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.
Alongside my Ph.D., I work part-time as a Scam Intelligence Analyst for Stop Scams UK and provide cybersecurity consultancy services to Aegis Mobile.
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 VasekBTech 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.
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!