Me!

Gautam Akiwate

Postdoctoral Researcher
Stanford University

Google Scholar Github
I am on the job market! [CV]


My research lies at the intersection of security and networking and uses an empirical approach to study the complex ecosystems that make the Internet. I am primarily interested in understanding the form and function of the core Internet infrastructure and how attackers undermine the security and stability of the Internet. My research is supported by funding from Digicert, and Google. Previously, I worked on a range of things right from mobile computing, kernels, to next generation storage systems.

I work as a Postdoctoral Researcher with the Empirical Security Research Group in the CS Department at Stanford University with Zakir Durumeric. At UC San Diego, I had three(!) great advisors: Geoffrey Voelker, Stefan Savage, and KC Claffy. I also serve on the ICANN Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) which engages in ongoing threat assessment and risk analysis of the DNS ecosystem.

News!


Education


Stanford Logo
Postdoctoral Researcher in Computer Science at
Stanford University
2022-2024
UCSD Logo
PhD in Computer Science and Engineering at
UC San Diego
2017-2022
UCSD Logo
MS in Computer Science and Engineering at
UC San Diego
2013-2015
COEP Logo
BTech in Information Technology at
College of Engineering, Pune
2008-2012

Experience


Teaching Experience



Awarded the UC San Diego CSE Graduate Award for Teaching.

Professional Experience

Pure Logo
Member of Technical Staff
Core Engineering
August 2015 to May 2017
Mozilla Logo
Engineering Intern
Automation and Tools Team
June 2014 to September 2014
Qualcomm Logo
Engineer
Linux Performance Team
June 2012 to August 2013

Publications


  1. [Under Submission] On the Centralization and Regionalization of the Web
    Gautam Akiwate, Kimberly Ruth, Rumaisa Habib, Zakir Durumeric

  2. [Accepted] Democratizing LEO Satellite Network Measurement
    Liz Izhikevich, Manda Tran, Katherine Izhikevich, Gautam Akiwate, Zakir Durumeric
    ACM SIGMETRICS / IFIP Performance 2024, Venice, Italy, June 2024.

  3. IRRegularities in the Internet Routing Registry
    Ben Du, Katherine Izhikevich, Sumanth Rao, Gautam Akiwate, Cecilia Testart, Alex C. Snoeren, KC Claffy
    ACM IMC '23, Montreal, Canada, October 2023.

  4. In the Line of Fire: Risks of DPI-triggered Data Collection
    Ariana Mirian, Alisha Ukani, Ian Foster, Gautam Akiwate, Taner Halicioglu, Cindy Moore, Alex C. Snoeren, Geoffrey M. Voelker, Stefan Savage
    Cyber Security Experimentation and Test (CSET), August 2023.

  5. Forward Pass: On the Security Implications of Email Forwarding Mechanism and Policy
    *Best Paper Award*
    Enze Liu, Gautam Akiwate, Mattijs Jonker, Ariana Mirian, Grant Ho, Geoffrey M. Voelker, Stefan Savage
    IEEE European Symposium on Security and Privacy, Delft, Netherlands, July 2023.

  6. Retroactive Identification of Targeted DNS Infrastructure Hijacking
    Gautam Akiwate, Raffaele Sommese, Mattijs Jonker, Zakir Durumeric, KC Claffy, Geoffrey M. Voelker, Stefan Savage
    ACM IMC '22, Nice, France, October 2022.

  7. ZDNS: A Fast DNS Toolkit for Internet Measurement
    *IMC 2022 Community Contribution Award*
    Liz Izhikevich, Gautam Akiwate, Briana Berger, Spencer Drakontaidis, Anna Ascheman, Paul Pearce, David Adrian, Zakir Durumeric
    ACM IMC '22, Nice, France, October 2022.

  8. Where .ru? Assessing the Impact of Conflict on Russian Domain Infrastructure
    Mattijs Jonker, Gautam Akiwate, Antonia Affinito, kc Claffy, Alessio Botta, Geoffrey M. Voelker, Roland van Rijswijk-Deij, Stefan Savage
    ACM IMC '22, Nice, France, October 2022.

  9. Stop, DROP, and ROA: Effectiveness of Defenses through the lens of DROP
    Leo Oliver, Gautam Akiwate, Matthew Luckie, Ben Du, KC Claffy
    ACM IMC '22, Nice, France, October 2022.

  10. Mind Your MANRS: Measuring the MANRS Ecosystem
    Ben Du, Cecilia Testart, Romain Fontugne, Gautam Akiwate, Alex C. Snoeren, KC Claffy
    ACM IMC '22, Nice, France, October 2022.

  11. Domain Name Lifetimes: Baseline and Threats
    Antonia Affinito , Raffaele Sommese , Gautam Akiwate, Stefan Savage , KC Claffy, Geoffrey M. Voelker, Alessio Botta , Mattijs Jonker
    TMA '22, Enschede, June 2022.

  12. IRR Hygiene In the RPKI Era
    Ben Du, Gautam Akiwate, Thomas Krenc, Cecilia Testart, Alexander Marder, Bradley Huffaker, Alex C. Snoeren, and KC Claffy
    PAM '22, Virtual Event, March 2022.

