Adrian Dabrowski

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I recently moved to CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security in Saarbrücken, Germany. Between 2019 and 2022, I was PostDoc at University of California, Irvine (UCI) in the Secure Systems and Software Laboratory by professor Michael Franz. (This site is currently hosted there but will likely move soon.) Before that, I've been employed at SBA Research, an inter-university research center partly owned by the University of Technology in Vienna (TU Wien). My PhD thesis there focused on security and privacy issues in large-scale infrastructure, such as cellular networks (e.g., fake base stations, IMSI catchers), power grids, botnets, and side channels in browsers. In my Master's thesis written at SecLab, I focused on several RFID systems ranging from an electronic purse to a metropolitan size locking system. There, I had the opportunity to be on the winning iCTF team in 2006 and 2011, where I co-organized the team in 2011-2013. From March to June 2013 and September 2014 to January 2015, I visited the Echizen Group at the National Institute of Informatics (NII) in Tokyo. I'm holder of the IEEE Austria Diploma Thesis Award and was nominated for the Distinguished Young Alumnus Award of the Faculty of Informatics, UT Vienna. My ACSAC 2014 paper won the Best Student Paper Award.

Before that and during my studies, I was a part-time teacher at HTL Spengergasse, a secondary technical high school in Vienna. I'm also founding member of Innoc ('Happylab' Hackerspace), Robotchallenge and Funkfeuer Wien. Furthermore I was involved in Roboat, an autonoumous self steering sailing vessel. Other robots of mine where on display at Roboexotica, at Deutsche Technik Museum in Berlin (for an IETF event), and for the "long night of museums" at Technisches Museum Wien. I was speaker at several CCC and a SIGINT congresses as well as on B-Sides and appeared in several national and international media reports after describing how to intercept wireless police cameras on Schwedenplatz in Vienna. I lectured at several BEST Summer Courses in Vienna and Bratislava on various robotic topics. In 2013, I was speaker at the European Forum Alpbach during the technology symposium days. Additionally, I held talks at 20c3, 21c3, 22c3, 23c3, 25c3, 30c3, SigInt, B-Sides Vienna, Troopers 2014, CCS2014, ACSAC2014, DayCon 2015, Troopers 2016, DeepSec 2016 and 2017, and others.

Occasionally, I make humoristic t-shirts for conferences or another one or just for fun.

Publications

Links to publisher versions of papers (e.g., SpringerLink, ACM Digital Libray) might be behind a paywall. Wherever legally possible, I've included an arXiv, local pre-print, or author-archived paper link as well.

