NDSS 2025 - Workshop on Binary Analysis Research (BAR) 2025, Opening Remarks and Keynote I

SESSION Welcome and Introductory Remarks and Keynote I by Dr. Jack W. Davidson Workshop on Binary Analysis Research (BAR) 2025, co-located with the Network and Distributed System Security (NDSS) Symposium 2025, held from 24 February to 28 February 2025 in San Diego, California. https://www.ndss-symposium.org/ndss-program/bar-2025/ No Source Code? No Problem! Twenty Years of Research in Binary Analysis, Binary Rewriting, and Resilience Jack W. Davidson, Professor of Computer Science in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Virginia For the past twenty years, our research has been driven by the need to analyze, understand, and transform software without access to source code. Through a series of research programs, including DARPA’s Self-Regenerative Systems (SRS), AFOSR’s Enterprise Health: Self-Regenerative Incorruptible Enterprise program, IARPA’s Securely Taking on New Executable Software of Uncertain Provenance (STONESOUP) program, DARPA’s Cyber Grand Challenge (CGC), and DARPA’s Cyber Fault-Tolerant Attack and Recovery program (CFAR), and others, we have developed novel techniques to analyze and transform binaries. This talk will retrospectively examine these efforts and our key contributions in binary analysis and rewriting, from early vulnerability discovery techniques to advanced automated program transformations. We will also discuss current binary analysis research areas, speculate on where binary analysis research is heading, and why it continues to be an important, well-funded and impactful research area. Speaker's Biography: Jack W. Davidson is a Professor of Computer Science in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Virginia. Professor Davidson is a Fellow of the ACM and a Life Fellow of the IEEE. He served as an Associate Editor of ACM’s Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems for six years, and as an Associate Editor of ACM’s Transactions on Architecture and Compiler Optimizations for eight years. He served as Chair of ACM’s Special Interest Group on Programming Languages (SIGPLAN) from 2005 to 2007. He currently serves on the ACM Executive Council and is chair of ACM’s Digital Library Board that oversees the operation and development of ACM’s Digital Library. ABOUT NDSS SYMPOSIUM The Network and Distributed System Security Symposium (NDSS) fosters information exchange among researchers and practitioners of network and distributed system security. The target audience includes those interested in practical aspects of network and distributed system security, with a focus on actual system design and implementation. A major goal is to encourage and enable the Internet community to apply, deploy, and advance the state of available security technologies. https://www.ndss-symposium.org/ #NDSS #NDSS25 #NDSS2025 #InternetSecurity