Mathy Vanhoef
@vanhoefm.bsky.social
Prof. @KU_Leuven | Research in Network & Software Security | Known for WPA2 KRACK attack, Dragonblood, and FragAttacks | Open to consultancy | Ex-Postdoc NYU
Reposted by Mathy Vanhoef
The US government is considering punishing American scientists who worked with Chinese researchers *years ago, retroactively*.
“The prohibited activities would include joint research, co-authorship on papers, and advising a foreign graduate student or postdoctoral fellow. The language is retroactive, meaning any interactions during the previous 5 years could make a scientist ineligible for future federal funding.”
U.S. Congress considers sweeping ban on Chinese collaborations
Researchers speak out against proposal that would bar funding for U.S. scientists working with Chinese partners or training Chinese students
www.science.org
November 14, 2025 at 2:54 AM
The US government is considering punishing American scientists who worked with Chinese researchers *years ago, retroactively*.
I've found AI tools to be quite useful too look for related work. And apparently so do others, searching Google Scholar for "utm_source=chatgpt.com" gives 13,900+ hits ;) scholar.google.com/scholar?star...
scholar.google.com
November 12, 2025 at 2:21 AM
I've found AI tools to be quite useful too look for related work. And apparently so do others, searching Google Scholar for "utm_source=chatgpt.com" gives 13,900+ hits ;) scholar.google.com/scholar?star...
Russia is blocking mobile phones being brought back into the country from abroad for 24 hours, in an attempt to mitigate drone attacks. Seems like this can probably be bypassed using relay "worm hole" attacks, though it adds some complexity.
novayagazeta.eu/articles/202...
novayagazeta.eu/articles/202...
One-day data block introduced on Russian SIM cards being brought back into country — Novaya Gazeta Europe
The Russian authorities have begun blocking mobile phones being brought back into the country from abroad for 24 hours in an attempt to undermine Ukrainian drone strikes, the Ministry of Digital Devel...
novayagazeta.eu
November 12, 2025 at 2:03 AM
Russia is blocking mobile phones being brought back into the country from abroad for 24 hours, in an attempt to mitigate drone attacks. Seems like this can probably be bypassed using relay "worm hole" attacks, though it adds some complexity.
novayagazeta.eu/articles/202...
novayagazeta.eu/articles/202...
Reposted by Mathy Vanhoef
woo! $10 MM USD in grants from ICANN... amazing. And great grantees here! "ICANN Announces First Cohort of Grant Program Recipients" www.icann.org/en/announcem...
ICANN Announces First Cohort of Grant Program Recipients
Following an extensive applicant review period, ICANN has announced some of the projects that will receive funding in the ICANN Grant Program’s first cycle.
www.icann.org
October 28, 2025 at 12:15 AM
woo! $10 MM USD in grants from ICANN... amazing. And great grantees here! "ICANN Announces First Cohort of Grant Program Recipients" www.icann.org/en/announcem...
Reposted by Mathy Vanhoef
Last chance to (self-) nominate for USENIX Security'26 Artifact Evaluation Committee!
You should expect a low load of ~1 artifact for functionality/reproducibility assessments per cycle (max 3 for the whole year).
Please support Open Science and fill the form by Oct 17: forms.gle/WoYRX4govNY1... 🚀
You should expect a low load of ~1 artifact for functionality/reproducibility assessments per cycle (max 3 for the whole year).
Please support Open Science and fill the form by Oct 17: forms.gle/WoYRX4govNY1... 🚀
(Self-)Nomination for the USENIX Security '26 Artifact Evaluation Committee (AEC)
For the seventh year, USENIX Security allows the evaluation of artifacts that support a paper: software, hardware, evaluation data and documentation, raw measurement data, raw survey results, mechaniz...
forms.gle
October 16, 2025 at 5:48 AM
Last chance to (self-) nominate for USENIX Security'26 Artifact Evaluation Committee!
You should expect a low load of ~1 artifact for functionality/reproducibility assessments per cycle (max 3 for the whole year).
Please support Open Science and fill the form by Oct 17: forms.gle/WoYRX4govNY1... 🚀
You should expect a low load of ~1 artifact for functionality/reproducibility assessments per cycle (max 3 for the whole year).
Please support Open Science and fill the form by Oct 17: forms.gle/WoYRX4govNY1... 🚀
Reposted by Mathy Vanhoef
I have been learning more about PDFs than I really wanted to for maybe the absolutely most funny reason possible - letting agency forgery: mjg59.dreamwidth.org/73317.html
September 24, 2025 at 10:25 PM
I have been learning more about PDFs than I really wanted to for maybe the absolutely most funny reason possible - letting agency forgery: mjg59.dreamwidth.org/73317.html
Reposted by Mathy Vanhoef
The West has a blindspot when it comes to alternative CPU designs.
