CS Colloquium– “From Prompts to Silicon: Security and Privacy Threats Across the LLM Stack,” Nael Abu-Ghazaleh
September 25, 2026 11 a.m.–12 p.m.
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Galileo Hall, Pryne
240 Platt Blvd.
Claremont, CA 91711
Contact
Morgan McArdle
mmcardle@g.hmc.edu
909.607.0299
Details
Large language models are now trusted with sensitive data, embedded in consequential decision pipelines, and are hosted on shared, expensive hardware. These factors make them an increasingly attractive target, and not just at the level of what you type into a chat box. In this talk, we'll go on a tour of LLM security and privacy threats, organized around a simple question, looking at different classes of attacks based on attackers' access points.
Nael Abu-Ghazaleh starts where most people think LLM security lives: at the prompt itself, showing how attackers with malicious intent can bypass the model’s safety training. A second group of attacks targets training time, where an attacker who controls even a small slice of a model's training data can plant hidden behaviors that surface only later, including those that enable leaking private information or undermining the safety alignment of the model. Finally, Abu-Ghazaleh goes below the model entirely, to the hardware it runs on: his recent work shows the GPU infrastructure powering today’s LLMs leaks information across users who are supposed to be strongly isolated from each other. Taken together, these attacks show that LLM security isn’t one problem but several, spread across different layers of the stack, including inference time, training time, and hardware and system vulnerabilities. Abu-Ghazaleh closes with where he thinks the most promising defenses lie, and the open questions.
Speaker
Nael Abu-Ghazaleh is a professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at the University of California, Riverside. His research is in architecture and system security, and security for emerging systems. He has published over 250 papers in these areas, several of which have been recognized with best paper awards or nominations. His offensive security research has resulted in the discovery of several new attacks on CPUs and GPUs that have been disclosed to companies including Intel, AMD, ARM, Apple, Microsoft, Google and Nvidia, and resulted in patches and modifications to products, and coverage from technical news outlets. He is a member of the Micro Hall of Fame, an ACM distinguished member, an IEEE distinguished speaker and an IEEE Computer Society Distinguished Contributor.
This event is for: faculty, staff, students
faculty, staff, studentsCommunity Connections events provide opportunities for HMC faculty, students and staff to cultivate community, foster open conversations and share important information as together we live out our mission and shape the future of the College.
Calendars
Students, faculty, and staff are invited to connect with President Nembhard this semester to share ideas, discuss projects and initiatives, talk about the College’s strategic plan, raise issues affecting the community, or simply connect.
To request a meeting, please choose a preferred slot on this link. Submitting a request does not guarantee an appointment. A member of the President’s Office will follow up with next steps.
Please note:
- Groups should be limited to no more than five people.
- Requests are reviewed as they are received and are subject to change.
The IA lab for Emerging Health Technology and Department of Biology present an Industry Career Talk by
Jonathan Striepen
Senior Scientist, Cell Engineering and Analytical Sciences, Johnson and Johnson
Striepen will discuss how studying esoteric cell biology can be translated to cell engineering for industrial drug production.
This Community Connections event provides a casual way for students, faculty and staff to come together and enjoy refreshments, meet their fellow community members, and get to know each other better. Hosted by the Cabinet.
Location: Galileo Foyer and Hixon Courtyard.
All are welcome to stop by as schedules allow.
Details
Following the Boba and Coffee Break event, the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA) Committee will host a town hall meeting for students, faculty, and staff.
All are welcome to attend as schedules allow.
Details
The Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA) Committee will host a town hall meeting for students, faculty, and staff to share results from the recent Higher Education Data Sharing (HEDS) Sense of Community Survey.
All are welcome to attend as schedules allow.
Faculty and community members host informal two-hour mahjong workshops / office hours in the Sprague Art Gallery as part of the exhibition “Mahjong and Its Cultural Forms” organized by HMC professor Jia Yi Gu and Angie Lin of Mahjong Mistresses. These sessions will offer students, faculty, staff and community members a chance to drop in, learn the basics of mahjong, practice playing and spend time together around the table. Partnership with 5C Board Club TBC.
