About Me

I am an Assistant Professor at IIIT Hyderabad, India. Here, I'm associated with Centre for Security, Theory, and Algorithmic Research (CSTAR). I am a member of Ripple's UBRI and hold a Guest Researcher position at the SPRITZ research group at University of Padua, Italy. Previously, I worked as a Post-Doctoral Researcher in Delft Blockchain Lab of TU Delft, Netherlands (advisors: Prof. Zekeriya Erkin and Prof. Stefanie Roos). I was also a Visiting Research Scholar (host: Prof. Giuseppe Ateniese) at Stevens Institute of Technology, USA. I earned my PhD degree in Brain, Mind, and Computer Science (supervisors: Prof. Mauro Conti and Prof. Anna Spagnolli) from University of Padua, Italy with a fully-funded fellowship by Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo (CaRiPaRo). I also hold an MTech degree (supervisor: Prof. Manoj Singh Gaur) in Computer Engineering from MNIT Jaipur, India and a BTech degree in Information Technology from RTU Kota, India.

I have worked in different mainstream areas of research, including distributed ledger technology (blockchain and cryptocurrencies), networking (ICN and SDN), and AI (GAN-based password cracking). However, the main theme of my research has always been security and privacy. My research work is inherently multidisciplinary. Currently, I am focusing on the following research areas:

• Blockchain: Consensus and micropayments.
• Privacy: Anonymity and identity.
• Security: Communication and system.

I am motivated to learn, work upon, and teach new technologies in the field of computer science. I am always delighted to supervise strongly motivated Master's and PhD students, who are willing to work with me in my research areas (broadly, security and privacy). If you are interested, please drop me an email (with your CV).

Activities

• (Invited) Talks
  • [I6] "From Crypto to DeFi," S&P Global, Hyderabad, India, April 18, 2022.
  • [I5] "Introduction to Layer-two Blockchains," CS Katha Barta, Bhubaneshwar, India, February 19, 2022.
  • [I4] "Scaling Blockchain with Off-chain Solutions," Workshop on Security & Privacy in Blockchain, Hyderabad, India, February 16, 2022.
  • [I3] "The Infamous Side of Cryptocurrencies," AICTE ATAL FDP on Cyber Security Oversight for Information Protection, Cochin, India, July 12, 2021.
  • [I2] "Modern Ransomware in the Bitcoin Playground," BLOCKCHAIN le sfide della sicurezza nell'era di Bitcoin, Padua, Italy, January 31, 2019.
  • [I1] "Software Defined Networks: An Overview," International Symposium on Future Internet: Security Issues and Opportunities, Padua, Italy, May 10, 2018.
  
  
  • [T2] "Risk and Ransomware" (in collaboration with Éireann Leverett and Jurriaan Bremer), 31st FIRST Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland, June 16-21, 2019.
  • [T1] "Come to the Dark Side! We have Radical Insurance Groups & Ransomware" (in collaboration with Éireann Leverett), 14th hack.lu, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, October 16-18, 2018.


• Awards/Honours
  • [A5] HIT Research Grant (Type A), 2022-2023.
  • [A4] DBL post-doctoral research fellowship, 2020-2022.
  • [A3] Young Researcher Award (2nd runner-up) at DIGITALmeet '18, 2018.
  • [A2] Intel Student Travel Grant at IEEE NFV-SDN '17, 2017.
  • [A1] CaRiPaRo doctoral research fellowship, 2016-2019.


• Fundings/Projects
  • [F3] "Blockchain and Machine Learning Powered Unified Video Know Your Customer Framework," MeitY (Government of India) funding, 2022-2024.
  • [F2] "Towards Secure and Efficient PoW Alternatives," Ripple Centre of Excellence funding scheme, 2021-2023.
  • [F1] "Secure Provisioning of Blockchain-based Systems over Future Internet Architecture," Ripple Centre of Excellence funding scheme, 2021-2024.


• Research Visits
  • [V1] Visiting Research Scholar (Host: Prof. Giuseppe Ateniese) at Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, USA, April-October 2019.


• Reviewer
  • Journals: IEEE TIFS, IEEE TDSC, IEEE TNSM, IEEE TSC, ACM TCPS, IEEE Access, Elsevier COMCOM, Elsevier COMNET, Springer IJIS.
  • Conferences: ACM ASIACCS '22, WWW '22, ACNS '22, FC '21, ESORICS '21, ACM CODASPY '21, CANS '21, NDSS '20, ACM ASIACCS '20, ESORICS '20, ACM WiSec '20, IEEE CNS '20, IEEE ISCC '20, ICICS '20, ISC '20, ESORICS '19, WWW '19, ACNS '19, IEEE NFV-SDN '19, IEEE ICC '19 CISS, IEEE ICCE '19, ACM CIKM '18, IEEE NFV-SDN '18, IEEE/ACM ASONAM '18, WISTP '18, IEEE NFV-SDN '17, ICISS '17.
  • Workshops: CBT '20 (in conjunction with ESORICS '20), CPS4CIP '20 (in conjunction with ESORICS '20), CPSS '18 (in conjunction with ACM ASIACCS '18), CyberICPS '18 (in conjunction with ESORICS '18), CPS-Sec '18 (in conjunction with IEEE CNS '18), SPA '17 (in conjunction with IEEE CNS '17).


• Seminars/Guest Lectures
  • [G4] "Introduction to Blockchains" in "Introduction to Information Security" course, Shandong University, China, April 06, 2022.
  • [G3] "A Look at Bitcoin Offshoots" in "Computer and Network Security: Advanced Topics" course, TU Delft, Netherlands, June 2, 2021.
  • [G2] "ABC: Algorand + Bitcoin-apps + Cryptominers" in "Computer and Network Security" course, University of Padua, Italy, November 11, 2020.
  • [G1] "ABC: Algorand + Bitcoin-apps + Cryptominers" in "Computer and Network Security: Advanced Topics" course, TU Delft, Netherlands, May 14, 2020.


• Web Chair
  • [W1] SPA '17 (in conjunction with IEEE CNS '17), Las Vegas, USA, October 11, 2017.

Media Coverage

Recent/Selected News

• April 2022: Our paper "BLEWhisperer: Exploiting BLE Advertisements for Data Exfiltration" is now available as preprint.
• April 2022: Our paper "A Survey of Layer-Two Blockchain Protocols" is now available as preprint.
• March 2022: I won the HIT Research Grant (Type A).
• February 2022: Our project proposal "Blockchain and Machine Learning Powered Unified Video Know Your Customer Framework" has won MeitY (Government of India) funding.
• [News archive]