PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Hovav Shacham

Hovav Shacham is a security researcher whose 2011 Verilogo project used computer vision to identify phishing pages as they loaded. He earned an English A.B. and a computer science Ph.D. at Stanford before his Koshland postdoctoral fellowship at the Weizmann Institute. In 2007, he introduced return-oriented programming; a 2009 team study applied it to a voting-machine attack. He received the ACM CCS Test-of-Time Award in 2017 for his paper introducing the technique. He joined UC San Diego as a professor in fall 2025 and teaches computer systems and security in fall 2026.

Works
165
Citations
24,205
h-index
42

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 15 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2000–2007

    Stanford and Weizmann

    He earns an A.B. in English at Stanford in 2000 and completes a computer science Ph.D. in 2005. In 2006 and 2007, he is a Koshland Scholars Program postdoctoral fellow at the Weizmann Institute of Science.

  2. 2007

    Return-oriented programming

    In 2007, he introduces return-oriented programming, which uses snippets of benign code already present in a system to create malicious behavior.

  3. 2009

    A voting-machine takeover

    In 2009, he joins colleagues in demonstrating that return-oriented programming can take control of a Sequoia voting machine and execute vote-stealing code.

  4. 2011

    Verilogo uses computer vision

    In 2011, he coauthors Verilogo, a Firefox prototype that uses computer-vision techniques to detect likely phishing pages as they render.

  5. 2014

    Testing airport scanners

    In 2014, he and Eric Wustrow present a security analysis showing that adaptive attackers can conceal knives, guns, and explosives from a full-body X-ray scanner.

  6. 2017

    An ACM Test-of-Time Award

    At CCS 2017, he receives the Test-of-Time Award for his 2007 paper introducing return-oriented programming.

  7. 2018

    Joining UT Austin

    In fall 2018, he joins the University of Texas at Austin computer science faculty and its security research group.

  8. Since 2025

    Professor at UC San Diego

    In fall 2025, he joins UC San Diego's Computer Science and Engineering faculty as a professor. In fall 2026, he teaches a graduate course in computer systems and security.

Sources and credits

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  1. Faculty Profiles | Jacobs School of Engineering jacobsschool.ucsd.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.
  2. Computer Scientists Take Over Electronic Voting Machine with New Programming Technique jacobsschool.ucsd.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.
  3. Hovav Shacham: Verilogo hovav.net. Checked 15 October 2026.
  4. Hovav Shacham: Security Analysis of a Full-Body X-Ray Scanner hovav.net. Checked 15 October 2026.
  5. 11.21.2017 | Computer Science cse.ucsd.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.
  6. Two New Professors Join UTCS Faculty cs.utexas.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.
  7. New faculty join the Jacobs School jacobsschool.ucsd.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.
  8. FALL 2026 Graduate Course Updates | Computer Science cse.ucsd.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.