I am a third-year Computer Science Ph.D. Candidate at UCL advised by Dr. Marie Vasek and Professor Steven J. Murdoch.

Research

My Ph.D. research focuses on fighting against online financial fraud. Thus far, I found the concentration of online Ponzi schemes or High Yield Investment Programs (HYIPs) in the UK and investigated the bitcointalk.org discussion forum to identify the prevalence of rugpulls, a new investment scam in decentralized finance (DeFi). My latest research on a new type of SMS impersonation fraud - the ‘hi mum and dad’ SMS scam, uncovers how this scam operates, estimates a financial loss of at least £2.3m/year for UK-based victims, and suggests potential mitigations. Currently, I am working to devise methodologies to collect an updated novel smishing (SMS-based phishing) dataset and analyze it in an automated fashion to understand the ecosystem in depth. The research also aims to understand human perceptions and susceptibility to smishing through a socio-technical approach.

We recently submitted our response to a public consultation by the Spanish Government on tackling telecom scams available here and a public call for input on reducing mobile messaging scams by Ofcom, UK telecom regulator available here. Alongside my Ph.D., I also work part-time as a Product Analyst at Stop Scams UK.

Apart from my Ph.D. research, I work on several other areas of cyber security, cybercrime, and law. I found an RFID-related vulnerability in the Yale Home Keyless Smart locks with a CVE score 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, checkout the project’s Github.

Education

  • MSc in Information Security
    University College London (UCL), London, UK
    Recipient of the Dean’s List Award for outstanding academic performance
    Thesis Advisor: Dr. Marie Vasek

  • BTech 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 cyber security/crime? Lets catchup over a cup of freshly brewed coffee!