  • Diffie-Hellman Picture Show: Key Exchange Stories from Commercial VoWiFi Deployments
    Gabriel Gegenhuber, Florian Holzbauer, Philipp Frenzel, Edgar Weippl, Adrian Dabrowski.
    To appear in Usenix Security Symposium 2024
    Usenix local PDF CISPA PupServ BibTex
  • Mental Models, Expectations and Implications of Client-Side Scanning: An Interview Study with Experts
    Divyanshu Bhardwaj, Carolyn Guthoff, Adrian Dabrowski, Sascha Fahl, Katharina Krombholz.
    Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI’24)
    ACM DL local PDF CISPA PupServ Presentation BibTex
  • In Focus, Out of Privacy: The Wearer's Perspective on the Privacy Dilemma of Camera Glasses   Honorable Best Paper Award (top 4%)
    Divyanshu Bhardwaj, Alexander Ponticello, Shreya Tomar, Adrian Dabrowski, Katharina Krombholz
    Conf. on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI’24)
    ACM DL local PDF CISPA PupServ Presentation BibTex
  • Usable Authentication in Virtual Reality: Exploring the Usability of PINs and Gestures
    HTMA Riyadh, Divyanshu Bhardwaj, Adrian Dabrowski, Katharina Krombholz.
    Conference on Applied Cryptography and Network Security (ACNS’24)
    Springer local PDF CISPA PupServ BibTex
  • MobileAtlas: Geographically Decoupled Measurements in Cellular Networks for Security and Privacy Research
    Gabriel K. Gegenhuber, Wilfried Mayer, Edgar Weippl, Adrian Dabrowski
    In proceedings of the 32th USENIX Security Symposium 2023.
    Usenix local PDF CISPA PupServ DEF CON 31 Presentation BibTex
  • To Cloud or not to Cloud: A Qualitative Study on Self-Hosters’ Motivation, Operation, and Security Mindset
    Lea Gröber, Rafael Mrowczynski, Nimisha Vijay, Daphne A. Muller, Adrian Dabrowski, Katharina Krombholz
    In proceedings of the 32th USENIX Security Symposium 2023.
    Usenix local PDF CISPA PupServ BibTex
  • Investigating Verification Behavior and Perceptions of Visual Digital Certificates
    Dañiel Gerhardt, Alexander Ponticello, Adrian Dabrowski, Katharina Krombholz
    In proceedings of the 32th USENIX Security Symposium 2023.
    Usenix local PDF CISPA PDF BibTex
  • Perceptions of DLT Key Management vs. the Technical Reality – An Interview Study with Finance Professionals
    Carolyn Guthoff, Simon Anell, Johann Hainzinger, Adrian Dabrowski, Katharina Krombholz
    In proceedings of the IEEE Security and Privacy 2023, IEEE S&P'23.
    local PDF CISPA PubServ Presentation BibTex
  • Investigating Security Folklore: A Case Study on the Tor over VPN Phenomenon
    Matthias Fassl, Alexander Ponticello, Adrian Dabrowski, Katharina Krombholz
    In proceedings of ACM Conference On Computer-Supported Cooperative Work And Social Computing 2023, CSCW'23.   Honorable Mention Award (top 3%)
    ACM DL local PDF CISPA PubServ with supplemental material BibTex
  • PKRU-Safe: Automatically Locking Down the Heap Between Safe and Unsafe Languages
    Paul Kirth, Mitchel Dickerson, Stephen Crane, Per Larsen, Adrian Dabrowski, David Gens, Yeoul Na, Stijn Volckaert, Michael Franz   Best Paper Award
    In proceedings of the 2022 European Conference on Computer Systems, EuroSys'22.
    ACM DL ACM PDF Source Code Docker Image local PDF BibTex
  • Better Keep Cash in Your Boots - Hardware Wallets Are the New Single Point of Failure
    Adrian Dabrowski, Katharina Pfeffer, Markus Reichel, Alexandra Mai, Edgar R. Weippl, Michael Franz
    In proceedings of the 2021 ACM CCS Workshop on Decentralized Finance and Security, DeFi'21.
    ACM Digital Library ACM PDF local PDF BibTex
  • On the Usability of Authenticity Checks for Hardware Security Tokens
    Katharina Pfeffer, Alexandra Mai, Adrian Dabrowski, Matthias Gusenbauer, Philipp Schindler, Edgar Weippl, Michael Franz, Katharina Krombholz
    In proceedings of the 30th USENIX Security Symposium 2021.
    Usenix PDF local PDF Slides Presentation BibTex
  • BinRec: Dynamic Binary Lifting and Recompilation -- The Best Thing Since Sliced Binaries.
    Anil Altinay, Joe Nash, Taddeus Kroes, Prabhu Rajasekaran, Dixin Zhou, Adrian Dabrowski, David Gens, Yeoul Na, Stijn Volckaert, Cristiano Giuffrida, Herbert Bos, and Michael Franz
    In proceedings of the Fifteenth European Conference on Computer Systems (EuroSys) 2020.
    ACM PDF local PDF Slides BibTex
  • Measuring Cookies and Web Privacy in a Post-GDPR World.
    Adrian Dabrowski, Georg Merzdovnik, Johanna Ullrich, Gerald Sendera, Edgar Weippl
    In proceedings of Passive and Active Measurement (PAM) 2019.
    Springerlink PDF preprint PDF BibTex
  • Proof-of-Blackouts? How Proof-of-Work Cryptocurrencies Could Affect Power Grids
    Johanna Ullrich, Nicholas Stifter, Aljosha Judmayer, Adrian Dabrowski, Edgar Weippl
    In proceedings of 21st International Symposium on Research in Attacks, Intrusions, and Defenses (RAID) 2018
    SpringerLink PDF SQI PDF local PDF BibTex
  • On Security Research Towards Future Mobile Network Generations
    David Rupprecht, Adrian Dabrowski, Thorsten Holz, Edgar Weippl, Christina Pöpper
    IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials 2018. Volume: 20 , Issue: 3 , III/2018. Pages 2518-2542. DOI 10.1109/COMST.2018.2820728
    IEEE CST PDF arXiv PDF BibTex
  • (Poster) The Petri Dish Attack - Guessing Secrets Based on Bacterial Growth
    Katharina Krombholz, Adrian Dabrowski, Peter Purgathofer, Edgar Weippl
    Network and Distributed System Security (NDSS) Symposium Posters 2018.
    Expose and Poster BibTex Best Poster Presentation Award
  • Grid Shock: Coordinated Load-Changing Attacks on Power Grids
    Adrian Dabrowski, Johanna Ullrich, and Edgar Weippl
    In proceedings of Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC) 2017
    ACM Digital Library PDF pre-print PDF Artifacts (Matlab Simulink) BibTex
