NSA Awards Authors of Study of Automated Attacks on New Webservers

The National Security Agency (NSA) Research Directorate recently selected “Uninvited Guests: Analyzing the Identity and Behavior of Certificate Transparency Bots,” as the winner of its 11th Annual Best Scientific Cybersecurity Paper Competition.

The winning paper, authored by Stony Brook University researchers Brian Kondracki, Johnny So, and professor Nick Nikiforakis, examined a study of automated attacks on new webservers, and explored how a web browser can trust an organization’s publicly issued cryptographic credentials. At the heart of their investigation was a simple question: What happens when you setup a new encrypted website?

“This paper was selected as the winner because the researchers performed high-level, clearly written, and impactful science,” said NSA’s Director of Research, Gil Herrera. "It is the cutting-edge and relatable research that has made the paper stand out as the winner of this year's competition."

Read more about the winning paper on the NSA.gov website.