Computer Security: From Passwords to Behavioral Biometrics
(Review of research in computer security, user authenticat...)
Review of research in computer security, user authentication, intrusion detection, and behavioral biometrics, with proposed taxonomies of the field. Published by New Academic Publishing.
(Describes an intrusion detection system for online poker ...)
Describes an intrusion detection system for online poker that uses a player's game strategy as the behavioral profile. Published by Independent University Press.
Roman V. Yampolskiy is a computer scientist born in Riga, Latvia, known for his research on artificial intelligence safety and cybersecurity. A faculty member at the University of Louisville since 2008, he founded and directs its Cybersecurity Laboratory and has written and edited many books on AI safety, including Artificial Superintelligence: A Futuristic Approach.
Background
Roman V. Yampolskiy was born on August 13, 1979, in Riga, Latvia, to Vladimir A. Yampolskiy and Diana R. Yampolskaya. When he was born, Riga was the capital of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, one of the republics of the Soviet Union. Latvia regained its independence in 1991, and Riga has since remained the capital of a sovereign European state.
His academic path in computer science developed in the United States. He earned an associate's degree with distinction from Monroe Community College in Rochester, New York, in 2000, and then continued his studies at the Rochester Institute of Technology and, later, at the University at Buffalo.
Education
Yampolskiy began his higher education at Monroe Community College, which was established in 1961 as part of the State University of New York system. There he earned an associate's degree in computer science with distinction in 2000.
He continued at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he received a combined Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degree in computer science with high honors in 2004. RIT originated in 1829 as the Mechanics Institute in Rochester and is known for career-oriented technical education.
His doctoral studies took place at the University at Buffalo, which was founded as a private institution in 1846 and joined the State University of New York in 1962. He received a Doctor of Philosophy in 2008 from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, working under the supervision of Venu Govindaraju on a thesis on intrusion detection using spatial information and behavioral biometrics. During his doctoral years he held a four-year fellowship from the National Science Foundation's Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship program.
Career
Yampolskiy joined the University of Louisville in 2008 as an assistant professor at the Speed School of Engineering. The Speed Scientific School was established in 1924 through an endowment from the James Breckinridge Speed Foundation and opened on September 15, 1925, with a co-operative model of engineering education. The university had been a private municipal institution until it joined Kentucky's state system in 1970.
Within the Department of Computer Engineering and Computer Science, he founded the Cybersecurity Laboratory and has directed it since 2009. He was promoted to associate professor in July 2014 and has since been a tenured faculty member. According to his own biography, he has published more than 100 publications, including multiple journal articles and books, and his research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Security Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, EA Ventures, and the Future of Life Institute.
Before joining Louisville he conducted research at the Laboratory for Applied Computing at the Rochester Institute of Technology and at the Center for Unified Biometrics and Sensors at the University at Buffalo, a research center focused on biometric and sensor technologies. He also held an affiliate academic position at the Center for Advanced Spatial Analysis, a research center associated with University College London.
Beginning in 2010, he held research roles with AI safety organizations. He was a Fellow (2010) and Research Advisor (2012) of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, a nonprofit founded in 2000 as the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence. He was also an AI Safety Fellow (2019) of the Foresight Institute and a Research Associate (2018) of the Global Catastrophic Research Institute.
He is an alumnus of Singularity University's GSP2012 program, which was founded in 2008 to teach about exponential technologies, and he was a visiting fellow of the Singularity Institute.
Achievements
Invented a novel behavioral biometric that uses a player's game strategy as a behavioral profile in an intrusion detection system for online poker, described in his 2009 book Game Strategy: A Novel Behavioral Biometric.
Conducted research on Embedded Non-Interactive CAPTCHA, a human-verification approach that distinguishes people from automated programs.
Produced early work on AI safety engineering, AI containment, and AI accidents, which he has described as seminal and well cited.
(Describes an intrusion detection system for online poker ...)
2009
puzzle book
Computer Generated Sudoku Puzzles
(Book of sudoku puzzles generated by computer, written by ...)
2008
The Gift of Sudoku
(Sudoku puzzle book by Yampolskiy, published by Lulu Press.)
2009
Views
Yampolskiy has warned of the possibility of existential risk from advanced artificial intelligence and has advocated research into 'boxing' AI, meaning methods of confining AI systems so that they cannot act beyond controlled limits.
His book titles and descriptions reflect a view that advanced AI may be difficult to explain, predict, or fully control. He has argued for a safety engineering approach to these problems, treating AI safety as a technical discipline alongside ethical questions.
Membership
Yampolskiy is a member of the Kentucky Academy of Sciences, a state organization that promotes scientific research and exchange in Kentucky. He is also a member of Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society founded in 1885 at the University of Tennessee to recognize scholarship and character among engineering students.
His professional affiliations include senior membership of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, a professional association formed in 1963 from the merger of two earlier engineering societies, and of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial General Intelligence, which promotes research on general artificial intelligence.
Kentucky Academy of Sciences
,
United States
Tau Beta Pi
,
United States
Senior member
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Senior member
Association for the Advancement of Artificial General Intelligence
Interests
Bodybuilding, poker, and chess.
Connections
Yampolskiy married Yana Feygin on December 11, 2008. The couple has one child, Max Roman.
Roman Yampolskiy
Encyclopedia entry covering his education, the Cybersecurity Lab at the University of Louisville, and his research on AI safety and behavioral biometrics.
Biography:Roman Yampolskiy
Reference biography describing his birth in Riga, his doctoral supervision at the University at Buffalo, and his work at the University of Louisville.
