Simson Garfinkel
Chair, TechBriefs Committee at BasisTech
Somerville, Massachusetts, United States
Summary
🤩
Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolSimson Garfinkel is a veteran technologist, researcher, and science writer who blends deep technical expertise in computer security and digital forensics with public-facing analysis and policy work. He is Chief Scientist and COO at BasisTech, chairs ACM’s TechBriefs Committee, and has held senior science and data roles across government (Census, DHS) and academia, including a PhD in Computer Science from MIT. An inventor with seven US patents and over 70 research publications, he also maintains long-running open-source forensic tools—such as bulk_extractor and tcpflow—demonstrating hands-on C/C++ backend craftsmanship. A Fellow of AAAS, ACM, and IEEE, Garfinkel uniquely couples rigorous scholarship with decades of journalism and expert-witness experience, making him adept at explaining complex technical issues to policymakers and the public. Not obvious from titles alone: he earned three SBs from MIT and a Columbia MS in Journalism, a combination that underpins his rare ability to move between code, research, and clear storytelling.
17 years of coding experience
27 years of employment as a software developer
PhD Computer Science, PhD Computer Science at Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMS Journalism, MS Journalism at Columbia University - Graduate School of JournalismHigh School Diploma, High School Diploma at Shipley School
c / c++ / objective-c, python, java
Github Skills (33)
debug10
maintenance10
c-language10
develop10
crossbuild10
configuration-management10
ip10
c1110
c1710
network-protocol10
tcp10
build-automation10
protocols10
cross-compiling10
incident-response10
Programming languages (19)
Github contributions (5)
simsong/bulk_extractor
Apr 2012 - Jan 2023
This is the development tree. Production downloads are at:
Role in this project:
Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:6 releases, 22 reviews, 1524 commits in 10 years 10 months
Contributions summary:Simson's commits primarily focus on bug fixes and code improvements within the C++ source code, indicating a back-end development role. These commits address issues in the `gethostname` call within `src/main.cpp` and other code differences across various C++ source files within the repository. The nature of the modifications suggests the user is actively involved in maintaining and improving the existing functionality and stability of the project.
extractionproductionduplicate-detection
simsong/tcpflow
Apr 2012 - Feb 2022
TCP/IP packet demultiplexer. Download from:
Role in this project:Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:2 releases, 11 reviews, 510 commits in 9 years 11 months
Contributions summary:Simson's commits reflect a significant migration effort of the `tcpflow` project to GitHub. The commits show the migration of the project from its previous platform to GitHub, the correction of a spelling error, and a fix for a bug related to fwrite. The user also refactored code in preparation for handling multiple pcap files and added support for RFC1122 keepalive packets.
bpfsnmpnetwork-toolslinuxnetlink
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