Security Princess Inspires CS Students

Although she liked math and science in grade school, Parisa Tabriz (CS BS ’05 MS 0'7) didn’t grow up wanting to be a computer scientist. Instead, the “Security Princess” (her actual job title) for Google dreamed of being an artist.

As a freshman at Illinois, Tabriz discovered she could express her artistic talents through designing websites that she built using a free hosting service. Of course, with the ”free” came ads inserted on the site. Unhappy with how the ads spoiled her design, Tabriz created code to block them.

“The ads were an insult to my aesthetic,” Tabriz told her audience as she presented the Women in Computer Science (WCS) keynote address October 23, which coincided with the weeklong celebration of the CS Department’s 50th anniversary. “I wanted the focus to be on my website content.”

Inspired to hone her programming skills further, Tabriz joined an ACM Special Interest Group where she learned more about web development and how to think like a hacker, which she defined as someone who thinks outside the box.

“A hacker figures out how to use software in unintended ways by finding a flaw in the system,” she said. “I think of hackers as a skillset and mindset.”

Throughout her presentation, Tabriz engaged her audience with stories of famous hackers, described the motivations and methods of modern-day hackers, and explained the challenges she and her 25-member team face protecting the open-source Google Chrome browser from attacks.

Some hackers are simply motivated by the challenge—for example, George Hotz, famous for hacking the iPhone and PlayStation 3. “They’re told [something] can’t be hacked, so they do it,” Tabriz said.  Hotz later applied his skills to making the Chrome browser more secure.

Other hackers, Tabriz said, are in it to make a political statement like the hacking group Anonymous, which brought down several major credit card websites in 2010 over the companys’ refusal to process donations to the WikiLeaks website.

Another class of hackers are motivated by money. “Cyber crime does more financial damage than any other type of crime,” Tabriz said, citing 2012 statistics of $24.7 billion in losses versus $14 billion in losses from property theft.

The challenge for Tabriz and her team is to figure out how to implement defenses for the leading Web browser without spoiling the Internet experience for millions of users who just want to shop, be entertained, pay bills, etc.  “Securing a browser is really hard,” she said, noting its complexity—millions of lines of security-critical code—and the fact that it is used by such a large and diverse set of people.

During one part of her presentation, Tabriz invited the audience to devise ways they would hack a fictitious vending machine at Siebel Center—an exercise that is actually part of a Resident Hackers course at Google. According to Tabriz, Google pays hackers to find bugs in its web browser through its Vulnerability Rewards Program, which pays anywhere from $100 to $150,000.

Tabriz’s talk resonated with senior Emily Tran, the Women in CS president. “Parisa was a very exciting guest alumna to have speak to our members since she is a great role model in the tech field…where there aren’t very many visible female role models,” Tran said.

Tabriz has certainly been visible lately, having been named to the 2012 Forbes 30 under 30 list as one of the world’s brightest tech stars, and the Glamour Magazine 35 Women Under 35 Who are Changing the Tech Industry list. More recently, she was profiled by mainstream media like Elle and Wired magazines, Nature.com, and several leading London newspapers.

It’s possible that Tabriz will be joined in the future by more CS @ ILLINOIS alumnae since the incoming freshman class this fall is composed of 24% women—the highest percentage in the department’s history.

“Parisa definitely inspired me . . . to explore areas that I wouldn’t normally think of trying,” said CS junior Hanna Koh, WCS secretary. “In fact, I signed up for a security class next semester.”