Mads Dam

Mads Dam is a Professor in Teleinformatics at the School of Computer Science and Communication at Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan (KTH), where he heads the Department of Theoretical Computer Science. His research focuses on computer security, formal methods, and program logics, with particular emphasis on the formal modeling and verification of low-level hardware and software execution platforms for security and application isolation.

His educational background includes:

• PhD in Computer Science from the University of Edinburgh (1990)
• MSc in Computer Engineering from Aalborg University, Denmark
• BSc in Information Technology from Aalborg University, Denmark

Mads Dam's research interests center on computer security, formal methods, and program logics. His current work focuses on the formal modeling and verification of low-level hardware and software execution platforms such as hypervisors and OS kernels and their underlying hardware. He has made significant contributions to information flow security, verification of microarchitectural systems, and network programming language security. His research bridges theoretical foundations with practical security applications.

His recent publications show a strong trend toward verifying low-level systems, with a focus on information flow security for processors, network programming languages (particularly P4), and microarchitectural vulnerabilities. His work combines formal methods with practical security concerns, developing verification techniques that address real-world security challenges in hardware and software systems. The research spans theoretical foundations in temporal and epistemic logics to practical applications in network security and processor verification.

His scientific awards and recognition include:

• Two framework grants from the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research
• A junior individual grant from the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research
• Project grants and a five-year research fellowship from the Swedish Research Council (VR)
• Project grants from Ericsson, Microsoft Research, US Air Force, and Vinnova (the Swedish Innovation Agency)

Mads Dam has been a principal investigator on numerous research projects and has supervised many graduate students. He has been a partner in several European projects including HATS, S3MS, VerifiCard, LOMAPS, and UaESMC. His research has been supported by substantial grants from major funding bodies, reflecting the significance and impact of his work in computer security and formal methods.

He is a founding member of several research centers at KTH, including Access, the CASTOR software research center, and the CDIS center for cyber defense and information security. These centers bring together researchers from multiple disciplines to address complex challenges in cybersecurity and software engineering.