The Domain Name System (DNS) plays a central role in the Internet’s
infrastructure. Its distributed nature has enabled global scalability, but it also introduces risks
that undermine resilience. Delegations in the DNS namespace form long and often opaque
supply chains, increasing the attack surface and introducing potential single points of failure.
In today’s landscape, many organizations rely on third-party DNS services without full
visibility into what lies beneath. These managed services often depend on other providers,
recursively forming complex supply chains that are difficult to analyze. As a result, operators
may unknowingly introduce technical, operational, and regulatory risks – especially in critical
domains such as e-government, healthcare, and finance – where compliance with frameworks
like NIS2 and DORA is increasingly more essential.
This project aims to analyze and map these hidden dependencies from a technical and scientific
perspective. The Ph.D. candidate will develop methods for uncovering DNS infrastructure
dependencies at scale, relying on active measurements and graph-based analysis. The focus will
be on designing reproducible techniques for identifying dependency structures, validating these
methods through large-scale experimentation, and evaluating how well DNS configurations align
with recommended best practices.
Key research activities include designing and implementing DNS measurement methodologies
focused on identifying hidden dependencies, analyzing large-scale DNS and infrastructure
data, and building visual tools to support the interpretation and communication of results.
The work has a strong foundation in systems and network research, with an emphasis on DNS
protocol behavior, resolver interactions, and dependency modeling.
This project builds on ongoing collaborations with both national and international partners,
including SIDN and TNO in the Netherlands, CAIDA in the United States, and IIJ in Japan.
The candidate will be part of the Design and Analysis of Communication Systems (DACS)
https://www.utwente.nl/en/eemcs/dacs/ group at the University of Twente and will work
under the supervision of Dr. ir. Raffaele Sommese and Dr. ir. Mattijs Jonker from DACS
and Dr. Abhishta Abhishta from the High-tech Business and Entrepreneurial (HBE) https://
www.utwente.nl/en/bms/organisation/departments-institutes/department-hbe/ group of the University of Twente.
Information and application
Your application should include:
• a motivational letter, including explanation of your motivation for this PhD position and for this project;
• A detailed CV (resume);
• An academic transcript of B.Sc. (if applicable) and M.Sc. education.
For enquiries and to apply, please contact: Dr. Raffaele Sommese (r.sommese@utwente.nl),
Dr. Mattijs Jonker (m.jonker@utwente.nl), or Dr. Abhishta Abhishta (s.abhishta@utwente.nl).
Application deadline: Sept. 15th, 2025, but applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and the position may be filled earlier if a suitable candidate is found.
Screening is part of the selection procedure.
About the organisation
The faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS) uses mathematics, electronics and computer technology to contribute to the development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). With ICT present in almost every device and product we use nowadays, we embrace our role as contributors to a broad range of societal activities and as pioneers of tomorrow's digital society. As part of a tech university that aims to shape society, individuals and connections, our faculty works together intensively with industrial partners and researchers in the Netherlands and abroad, and conducts extensive research for external commissioning parties and funders. Our research has a high profile both in the Netherlands and internationally. It has been accommodated in three multidisciplinary UT research institutes: Mesa+ Institute, TechMed Centre and Digital Society Institute.
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