Salvatore J. Stolfo

{{short description|American computer scientist}}{{Infobox scientist

| name = Salvatore J. Stolfo

| image = Team-salvatore-stolfo@2x.jpg

| birth_place = Brooklyn, New York, United States

| alma_mater = Brooklyn College (B.Sc.), NYU Courant Institute (Ph.D.)

| thesis_year =

| known_for =

| awards = IEEE Fellow (2018), ACM Fellow (2019)

| work_institutions = Columbia University

| notable_works =

}}

Salvatore J. Stolfo is an academic and professor of computer science at Columbia University, specializing in computer security.

Early life

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Stolfo received a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Mathematics from Brooklyn College in 1974. He received his Ph.D. from NYU Courant Institute in 1979 and has been on the faculty of Columbia ever since,{{cite web|url=https://www.cs.columbia.edu/~sal/ |title=Professor Salvatore J. Stolfo |publisher=Cs.columbia.edu |date=2015-02-09 |accessdate=2015-06-26}} where he's taught courses in Artificial Intelligence, Intrusion and Anomaly Detection Systems, Introduction to Programming, Fundamental Algorithms, Data Structures, and Knowledge-Based Expert Systems.{{cite web|url=https://www.cs.columbia.edu/~sal/courses.html |title=Recent Courses |publisher=Cs.columbia.edu |date= |accessdate=2015-06-26}}

Academic research

While at Columbia, Stolfo has received close to $50M in funding {{cite web|url=https://www.cs.columbia.edu/documents/cv/sal/CV_Stolfo.pdf |title=Salvatore J. Stolfo CV |publisher=Cs.columbia.edu |date= |accessdate=2015-06-26}} for research that has broadly focused on Security, Intrusion Detection, Anomaly Detection, Machine Learning and includes early work in parallel computing and artificial intelligence.{{cite web|url=https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=DknsgF8AAAAJ |title=Salvatore Stolfo - Google Scholar Citations |date= |accessdate=2015-07-01}} He has published or co-authored over 250 papers and has over 46,000 citations with an H-index of 102.{{cite web|url=https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=DknsgF8AAAAJ&hl=en |title=Salvatore Stolfo - Google Scholar Citations |date= |accessdate=2015-06-26}} In 1996 he proposed a project with DARPA that applies machine learning to behavioral patterns to detect fraud or intrusion in networks.{{cite web |url=http://sneakers.cs.columbia.edu/JAM/PROJECT/ |title=The JAM Project: Fraud and Intrusion Detection Using Meta-learning Agents |publisher=Sneakers.cs.columbia.edu |date= |access-date=2015-06-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141023105118/http://sneakers.cs.columbia.edu/JAM/PROJECT/ |archive-date=2014-10-23 |url-status=dead }}

DADO, developed by in part by Stolfo, introduced the parallel computing primitive: “Broadcast, Resolve, Report”, a hardwire implemented mechanism that today is called MapReduce.Strategic Computing: DARPA and the Quest for Machine Intelligence, 1983-1993, By Alex Roland, Philip Shiman, Pages 173-175.{{cite journal|url=http://academiccommons.columbia.edu/catalog/ac%3A144763 |title=DADO: A Parallel Processor for Expert Systems - Academic Commons |year=1984 |publisher=Academiccommons.columbia.edu |doi=10.7916/D8F196VH |accessdate=2015-08-05|last1=Stolfo |first1=Salvatore |last2=Miranker |first2=Daniel P. |journal=Academic Commons }}

Among his earliest work, Stolfo along with colleague Greg Vesonder of Bell Labs, developed a large-scale expert data analysis system, called ACE (Automated Cable Expertise) for the nation's phone system. AT&T Bell Labs distributed ACE to a number of telephone wire centers to improve the management and scheduling of repairs in the local loop.{{cite journal|url=http://academiccommons.columbia.edu/catalog/ac:163674 |title=Are maintenance expert systems practical now? - Academic Commons |year=1985 |publisher=Academiccommons.columbia.edu |doi=10.7916/D8WD481H |accessdate=2015-07-01|last1=Waldes |first1=Peter |last2=Lustgarten |first2=Janet |last3=Stolfo |first3=Salvatore |journal=Academic Commons }}

Stolfo coined the term FOG computing (not to be confused with fog computing) where technology is used “to launch disinformation attacks against malicious insiders, preventing them from distinguishing the real sensitive customer data from fake worthless data.”{{cite journal |last=Stolfo |first=Salvatore J. |url=http://academiccommons.columbia.edu/catalog/ac%3A149456 |title=Fog Computing: Mitigating Insider Data Theft Attacks in the Cloud - Academic Commons |doi=10.1109/SPW.2012.19 |publisher=Academiccommons.columbia.edu |date=2012-05-25 |s2cid=6150529 |accessdate=2015-07-01}}

