About Diwen Xue
Diwen Xue is a fifth year PhD candidate at the University of Michigan, working with Prof. Roya Ensafi. His research focuses on areas where the privacy, security and availability implications of networked systems affect users in the real world. He conducts Internet measurements at scale, uses those observations to refine threat models, and builds countermeasures to safeguard users’ communication on this increasingly adversarial Internet. His works have received multiple distinctions, including the Distinguished Paper Award from USENIX Security and the first prize of the Internet Defense Prize.
Speaker Schedule
| Date | Time | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 5/6/2025 | 1:00pm PDT, Online | Measuring and Mitigating Adversarial Intermediaries on the Global Internet |
Abstract
Over the past decade, significant shifts in the threat landscape have positioned network infrastructure itself as a potential adversary. Rapid advances and commoditization of networking technologies such as Deep Packet Inspection (DPI), combined with loosened regulations like the repeal of net neutrality, have granted the network with unprecedented capability and freedom to inspect, modify, throttle, or even hijacks the traffic it transports at fine granularity and line rate. What were once neutral “dumb pipes” have evolved into capable and sometimes adversarial network intermediaries—ranging from malicious middleboxes and rogue ISPs to compromised routers and untrusted transit networks—all creating new threats that increasingly erode user privacy, autonomy, and overall trust in connectivity. In this talk, I will talk about how we tackle these challenges empirically—conducting Internet measurements at scale, using those observations to refine and update threat models, and building countermeasures based on principled traffic obfuscation.