Welcome to my site. Currently, I am a 4th year PhD student and a research scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology. I'm a member of the Georgia Tech Information Security Center (GTISC) and the Center for Experimental Research in Computer Systems (CERCS). My advisor is Dr. Wenke Lee.

My research is focused on improving system security. Specifically, I'm creating more secure monitoring architectures and techniques for understanding the data accessible from these architectures (e.g., memory images). My work shows how virtualization platforms and operating systems can improve overall system security by providing additional security services. This work brings together themes from areas such as intrusion detection, monitoring, digital forensics, and secure systems research.

In addition to this work, I have interests in information security and privacy, usable security, and operating systems. Email is always the best way to contact me.

News

• 1 Dec 2008: I joined the Livestrong Challenge and will be riding in Austin in 2009. See the Quest for Payne team web site for details and to make a donation to help fight cancer.
• 12 Nov 08: I am participating in an effort to create an introspection solution that can ship with Xen. More details on the Xen wiki.
• 28 Oct 08: Today I gave a guest lecture in Prof. Wenke Lee's class, Network Security.
• 25 Aug 08: I started leading the Security Reading Group this semester.
• 18 Aug 08: Our paper titled "Soft-Timer Driven Transient Kernel Control Flow Attacks" has been accepted into the 2008 Annual Computer Security Applications Conference.
• 20 Jul 08: I became a father today and welcomed my son, Sean Thomas Payne, into the world!
• 14 May 08: Today I served as a Grand Awards Judge at the 2008 International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).
• 7 Apr 08: I will be giving a talk at IBM Research on April 25 discussing the Lares active monitoring architecture.