  • PrivacyTag: A Community-Based Method for Protecting Privacy of Photographed Subjects in Online Social Networks Best Paper Award
    Shimon Machida, Adrian Dabrowski, Edgar Weippl and Isao Echizen
    16th IFIP Conference on e-Business, e-Services and e-Society (I3E) 2017.
    SpringerLink PDF BibTex
  • Exploring Design Directions for Wearable Privacy
    Katharina Krombholz, Adrian Dabrowski, Matthew Smith, and Edgar Weippl
    In proceedings of USEC Mini Conference 2017 (co-located with NDSS Symposium 2017).
    NDSS PDF local PDF BibTex
  • The Messenger Shoots Back: Network Operator Based IMSI Catcher Detection
    Adrian Dabrowski, Georg Petzl, and Edgar R. Weippl
    In proceedings of Research in Attacks, Intrusions and Defenses (RAID) 2016, Paris
    SpringerLink PDF local PDF (v1.01) BibTex
  • Browser History Stealing with Captive Wi-Fi Portals (2016)
    Adrian Dabrowski, Georg Merzdovnik, Nikolaus Kommenda and Edgar Weippl
    Mobile Security Technologies (MoST) 2016 at IEEE Security & Privacy Symposium Workshops, San Jose
    IEEE CS PDF local PDF Poster S&P MoST2016 Slides BibTex
  • Leveraging Competitive Gamification for Sustainable Fun and Profit in Security Education (2015)
    Adrian Dabrowski, Markus Kammerstetter, Eduard Thamm, Edgar Weippl, Wolfgang Kastner
    USENIX Summit on Gaming, Games and Gamification in Security Education (3GSE '15) (co-located with USENIX Security Symposiom 2015)
    Usenix Usenix PDF local PDF BibTex
  • Smart Privacy Visor: Bridging the Privacy Gap (2015)
    Adrian Dabrowski, Katharina Krombholz, Edgar Weippl and Isao Echizen
    Workshop on Privacy by Transparency in Data-Centric Services (PTDCS) at 18th International Conference on Business Information Systems (BIS2015)
    June 26th 2015, Poznan
    SpringerLink PDF local PDF BibTex
  • Error-Correcting Codes as Source for Decoding Ambiguity (2015)
    Adrian Dabrowski, Isao Echizen, Edgar Weippl
    Workshop on Language-Theoretic Security Workshop at IEEE Security & Privacy Symposium "Oakland", San Jose; DOI 10.1109/SPW.2015.28
    local PDF PDF from LangSec IEEE Xplore (PDF) Slides BibTex
  • Ok Glass, Leave me Alone: Towards a Systematization of Privacy Enhancing Technologies for Wearable Computing (2015)
    Katharina Krombholz, Adrian Dabrowski, Matt Smith, Edgar R. Weippl
    Proceedings of Workshop on Wearable Security and Privacy co-located with Financial Cryptography and Data Security 2015
    Springerlink PDF PDF BibTex
  • IMSI-Catch Me If You Can: IMSI-Catcher-Catchers (2014) Best Student Paper Award
    Adrian Dabrowski, Nicola Pianta, Thomas Klepp, Martin Mulazzani, Edgar Weippl
    Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC) 2014.
    ACM Digital Library PDF local PDF Sources BibTex
  • QR Inception: Barcode-in-Barcode Attacks (2014)
    Adrian Dabrowski, Katharina Krombholz, Johanna Ullrich, Edgar Weippl
    4th Annual ACM CCS Workshop on Security and Privacy in Smartphones and Mobile Devices (SPSM) in conjunction with the 21st ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS)
    ACM Digital Library PDF local PDF Slides BibTex
  • Tag Detection for Preventing Unauthorized Face Image Processing (2014)
    Alberto Escalada Jimenez, Adrian Dabrowski, Juan M Montero Martinez, Isao Echizen
    The 13th International Workshop on Digital-forensics and Watermarking (IWDW 2014)
    SpringerLink PDF pre-print PDF BibTex
  • (SoK) IPv6 Security: Attacks and Countermeasures in a Nutshell (2014)
    Johanna Ullrich, Katharina Krombholz, Heidelinde Hobel, Adrian Dabrowski, Edgar Weippl
    USENIX Workshop on Offensive Technologies (WOOT) 2014 (co-located with Usenix Security 2014)
    USENIX PDF local PDF BibTex
  • Towards a Hardware Trojan Detection Cycle (2014)
    Adrian Dabrowski, Heidelinde Hobel, Johanna Ullrich, Katharina Krombholz, Edgar Weippl
    Second International Workshop on Emerging Cyberthreats and Countermeasures, ECTCM at ARES2014, DOI 10.1109/ARES.2014.45
    IEEE Xplore PDF local PDF BibTex
  • (Poster) Hardware Trojans - Detect and React? (2014)
    Adrian Dabrowski, Peter Fejes, Johanna Ullrich, Katharina Krombholz, Heidelinde Hobel, and Edgar Weippl
    Network and Distributed System Security (NDSS) Symposium, 2014, Extended Abstract and Poster Session. Internet Society.
    Poster Session Two page abstract Poster BibTex
  • Hardware Malware (2013)
    Christian Krieg, Adrian Dabrowski, Heidelinde Hobel, Katharina Krombholz, and Edgar Weippl
    Synthesis Lectures on Information Security, Privacy, and Trust,
    ISBN paperback 978-1627052511, ISBN ebook 978-1627052528
    Morgan & Claypool Publishers PDF/Book IEEE Xplore PDF BibTex
  • Framework based on Privacy Policy Hiding for Preventing Unauthorized Face Image Processing (2013)
    Adrian Dabrowski, Edgar R. Weippl, Isao Echizen
    Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC) 2013
    IEEE Xplore PDF preprint PDF BibTex
  • Security Analysis of Metropolitan Locking Systems Using the Example of the City of Vienna
    Adrian Dabrowski
    Master's Thesis, IEEE Section Austria Diploma Thesis Award
    PDF on academic request Poster 30C3 talk video BibTex
  • A Digital Interface for Imagery and Control of a Navico/Lowrance Broadband Radar (2011)
    Adrian Dabrowski, Sebastian Busch, Roland Stelzer
    Robotic Sailing - Proceedings of the 4th International Robotic Sailing Conference (IRSC), pp. 169-181, Springer, ISBN 978-3-642-22835-3
    Springerlink PDF preprint PDF reference implementation BibTex
    Also cited in: 1, 2
  • Centrobot Portal for Robotics Educational Course Material (2010)
    Richard Balogh, Adrian Dabrowski, Walter Hammerl, Alexander Hofmann, Pavel Petrovič, Ján Rajníček
    In Proceedings of the 1st international conference on Robotics in Education, RiE2010. September 2010., pp. 17-22. FEI STU, Slovakia, ISBN 978-80-227-3353-3
    PDF local PDF BibTex

