Research Centres and Projects
NTU - Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
NUS - National University of Singapore, Singapore
SUTD - iTrust: Centre for Research in Cyber Security (Singapore University of Technology and Design), Singapore
Virginia Tech, USA
Systems Software Research Group: Real-Time Data Delivery in Wireless Sensor Networks
TUD - Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany
DFG GKMM: Cooperative, Adaptive and Responsive Monitoring in Mixed Mode Environments
DEWSnet: Dependable Embedded Wireless Sensor NETworks
FP7 INSPIRE: INcreasing Security and Protection through Infrastructure REsilience
FP7 COMIFIN: Communication Middleware for Monitoring Financial CI
Research & Innovation Focus
Next-Gen Malware Detection and Analysis at Scale: Driving innovation in advanced malware detection and analysis, including binary and behavioral malware analytics, hybrid and lightweight detection techniques, LLM-powered analysis, and agentic malware investigation systems. Focus on zero-day detection, evasive malware, automation, and enterprise-scale deployment.
Next-Generation Agentic SOC (Autonomous Security Operations): Architecting agentic SOC platforms that enable autonomous monitoring, malware analysis, alert triage, investigation, and response, combining AI agents, orchestration, and human-in-the-loop decision-making to scale security operations and improve response speed and accuracy.
Threat Detection, Intelligence, and Proactive Threat Hunting: Building end-to-end threat detection and hunting capabilities that integrate threat intelligence, telemetry correlation, provenance analysis, and predictive analytics to identify and disrupt advanced persistent threats (APTs) across complex environments.
AI-Driven Security Platforms and Analytics: Applying AI, ML, DL, and LLMs to deliver high-fidelity detection, reduced analyst workload, faster investigations, and actionable insights across malware, network, endpoint, and email security domains.
AI for Cybersecurity and Securing AI Systems:
AI for Cybersecurity: Using AI to enhance detection accuracy, investigation speed, and operational resilience.
Cybersecurity for AI: Ensuring the security, integrity, and trustworthiness of AI systems, including LLMs and agentic platforms, against model abuse, data poisoning, adversarial attacks, and misuse.
Foundational and Prior Research Areas: Earlier work spans IoT and cyber-physical systems security, blockchain-based security mechanisms, dependable wireless sensor networks and embedded systems, smart city infrastructures, and Quality of Information (QoI), underpinning scalable and resilient security solutions.
Teaching
Lecture "Security Monitoring and Threat Detection" S2- Jan 2026
Lecture "Security Monitoring and Threat Detection" S1 - Aug 2025
Lecture "Security Monitoring and Threat Detection" S2- Jan 2025
Lecture "Operating Systems" (WS'11-12)
Seminar "Dependable/Secure Mobile Computing" (SS'11)
Lecture "Operating Systems" (WS'10-11)
Seminar "Dependable/Secure Mobile Computing" (WS'10-11)
Lecture "Operating Systems II - Dependability and Trust" (SS'10)
Seminar "Reliable/Secure Wireless Sensor Cooperation" (SS'10)
Seminar "Embedded Mobile Computing" (WS'09-10)
Seminar "Embedded Mobile Computing" (SS'09)
Hackathons, CTFs and Community Leadership
I Co-Founded the SPIRITCYBER Hackathon, a international-level cybersecurity initiative focused on Smart Cities, IoT, and cyber-physical system security. I led SPIRITCYBER-22 and SPIRITCYBER-23, and supported SPIRITCYBER-24, helping establish SPIRITCYBER as a flagship Capture-the-Flag (CTF) and cyber exercise platform that bridges academia, industry, and government while nurturing the next generation of cybersecurity professionals.
SPIRITCYBER Hackathon Series
SPIRITCYBER-22 (2022): The inaugural SPIRITCYBER Hackathon was held at NTU Nanyang Campus Clubhouse, bringing together 14 teams from Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs). Participants identified vulnerabilities and performed real-world exploits on smart home IoT devices, supported by industry expert mentorship to deliver a strong hands-on learning experience.
SPIRITCYBER-23 (2023): Conducted as part of Singapore International Cyber Week (SICW), SPIRITCYBER-23 evolved into a three-day advanced cyber exercise. Industry, CII, and government Red Teams challenged 11 teams to uncover weaknesses in a Smart Nation cyber-physical system, targeting both consumer IoT devices and an enterprise-grade Smart Lamp Post, significantly enhancing technical depth and industry alignment.
Workshops, Mentorship & CTF Contributions
In Blåhaj-25, I delivered a half-day workshop titled “Catch Me If You Can: Foundations in the Art of Spotting Cyber Attacks”, aimed at inspiring and upskilling young and aspiring cybersecurity talents in Singapore. This workshop emphasized practical attack detection, adversary thinking, and foundational security monitoring concepts, serving as a direct contribution to community capacity building.
Beyond technical delivery, I also advised and guided the Blåhaj-25 organizing team, particularly in areas related to sponsorship strategy.
Additionally, I have been actively guiding and mentoring multiple CTF initiatives, providing strategic and technical know-how on CTF design, challenge development, and event organization. These efforts support the development of high-quality, realistic cyber exercises that align closely with industry and national cybersecurity needs.
Activities
Technical Workshops & Training
Workshop, MalwareAgent: Hierarchical Function Summarization for Malware Analysis — NTU, 2025
Workshop, PentestGPT: Advanced Penetration Testing with Large Language Models — NTU, 2025
Workshop, Vulnerability Agent: An LLM-Enhanced Vulnerability Detection Approach — NTU, 2025
Workshop, ReSILIoT: Security Innovation in the Internet of Things — SUTD, 2017
Professional Service & Leadership
Publicity Chair, IEEE BuildSEC — 2025
Publicity Chair, IEEE BuildSEC — 2024
Technical Program Committee (TPC) Member, Urb-IoT 2019 – 4th EAI International Conference on IoT in Urban Spaces
TPC Member, International Conference on New Technologies, Mobility and Security (NTMS) — 2018
Invited Talks & Industry Engagements
Speaker, Shake-Ups in the Emerging IoT Security Landscape — IoT Asia, 2019
Speaker, Identification of IoT Devices behind NAT while Preserving Data Privacy — Cyber Security Consortium, NUS, 2019
Speaker, Let the Cat out of the Bag: Exposing the Internet of Things — Cyber Security Consortium, NUS, 2018
Speaker, Security Testbed for the Internet of Things — Cyber Security Workshop, SUTD, 2018
Speaker, Probe into the Internet of Things — Cyber Risk Symposium, OCBC, 2018
Speaker, Security Analysis of the Internet of Things — Singapore Autonomous Vehicles Collaboration, Sentosa, 2017
Speaker, EURAXESS – Voice of the Researchers — EURAXESS, Belgium, 2014
Academic Events & Committee Roles
Program Committee Chair, Summer School on Cooperation of Robots and Sensor Networks — Ebernburg, Germany, 2012
Program Committee Chair, Summer School on Cooperative Monitoring in Robot and Sensor Networks — Blacksburg, USA, 2010
Session Chair, GKmM Workshop — 2011
Session Chair, Dagstuhl Workshops — 2009, 2010
Session Chair, Summer School on Cooperative Monitoring in Robot and Sensor Networks — Blacksburg, USA, 2010
Awards & Recognition
Full-Time Master’s Scholarship, University of Trento — Sponsored by the Italian Government and ArsLogica Srl
First Industry Award, Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) — In recognition of exceptional research contributions