معرفی
Jana Hofmann is a tenure-track faculty member at the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy (MPI-SP), leading the Foundations of Information Security and Trust group. Previously, she was a postdoctoral researcher at Microsoft Azure Research and completed her PhD at Saarland University (CISPA Helmholtz Center). Her research focuses on establishing strong security guarantees for systems through formal methods, with an emphasis on microarchitectural side channels and information leakage prevention.
Education:
- PhD, Saarland University (2022), advised by Bernd Finkbeiner
- M.Sc., University of Edinburgh (2016–2017)
- B.Sc., Saarland University (2013–2016)
Research Interests:
Hofmann’s work combines formal methods, programming languages, and systems approaches to address information leakage in hardware/software systems. Key areas include:
- Microarchitectural side-channel detection/prevention
- Formal leakage models and verification techniques
- Smart contract synthesis and hyperproperties
Publications:
Her recent work emphasizes practical applications of formal methods to cloud CPU security, smart contracts, and automated testing. Notable contributions include Gaussian elimination-based memory coloring and isolation techniques for cloud CPUs.
Awards:
- Dr.-Eduard-Martin Prize (2022) for best PhD thesis in computer science
- Distinguished Paper Awards at CCS’24 and CSF’23
Advising & Grants:
Hofmann has advised five students on theses in formal verification and security. She actively contributes to program committees for conferences like CAV, CCS, and CSF.
Labs/Teams:
She leads the MPI-SP Foundations group, focusing on advancing trust in security-critical systems through interdisciplinary research.