Received Awards, Grants, and Achivements

  • Best Student Paper Award
    First Author at ACSAC 2014
  • IEEE Section Austria Diploma Thesis Award 2013
  • Best Paper Award
    Co-Author at IFIP I3E 2017
  • Best Poster Presentation Award
    Co-Author at NDSS 2018
  • Förderstipendium 2016 (€1800)
    Fakultät für Informatik, TU Wien
  • CVE-2018-13375 (medium) FortiGuard
    CVE-2024-22064 (high) ZTE EPC
    CVE-2024-20069 (high) MediaTek
    CVD-2024-0089
  • Netidee project grants (€72000)
    Main author
  • Prix Ars Electronica Artist
    Fully paid invitation in 2007, 2011, 2015
  • Winning ICTF team member 2006, 2011.
    Top-10 in 2006-2017 w/o 2013
  • Winning robotic sailing team member.
    Microtransat 2006, World Robotic Sailing Championship 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
  • Winning team of Austrian Physics on Stage 2000 competition. Presentation at European Week for Science and Technology at CERN, Geneva (Nov 2000).
  • Aged 13, 6th place at the national programming competition by Austrian Computer Society (OCG) and Federal Ministy of Education (BMUKK)
  • Program Committee
    ACM WiSec 2019,2020,2021 (PC),
    RAID 2019,2020,2021 (PC), ROOTS 2017,2018,2019,2020,2021 (Co/chair), EuroSec 2021 (PC)
  • Publicity Chair
    ACM WiSec 2021 (PC)

Misc

  • Some of my very early high-school or pre-studies projects also showed some impact. My Nokia data cable reverse engineering project from 2000 was featured in the book Hardware Hacking: Have Fun while Voiding your Warranty. The original site of my project has been down for years, but I still get requests and questions about it.
  • My Erdős number currently is 5 (that's bad!). My Kevin Bacon number is 3 (when including TV appearances).