We’re so entrenched in the usual x86, ARM, RISC-V world, that most people have no idea what’s happening over in China.
LoongArch is a fully independent ISA that’s sorta MIPS…sorta RISC-V…and sorta x87!
We’re so entrenched in the usual x86, ARM, RISC-V world, that most people have no idea what’s happening over in China.
LoongArch is a fully independent ISA that’s sorta MIPS…sorta RISC-V…and sorta x87!
August 19, 2025 at 8:44 PM
The West has a blindspot when it comes to alternative CPU designs.
We’re so entrenched in the usual x86, ARM, RISC-V world, that most people have no idea what’s happening over in China.
LoongArch is a fully independent ISA that’s sorta MIPS…sorta RISC-V…and sorta x87!
We’re so entrenched in the usual x86, ARM, RISC-V world, that most people have no idea what’s happening over in China.
LoongArch is a fully independent ISA that’s sorta MIPS…sorta RISC-V…and sorta x87!
At USENIX Security? Then check out:
Studying the Use of CVEs in Academia, won distinguished paper award www.usenix.org/conference/u...
Discovering and Exploiting Vulnerable Tunnelling Hosts, won most innovative research Pwnie @ DEFCON www.usenix.org/conference/u...
Big thanks to all co-authors!!
Studying the Use of CVEs in Academia, won distinguished paper award www.usenix.org/conference/u...
Discovering and Exploiting Vulnerable Tunnelling Hosts, won most innovative research Pwnie @ DEFCON www.usenix.org/conference/u...
Big thanks to all co-authors!!
August 13, 2025 at 10:30 PM
At USENIX Security? Then check out:
Studying the Use of CVEs in Academia, won distinguished paper award www.usenix.org/conference/u...
Discovering and Exploiting Vulnerable Tunnelling Hosts, won most innovative research Pwnie @ DEFCON www.usenix.org/conference/u...
Big thanks to all co-authors!!
Studying the Use of CVEs in Academia, won distinguished paper award www.usenix.org/conference/u...
Discovering and Exploiting Vulnerable Tunnelling Hosts, won most innovative research Pwnie @ DEFCON www.usenix.org/conference/u...
Big thanks to all co-authors!!
Reposted by Mathy Vanhoef
I'm thrilled to announce that after months of intensive work, the complete materials for my Applied Cryptography course at the American University of Beirut are now finished: both Part 1 (Provable Security) and Part 2 (Real-World Cryptography)!
August 6, 2025 at 8:01 AM
I'm thrilled to announce that after months of intensive work, the complete materials for my Applied Cryptography course at the American University of Beirut are now finished: both Part 1 (Provable Security) and Part 2 (Real-World Cryptography)!
Reposted by Mathy Vanhoef
Breaking: NSF is suspending roughly 300 grants with UCLA, following a DOJ finding on Tuesday that the university violated Title VI by "creating a hostile educational environment for Jewish and Israeli students."
July 31, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Breaking: NSF is suspending roughly 300 grants with UCLA, following a DOJ finding on Tuesday that the university violated Title VI by "creating a hostile educational environment for Jewish and Israeli students."
Our research on open tunneling servers got nominated for the Most Innovative Research award :)
The work will be presented by Angelos Beitis at Black Hat and also at USENIX Security
Brief summary and code: github.com/vanhoefm/tun...
Paper: papers.mathyvanhoef.com/usenix2025-t...
The work will be presented by Angelos Beitis at Black Hat and also at USENIX Security
Brief summary and code: github.com/vanhoefm/tun...
Paper: papers.mathyvanhoef.com/usenix2025-t...
July 12, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Our research on open tunneling servers got nominated for the Most Innovative Research award :)
The work will be presented by Angelos Beitis at Black Hat and also at USENIX Security
Brief summary and code: github.com/vanhoefm/tun...
Paper: papers.mathyvanhoef.com/usenix2025-t...
The work will be presented by Angelos Beitis at Black Hat and also at USENIX Security
Brief summary and code: github.com/vanhoefm/tun...
Paper: papers.mathyvanhoef.com/usenix2025-t...
Reposted by Mathy Vanhoef
Also in Poland. It was used by Russia in 2023 to stop about 20 trains.
Suspicious Train Disruptions in Poland: Is Russia Pulling the Levers? | RAILTARGET
Over the past weekend, Poland experienced an unusual series of train stoppages that have raised serious national security concerns.
www.railtarget.eu
July 12, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Also in Poland. It was used by Russia in 2023 to stop about 20 trains.
