Stephen
Woodrow
My name is Stephen, but you should call me Steve. I'm insufferably curious. I love the Internet. I like to make things. Welcome to my spot on the web.
I lead the engineering team at Truework where we are making it easy to leverage verified income and employment information when doing business online. Truework enables faster closing of loans and other transactions, increases access to financial products (which today are often limited to W-2 employees with good credit scores), and gives employees visibility and control over how their employment information is shared with others. You can read a lot more about what we're building on Not Boring. And yes, we are hiring.
I was previously a software engineer and Head of Security Engineering at Lyft, where I worked to ensure that Lyft's systems are secure, trustworthy, and available to keep our users moving.
Before Lyft, I was a software engineer at Stripe, where I worked on security at all levels of Stripe's stack (such as our developer-friendly response to POODLE). In addition to security, I also spent time working on infrastructure and fraud prevention at Stripe.
Before Stripe, I was a research scientist in the NOISE group at the School of Computer Science at Georgia Tech. I built systems for BISmark, a project to better understand broadband Internet access networks, home networks, and the behavior of home network users, all from the vantage point of the home router.
Generally speaking, I'm a bit of a hacker with a research bent, and am broadly interested in computer networks and systems, Internet measurement, and computer systems security.
Beyond technology, I'm interested in (and occasionally engage in amateur pursuits related to) graphic design, typography, photography, indie and mainstream music, cocktails, good coffee, and the common good.
I studied Computer Science and Technology Policy at MIT and Computer Engineering at the University of Manitoba.
Back when I had time to have research interests, I was interested in the technical, economic, and public policy aspects of operating the Internet, and the organizations and communities that support and engage in these activities. I am also interested in the coordination, management, and governance of critical Internet resources and infrastructure. I hope to get back to thinking about this stuff again someday.
At Georgia Tech I contributed significantly to the development and deployment of BISmark, a broadband & home network measurement platform built on top of consumer router devices.
I helped build or enhance a number of systems supporting the project, including the firmware build process, the router management service, the router measurement target service, and the router package/experiment management system. I was also involved in the devops and logistics related to scaling up the BISmark deployment. Finally, I worked on much of the user-facing materials, including documentation and graphics, on-router interfaces, the project website, and marketing materials.
The project is entirely open source and development happens at github.com/projectbismark.
This work (the topic of my Master's Thesis) examined the efficacy of the CIDR Report, an attempt to encourage Internet route aggregation though social forces in the Internet operator community.