I am a final-year Computer Science Ph.D. Candidate at UCL advised by Dr. Marie Vasek and Professor Steven J. Murdoch.
Research
My Ph.D. dissertation focuses on measuring online financial fraud originating from SMS scams. In my research, I have devised novel methods to collect smishing data - reports posted by users on various online forums and an SMS scam honeypot. I have also collaborated with industry stakeholders (UK mobile network operators) to access blocked SMS texts and 7726 user reports (including Google one-click reports). Additionally, collaborating with an international threat intelligence organization, I obtain newly registered phishing domains that are abused towards smishing. The analysis of the data presents insights into the infrastructure that scammers abuse to conduct SMS scams and the strategies employed to deceive victims into these scams.
Through this work, I categorize SMS scams into two broad types — conversational and non-conversational (URL-based) scams. While conversational scams result in authorized push payment (APP) fraud, non-conversational scams result in unauthorized fraud. My research dives deeper into one scam type per category - “Hi mum and dad” SMS scams and Card-Not-Present (CNP) fraud, aka remote purchase fraud resulting from URL-based smishing. The findings of my work have informed governments in the UK and Spain, law enforcement agencies incl. the NCA, regulators, mobile network operators, and financial institutions, through consultation responses, media coverage, and stakeholder discussions, contributing to efforts to curb this cybercrime.
My response to the public consultation by the Spanish Government on tackling telecom scams available here has resulted in a new regulation (Order TDF/149/2025) in Spain to combat fraudulent phone calls and text messages by the Spanish Ministry of Digital Transformation and Public Service. My response to the public call for input on reducing mobile messaging scams by Ofcom, UK telecom regulator is also publicly available here.
Alongside my Ph.D., I also work as a Product Analyst at Stop Scams UK, where we have been working on solutions and enabling cross-sector data sharing to stop scams at source. This includes developing software to interact with scammers and collect new intelligence signals, such as mule accounts, investigating various scams such as “Hi mum/dad” scams, CNP fraud/Remote Purchase scams, and fake recruitment scams.
I work on several other areas of cybersecurity, cybercrime, and law. I found an RFID-related vulnerability in the Yale Home Keyless Smart locks with a CVE score of 4.6, which was reported to Assa Abloy/Yale Home. The official product security advisory is available here. Also available at Yale website.
In order to help fellow PhD researchers find fellowships, I started CS PhD Fellowships, inspired by CSStipendRankings. If you would like to contribute to the project, check out the project’s Github.
Education
M.Sc. in Information Security
University College London (UCL), London, UK
Recipient of the Dean’s List Award for outstanding academic performance
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Marie VasekB.Tech. in Computer Science and Engineering
VIT University, Chennai, India
Personal
I was born and brought up in a small valley in the lap of the Himalayas, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India. In 2018, I moved to CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, to work for the CERN Computer Security Team. I worked at CERN for almost three years, where my last position was a Research Scientist at the CMS Experiment’s Offline Computing Team. In 2020, I moved to London to start my Master’s in Information Security, where I did my thesis on Online Ponzi Schemes/HYIPs. During my thesis, I started working part-time for the Bristol Cyber Security Group on the CyFoo project, funded by the PETRAS National Centre of Excellence for IoT Systems Cybersecurity. After graduating in September 2021, I was appointed to work full-time on the project. Recently, I received the UK Global Talent Visa and have shared my application guide here.
During this exciting chapter of my life, I have been fortunate to visit several countries in Europe to attend conferences and summer schools. I love traveling and exploring new places, capturing them through my lens (see some on Behance), and getting to know about various cultures. I love watching crime and thriller TV shows. Being a foodie, I love trying different cuisines, Indian still being my favorite. Want to discuss anything about cybersecurity/cybercrime? Let’s catch up over a cup of freshly brewed coffee!