Yikes. Turns out you can send a plaintext radio signal to cause any train in the USA to do an emergency break. The original 'security' was just a checksum, no encryption or authentication. Reporting this took them 12 years (!) because the vendor dismissed it initially www.cisa.gov/news-events/...
End-of-Train and Head-of-Train Remote Linking Protocol | CISA
www.cisa.gov
July 12, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Yikes. Turns out you can send a plaintext radio signal to cause any train in the USA to do an emergency break. The original 'security' was just a checksum, no encryption or authentication. Reporting this took them 12 years (!) because the vendor dismissed it initially www.cisa.gov/news-events/...
Reposted by Mathy Vanhoef
Reminder that the MSCA postdoctoral program exists. If you have a PhD and want to work in a European lab, you have until September to apply. Just contact them now.
ec.europa.eu/info/funding...
ec.europa.eu/info/funding...
ec.europa.eu
June 6, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Reminder that the MSCA postdoctoral program exists. If you have a PhD and want to work in a European lab, you have until September to apply. Just contact them now.
ec.europa.eu/info/funding...
ec.europa.eu/info/funding...
Reposted by Mathy Vanhoef
Finally got round to listen to this marvel of an episode on BSSID vulnerabilities.
Very informative and quite shocking. Give it a listen.
Very informative and quite shocking. Give it a listen.
PP027: How Wi-Fi Positioning Systems Enable Mass Surveillance | Packet Pushers
In today's Packet Protector podcast we explore the rich and terrifying potential of using Wi-Fi-based Positioning Systems for mass surveillance with researchers from the University of Maryland. We dis...
packetpushers.net
July 7, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Finally got round to listen to this marvel of an episode on BSSID vulnerabilities.
Very informative and quite shocking. Give it a listen.
Very informative and quite shocking. Give it a listen.
Senate GOP budget bill has little-noticed provision that could hurt your Wi-Fi arstechnica.com/tech-policy/... ==> Possibly no 6GHz for Wi-Fi 7
Senate GOP budget bill has little-noticed provision that could hurt your Wi-Fi
Cruz bill could take 6 GHz spectrum away from Wi-Fi, give it to mobile carriers.
arstechnica.com
July 3, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Senate GOP budget bill has little-noticed provision that could hurt your Wi-Fi arstechnica.com/tech-policy/... ==> Possibly no 6GHz for Wi-Fi 7
Reminder to apply to be part of the artifact evaluation committee of NDSS'26! And share with your colleagues :) We'll likely close this form around the end of next week.
All papers should publish their code. Help realize this by becoming an artifact reviewer at NDSS'26, apply here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
You'll review artifacts of accepted papers. We especially encourage junior/senior PhD students & PostDocs to help. Distinguished reviews will get awards!
You'll review artifacts of accepted papers. We especially encourage junior/senior PhD students & PostDocs to help. Distinguished reviews will get awards!
Self-nomination for the Artifact Evaluation Committee of NDSS 2026
We are looking for members of the Artifact Evaluation Committee (AEC) of NDSS 2026.
The Network and Distributed System Security symposium adopts an Artifact Evaluation (AE) process allowing authors t...
docs.google.com
June 10, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Reminder to apply to be part of the artifact evaluation committee of NDSS'26! And share with your colleagues :) We'll likely close this form around the end of next week.
Reposted by Mathy Vanhoef
All papers should publish their code. Help realize this by becoming an artifact reviewer at NDSS'26, apply here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
You'll review artifacts of accepted papers. We especially encourage junior/senior PhD students & PostDocs to help. Distinguished reviews will get awards!
You'll review artifacts of accepted papers. We especially encourage junior/senior PhD students & PostDocs to help. Distinguished reviews will get awards!
Self-nomination for the Artifact Evaluation Committee of NDSS 2026
We are looking for members of the Artifact Evaluation Committee (AEC) of NDSS 2026.
The Network and Distributed System Security symposium adopts an Artifact Evaluation (AE) process allowing authors t...
docs.google.com
May 25, 2025 at 1:25 PM
All papers should publish their code. Help realize this by becoming an artifact reviewer at NDSS'26, apply here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
You'll review artifacts of accepted papers. We especially encourage junior/senior PhD students & PostDocs to help. Distinguished reviews will get awards!
You'll review artifacts of accepted papers. We especially encourage junior/senior PhD students & PostDocs to help. Distinguished reviews will get awards!
Reposted by Mathy Vanhoef
Lee Jae-myung, the South Korean politician who climbed the fence of the parliament to get inside and vote against martial law, has been elected president. Pretty cooool
June 4, 2025 at 1:00 AM
Lee Jae-myung, the South Korean politician who climbed the fence of the parliament to get inside and vote against martial law, has been elected president. Pretty cooool
All papers should publish their code. Help realize this by becoming an artifact reviewer at NDSS'26, apply here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
You'll review artifacts of accepted papers. We especially encourage junior/senior PhD students & PostDocs to help. Distinguished reviews will get awards!
