Aaron Ortwein

dblp:412/5361 · DBLP profile ↗
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3ranked-venue papers
1as first author
3since 2021 · last 2026
—ORCID · none

Domains — the database's venue-derived domains; a paper can count in several

Security and privacy · 3 · 1 first-author · 3 since 2021
YearPublicationVenuePosition
2026 MVPNalyzer: An Investigative Framework for Auditing the Security & Privacy of Mobile VPNs
Wayne Wang, Aaron Ortwein, Enrique Sobrados, Robert Stanley, Piyush Kumar Sharma, Afsah Anwar, Roya Ensafi
NDSS2
2026 CenAlert: Amplifying User Voices to Rally Censorship Investigation
Aaron Ortwein, Anna Ablove, Armin Huremagic, Luqin Chang, Vinicius Fortuna, Roya Ensafi
SP1
2025 CenPush: Blocking-Resistant Control Channel Using Push Notifications
abstract
The rapid increase in global censorship events has stimulated a substantial growth in users relying on circumvention tools. Fighting against censors requires tool maintainers to frequently update client-side configurations and proxy IPs. However, existing methods for doing so require clients to explicitly query for updates. Further, this client-initiated communication relies mostly on ad-hoc and out-of-band channels. This work demonstrates the utility of push notification services as an efficient and sustainable communication channel between tool maintainers and their clients. A push notification channel allows tool maintainers to update client configurations automatically without the need for clients to initiate a query themselves. We develop a general-purpose design for integrating push notifications as a control channel in circumvention tools. We utilize the design to integrate and implement push notifications for use in the popular circumvention tool Tor and demonstrate their utility to push bridge line updates to Tor clients.
Piyush Kumar Sharma, Diwen Xue, Aaron Ortwein, Cecylia Bocovich, Harry, Roya Ensafi
Proc. Priv. Enhancing Technol.3