Students Advised

Ph.D. Students

• Mohammad Ishtiaq Ashiq Khan (VT Spring 2021, intern at Meta)

• Weitong Li (VT Spring 2021, interned at Cloudflare)

• Munshi Rejwan Ala Muid (VT 2023, co-advised with Thang Hoang)

• Minhyeok Kang (SNU 2017, co-advised with Ted Kwon)

• Hoang Tran (VT Spring 2024)

• Muhammad Hamza (VT Fall 2024)

Master’s Students

• Mahesh Maddhuru (VT 2022)

Alumni and Interns

• Protick Bhowmick (M.S. 2023, at Yale University, interned at Cisco Thousandeyes)

• Hyeonmin Lee (Ph.D. 2022, at UVA)

• Syed Muhammad Farhan (M.S. 2022, First employed at Amazon)

• Spencer Roth (intern 2018, at RIT)

• Aniketh Girish (intern 2018, at IMDEA Networks)

• Anna Kwon (intern 2019, at MIT)

Prospective Students: FAQ

Q: What kinds of research do you do?

I am currently focusing on the Internet Security Protocols that rely on Public Key Infrastructures. More specifically, I am working on (1) TLS (HTTPS), (2) DNSSEC, (3) Routing Security (e.g., RPKI), and (4) Email Security.

Q: I have no prior knowledge on how Internet security protocols work.

Don’t worry! Here are a few papers you can start with.

TLS

• Measuring and Applying Invalid SSL Certificates: The Silent Majority
• CRLite: A Scalable System for Pushing All TLS Revocations to All Browsers

DNSSEC

• A Longitudinal, End-to-End View of the DNSSEC Ecosystem
• Understanding the Role of Registrars in DNSSEC Deployment

RPKI

• RPKI is Coming of Age: A Longitudinal Study of RPKI Deployment and Invalid Route Origins
• Why Is It Taking So Long to Secure Internet Routing?

Email Security

• Under the Hood of DANE Mismanagement in SMTP
• You’ve Got Report: Measurement and Security Implications of DMARC Reporting

Q: What should I prepare before contacting you?

When you email me regarding your potential admission, please make sure to include the following documents: (1) Transcripts, (2) CV, and (3) List of papers you have read and a brief summary of your takeaways. After the preliminary reviews, I will get in touch with you.

Q: What do you expect from the prospective students?

Given the extensive data collection and analytics involved in my research area, I expect students to possess the following skills: (1) Proficient programming skills, (2) A solid understanding of statistics, and (3) Above all, strong critical thinking abilities.