  13. Measuring Security Practices
    Louis F. DeKoven, Audrey Randall, Ariana Mirian, Gautam Akiwate, Ansel Blume, Lawrence K. Saul, Aaron Schulman, Geoffrey M. Voelker, Stefan Savage
    Communications of the ACM, Volume 65, September 2022.

  14. Risky BIZness: Risks Derived from Registrar Name Management
    *IETF/IRTF Applied Networking Research Prize (ANRP) 2022*
    Gautam Akiwate, Stefan Savage, Geoffrey M. Voelker, and KC Claffy
    ACM IMC '21, Virtual Event, November 2021.

  15. Home is Where the Hijacking is: Understanding DNS Interception by Residential Routers
    Audrey Randall, Enze Liu, Ramakrishna Padmanabhan, Gautam Akiwate, Geoffrey M. Voelker, Stefan Savage, and Aaron Schulman
    ACM IMC '21, Virtual Event, November 2021.

  16. Who’s Got Your Mail? Characterizing Mail Service Provider Usage
    Enze Liu, Gautam Akiwate, Mattijs Jonker, Ariana Mirian, Stefan Savage, and Geoffrey M. Voelker
    ACM IMC '21, Virtual Event, November 2021.

  17. Characterization of Anycast Adoption in the DNS Authoritative Infrastructure
    *Best Paper Award*
    Raffaele Sommese, Gautam Akiwate, Mattijs Jonker, Giovane C. M. Moura, Marco Davids, Roland van Rijswijk-Deij, Geoffrey M. Voelker, Stefan Savage, KC Claffy, and Anna Sperotto
    TMA '21, Virtual Event, September 2021.

  18. Clairvoyance: Inferring Blocklist Use on the Internet
    Vector Guo Li, Gautam Akiwate, Kirill Levchenko, Geoffrey M. Voelker, and Stefan Savage
    PAM '21, Virtual Event, March 2021.

  19. Unresolved Issues: Prevalence, Persistence and Perils of Lame Delegations
    Gautam Akiwate, Mattijs Jonker, Raffaele Sommese, Ian Foster, Stefan Savage, Geoffrey M. Voelker, and KC Claffy
    ACM IMC '20, Virtual Event, October 2020.

  20. Trufflehunter: Cache Sniffing Rare Domains at Large Public DNS Resolvers
    *IETF/IRTF Applied Networking Research Prize (ANRP) 2021*
    Audrey Randall, Enze Liu, Gautam Akiwate, Ramakrishna Padmanabhan, Stefan Savage, Geoffrey M. Voelker, and Aaron Schulman
    ACM IMC '20, Virtual Event, October 2020.

  21. MAnycast2 -- Using Anycast to Measure Anycast: Challenges and Opportunities
    Raffaele Sommese, Leandro Bertholdo, Gautam Akiwate, Mattijs Jonker, Roland van Rijswijk-Deij, Alberto Dainotti, KC Claffy, and Anna Sperotto
    ACM IMC '20, Virtual Event, October 2020.

  22. Measuring Security Practices and How They Impact Security
    Louis F. DeKoven, Audrey Randall, Ariana Mirian, Gautam Akiwate, Ansel Blume, Lawrence K. Saul, Aaron Schulman, Geoffrey M. Voelker, Stefan Savage
    ACM IMC '19, Amsterdam, Netherlands, October 2019.

  23. Inferring Persistent Interdomain Congestion
    *Best Paper Award*

    Amogh Dhamdhere, David D. Clark, Alexander Gamero-Garrido, Matthew Luckie, R. K. P. Mok, Gautam Akiwate, Kabir Gogia, Vaibhav Bajpai, Alex C. Snoeren and KC Claffy
    ACM SIGCOMM '18, Budapest, Hungary, August 2018.

Other Publications


  1. Best Practices for Deletion of Domain and Host Objects in the Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP)
    Scott Hollenbeck , William Carroll, Gautam Akiwate
    IETF Internet Draft (RFC)

Posters


  1. DNS Baseline Dynamics
    Gautam Akiwate, Mattijs Jonker, Ian Foster, Geoffrey M.Voelker, Stefan Savage
    IMC '19, Amsterdam, Netherlands, October 2019.

Thesis


Other Projects


A New Look at DMCA Section 512 Process

This work focussed on the Digital Millenium Copyright Act and the potential "chilling effects" that might arise from the DMCA Section 512 process which allows copyright holders to take down content which they believe infringes their copyright. The goal driven was to enable a data-driven analysis of this extra-judicial takedown provision thereby enable recommendations that are primarily based in solid data. As a first step towards this goal, we establish a framework to begin understanding the takedown process and its effect on the Internet. [Report]

SWAYAM CUBESAT Mission, COEP

Worked on a CUBESAT standard satellite "Swayam", that was launched by ISRO in June 2016. I worked on the design and implementation of the Onboard Computer and was part of the Systems Engineering group as well. [Link]

Service


Invited Talks


Community


Chez Bob

I helped manage Chez Bob. For more information visit: chezbob.ucsd.edu

PS: Do NOT owe money to Chez Bob. Bobfather will find you! :)

Contact



Email: gakiwate -- at -- cs.stanford.edu