Welcome back, student employees!
Kick off the new academic year with HR! Join us to meet the HR team, learn where to find us and connect with the people who are here to support you throughout your student employment experience. Stop by for food, swag and fun crafts as we welcome you back and show our appreciation for all that you do.
“Dirichlet’s Theorem and the Rise of Analytic Number Theory”
In 1837, Peter Dirichlet proved the following theorem: If a and d are relatively prime integers, then the arithmetic progression a, a+d, a+2d, . . . contains infinitely many prime numbers. His proof ushered in a revolution in number theory because it relied in a critical way on complex analysis. The use of analytic methods to solve problems in number theory was a tremendous innovation at the time. We will consider some of the details of Dirichlet’s proof, focusing on understanding why there is a deep connection between these seemingly unrelated branches of mathematics. Throughout, we will be more concerned with the ideas underlying the proof than we will with presenting an excessive amount of technical detail.
Faculty and community members host informal two-hour mahjong workshops / office hours in the Sprague Art Gallery as part of the exhibition Mahjong and Its Cultural Forms organized by HMC professor Jia Yi Gu and Angie Lin of Mahjong Mistresses. These sessions will offer students, faculty, staff and community members a chance to drop in, learn the basics of mahjong, practice playing and spend time together around the table. Partnership with 5C Board Club TBC.
Are you excited about deploying technology to improve human health? Are you interested in securing a summer internship in biotechnology or bioengineering? If yes, this Emerging Health Technology career panel is for you! Come hear from four fabulous current Mudd students on their experience working at Amgen, Medtronic, Janux, as well as collaborating with the Centers for Disease Control.
They’ll talk about how they secured these internships, what they learned, and give you advice on how you might pursue similar opportunities. RSVP here to make sure we order enough pizza!
As part of HMC’s ongoing commitment to emergency preparedness and safety, the Office of Emergency Preparedness and Safety, in partnership with Campus Safety, will participate in the Great ShakeOut Earthquake Exercise on Thursday, Oct. 15, between 10:15 a.m. to 10:25 a.m.
The Great ShakeOut provides an opportunity for our community to practice the recommended actions to take during an earthquake: Drop, Cover and Hold On. In most situations, if you feel earthquake shaking or receive an earthquake alert, you should immediately drop to your hands and knees where you are, cover your head and neck with one arm and hand, and, if possible, take shelter under a sturdy desk or table, and hold on until the shaking stops. For this exercise, community members are encouraged to practice these steps for one minute wherever they are on campus upon receiving the Mudd Alert notification. Participants may then conclude the exercise independently or as a class.
For more information, please contact Kelly Salazar, emergency preparedness and safety manager.
Join the Office of Human Resources for an interactive LinkedIn Learning session. Participants will complete a pre-selected training before coming together in person for a facilitated discussion, interactive activities and an opportunity to share insights and connect with colleagues.
The Office of Human Resources invites staff to HMC Staff Conversations (HSC) on Oct. 21. HSC is a quarterly meeting series designed to provide an open forum for sharing important College updates, gathering feedback and fostering meaningful staff engagement.
These sessions offer an opportunity to hear updates, ask questions, share insights on College initiatives and policies, and engage in open dialogue with colleagues and College leaders.
Additional details about the October session will be shared soon.
Take a break, and join the Office of Human Resources in the Kingston Courtyard for a Wellness Hour! Stop by to explore wellness resources, open enrollment benefits information and helpful self-care and stress-relief tools. Enjoy fun snacks, stickers and a chance to win raffle prizes.
Join us as we welcome Rob Bean from LinkedIn Learning! Rob will give us an overview of LinkedIn Learning, show us how to search and find useful content and share tips for making the most of the platform. We’ll also learn more about HMC Collections and how they can support learning across our departments.
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