In 2005 Stolfo received funding from the Army Research Office to conduct a workshop to bring together a group of researchers to help identify a research program to focus on insider threats.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5Jq5BQAAQBAJ&q=stolfo+aro&pg=PA460 |title=Research in Attacks, Intrusions, and Defenses: 16th International Symposium ... - Google Books |date=2013-10-23 |accessdate=2015-07-01|isbn=9783642412844 |last1=Stolfo |first1=Salvatore J. |last2=Stavrou |first2=Angelos |last3=Wright |first3=Charles V. |publisher=Springer }}

He was elevated to IEEE Fellow in 2018 "for his contributions to machine learning based cybersecurity."{{Cite web | url=https://www.computer.org/press-room/2017-news/cs-fellows-2018 | title=IEEE Computer Society Members Elevated to Fellow for 2018 | IEEE Computer Society| date=12 April 2018}}

He was elected as an ACM Fellow in 2019 "for contributions to machine-learning-based cybersecurity and parallel hardware for database inference systems".{{citation|url=https://www.acm.org/media-center/2019/december/fellows-2019|title=2019 ACM Fellows Recognized for Far-Reaching Accomplishments that Define the Digital Age|publisher=Association for Computing Machinery|accessdate=2019-12-11}}

Career

Founded in 2011, Red Balloon Security (or RBS) is a cyber security company founded by Dr Sal Stolfo and Dr Ang Cui. A spinout from the IDS lab, RBS developed a symbiote technology called FRAK as a host defense for embedded systems under the sponsorship of DARPA's Cyber Fast Track program.{{cite news|author=Mark Piesing |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2012/jul/23/hacking-attack-printers?newsfeed=true |title=Hacking attacks on printers still not being taken seriously | Technology |newspaper=The Guardian |accessdate=2015-07-01}}

Created based on their IDS lab research for the DARPA Active Authentication and the Anomaly Detection at Multiple Scales program, Dr Sal Stolfo and Dr. Angelos Keromytis founded Allure Security Technologies. Using active behavioral authentication and decoy technology Stolfo pioneered and patented in 1996.{{cite web|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US8528091 |title=Patent US8528091 - Methods, systems, and media for detecting covert malware - Google Patents |date= |access-date=2015-07-01}}http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/patog/week34/OG/html/1405-4/US08819825-20140826.html{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{Cite web |url=http://opencatalog.darpa.mil/AA.html |title=DARPA - Open Catalog |access-date=2015-07-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150711011939/http://opencatalog.darpa.mil/AA.html |archive-date=2015-07-11 |url-status=dead }}[https://patents.google.com/patent/US8769684 Patent US8769684 - Methods, systems, and media for masquerade attack detection by monitoring ... - Google Patents]{{cite web |url=http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/patog/week15/OG/html/1413-2/US09009829-20150414.html |title=Archived copy |access-date=2015-06-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304052844/http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/patog/week15/OG/html/1413-2/US09009829-20150414.html |archive-date=2016-03-04 }}

Founded in 2009, Allure Security Technology was created based on work done under DARPA sponsorship in Columbia's IDS lab based on DARPA prompts to research how to detect hackers once they are inside an organization's perimeter and how to continuously authenticate a user without a password.

Stolfo's company Electronic Digital Documents produced a “DataBlade” technology, which Informix marketed during their strategy of acquisition and development in the mid 80's.[https://books.google.com/books?id=JayZSNLgpWoC&dq=electronic+digital+documents+informix&pg=PA51 Matching Records in Multiple Databases Using a Hybridization of Several ... - Google Books] Stolfo's patented merge/purge technology called EDD DataCleanser DataBlade was licensed by Informix.{{cite web|url=http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/acoas/nominations/stolfo.htm |title=Salvatore Joseph Stolfo - Nomination and Bio |publisher=Govinfo.library.unt.edu |date= |accessdate=2015-06-26}}[https://books.google.com/books?id=S-XvEQWABeUC&dq=electronic+digital+documents+informix&pg=PA24 Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery Handbook - Google Books] Since its acquisition by IBM in 2005, IBM Informix is one of the world's most widely used database servers, with users ranging from the world's largest corporations to startups.

System Detection was one of the companies founded by Prof. Stolfo to commercialize the Anomaly Detection technology developed in the IDS lab. The company ultimately reorganized and was rebranded as Trusted Computer Solutions. That company was recently acquired by Raytheon.{{cite web|url=http://investing.businessweek.com/Research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=2184322 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150627172358/http://investing.businessweek.com/Research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=2184322 |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 27, 2015 |title=CounterStorm, Inc.: Private Company Information - Businessweek |publisher=Investing.businessweek.com |date=2008-09-05 |accessdate=2015-06-26}}[http://investor.raytheon.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=84193&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1492395 Raytheon Company : Investor Relations : News Release]

Recently a jury awarded Columbia University $185 million for patent infringement for one of Prof. Stolfo's inventions, the Application Communities technology. https://news.columbia.edu/news/columbia-university-awarded-185-million-patent-infringement-nortonlifelock-inc. The final order from the judge applied nearly treble damages: https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/gen-digital-owes-columbia-481-mln-us-patent-fight-judge-says-2023-10-02/

References