You'll review artifacts of accepted papers. We especially encourage junior/senior PhD students & PostDocs to help. Distinguished reviews will get awards!
Self-nomination for the Artifact Evaluation Committee of NDSS 2026
We are looking for members of the Artifact Evaluation Committee (AEC) of NDSS 2026.
The Network and Distributed System Security symposium adopts an Artifact Evaluation (AE) process allowing authors t...
docs.google.com
May 25, 2025 at 1:25 PM
All papers should publish their code. Help realize this by becoming an artifact reviewer at NDSS'26, apply here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
You'll review artifacts of accepted papers. We especially encourage junior/senior PhD students & PostDocs to help. Distinguished reviews will get awards!
You'll review artifacts of accepted papers. We especially encourage junior/senior PhD students & PostDocs to help. Distinguished reviews will get awards!
Reposted by Mathy Vanhoef
Calling researchers: EU #grantconsultancy 🚨
Have you worked with private grant consultants for EU research funding (Horizon, EIC, etc.)—Have you had positive or negative experiences?
📩 Share your story: kaspernollet@gmail.com / thordeyaert@hotmail.be (@thordeyaert.bsky.social)
🔁 RT appreciated!
Have you worked with private grant consultants for EU research funding (Horizon, EIC, etc.)—Have you had positive or negative experiences?
📩 Share your story: kaspernollet@gmail.com / thordeyaert@hotmail.be (@thordeyaert.bsky.social)
🔁 RT appreciated!
May 13, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Calling researchers: EU #grantconsultancy 🚨
Have you worked with private grant consultants for EU research funding (Horizon, EIC, etc.)—Have you had positive or negative experiences?
📩 Share your story: kaspernollet@gmail.com / thordeyaert@hotmail.be (@thordeyaert.bsky.social)
🔁 RT appreciated!
Have you worked with private grant consultants for EU research funding (Horizon, EIC, etc.)—Have you had positive or negative experiences?
📩 Share your story: kaspernollet@gmail.com / thordeyaert@hotmail.be (@thordeyaert.bsky.social)
🔁 RT appreciated!
Reposted by Mathy Vanhoef
Haven't seen this on Bluesky yet: S&P 2027 will take place in Montreal, Canada!
May 14, 2025 at 6:45 AM
Haven't seen this on Bluesky yet: S&P 2027 will take place in Montreal, Canada!
New version of the IEEE 802.11 standard that underpins Wi-Fi was has been released. A total of 5969 pages!
The number of pages clearly keeps increasing. That includes more features to defend networks, but also more features to potentially abuse 👀
The number of pages clearly keeps increasing. That includes more features to defend networks, but also more features to potentially abuse 👀
May 7, 2025 at 10:28 PM
New version of the IEEE 802.11 standard that underpins Wi-Fi was has been released. A total of 5969 pages!
The number of pages clearly keeps increasing. That includes more features to defend networks, but also more features to potentially abuse 👀
The number of pages clearly keeps increasing. That includes more features to defend networks, but also more features to potentially abuse 👀
Reposted by Mathy Vanhoef
In two weeks, @vanhoefm.bsky.social , professor at DistriNet at KU Leuven, takes the stage for our next #DistinguishedLecture. He will present current strategies to strengthen Wi-Fi #security based on recent attacks on networks and previously detected design flaws. All information: buff.ly/gslCMCB
March 6, 2025 at 4:05 PM
In two weeks, @vanhoefm.bsky.social , professor at DistriNet at KU Leuven, takes the stage for our next #DistinguishedLecture. He will present current strategies to strengthen Wi-Fi #security based on recent attacks on networks and previously detected design flaws. All information: buff.ly/gslCMCB
Reposted by Mathy Vanhoef
February 2025 Android Security Bulletin includes a heap buffer overflow in a Linux kernel USB peripheral driver (CVE-2024-53104) marked exploited in the wild. It's likely one of the USB bugs exploited by forensic data extraction tools. We block them using these.
source.android.com/docs/securit...
source.android.com/docs/securit...
Android Security Bulletin February 2025 | Android Open Source Project
source.android.com
February 4, 2025 at 4:09 AM
February 2025 Android Security Bulletin includes a heap buffer overflow in a Linux kernel USB peripheral driver (CVE-2024-53104) marked exploited in the wild. It's likely one of the USB bugs exploited by forensic data extraction tools. We block them using these.
source.android.com/docs/securit...
source.android.com/docs/securit...