moomin stories available, I need to find a Tamil #publisher who can obtain translation rights from the rights holder. If you are or know a #Tamil publisher interested in publishing #Tove #Jansson stories in Tamil, please let me know. 010
N. Asokan @asokan.org · 04/01/2025About translations into Tamil: (a more detailed post here: medium.com/@e_iniyavan/...) I posted about translating @vajra.me's fabulous story. 👇🏾 Next, I would love to translate #Tove #Jansson's #Moomin stories into #Tamil. Here is a writeup on my earlier attempt medium.com/@e_iniyavan/...medium.comMy translations: look back, look ahead (2/2)(Continued from Part 1; Tamil version below) 120
N. Asokan @asokan.org · 04/01/2025If you are or know a publisher who might be interested in publishing any of these collections, please let me know. All individual stories were posted on medium.com/@e_iniyavan; some appeared in the online magazine Jaffna Monitor.medium.comeḻuttukkiṉiyavaṉ / எழுத்துக்கினியவன் – MediumRead writing from eḻuttukkiṉiyavaṉ / எழுத்துக்கினியவன் on Medium. Technologist with a latent passion for writing, language and literature. மொழி, இலக்கியம், எழுத்துகளில் ஆர்வங்கொண்ட தொழில்நுட்பவியலாளர்... 000
N. Asokan @asokan.org · 04/01/2025Some notes on my Tamil->English translations: (a more detailed post here medium.com/@e_iniyavan/...) 3 full collections here drive.google.com/drive/folder... 1. Akka by A. Muttulingam 2. Lines and forms Kuppilan Ai. Shanmugan. and 3. Black Cuckoo, by Shobhasakthi Thanks for re-sharing!medium.comMy translations: look back, look aheadOver the past year or so, I have translated two types of stories: 1. Short stories by fantastic Sri Lankan Tamil writers into English, and… 100
N. Asokan @asokan.org · 03/01/2025On my phone (Android) I use Gboard with தமிழ் (இலங்கை). It is not phonetic, but it supports word prediction, so that I don't often have to finish typing the entire word. 000
N. Asokan @asokan.org · 03/01/2025On desktops, I use the phonetic keyboard (e.g., on Windows, "Tamil (India) phonetic") so that I can type phonetically or cut-and-paste from www.google.com/inputtools/t... and cut-and-paste. Beware that phonetic keyboards assume an "English" transliteration scheme!google.com Try Google Input Tools online – Google Input Tools 000
N. Asokan @asokan.org · 31/12/2024I wrote up a personal reminiscence of the dramatic rise of Science Fiction in Sri Lanka (and how I ended up translating a short story by a top writer, Nebula-winner @vajra.me, into Tamil which was just published by Kalachuvadu, a leading Tamil literary magazine). medium.com/@asokan.publ...medium.comSri Lankan Science FictionWhen I was fourteen, my parents decided to move to a Christian mission school. Back then the medium of instruction for most Sri Lankan… 091