Faculty

William Enck, Director

William Enck William Enck is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the North Carolina State University where he is director of the Wolfpack Security and Privacy Research (WSPR) laboratory. Prof. Enck's research interests span the broad area of systems security, with efforts addressing security challenges in mobile applications, operating systems, cloud services, and networking. In particular, his work in mobile application security has led to significant consumer awareness and changes to platforms. Prof. Enck was awarded the National Science Foundation CAREER Award and regularly serves on program committees for top conferences in security such as USENIX Security, IEEE Security and Privacy, ACM CCS, and NDSS. He is serving as department editor for IEEE Security and Privacy Magazine, as associate editor for ACM TOIT, and on the steering committees of the USENIX Security Symposium and ACM WiSec. He was program co-chair of USENIX Security 2018 and ACM WiSec 2016. Prior to joining NC State, Prof. Enck earned his Ph.D., M.S., and B.S in Computer Science and Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University in 2011, 2006, and 2004, respectively. Prof. Enck is a member of the ACM, IEEE, ISSA, and USENIX.

Anupam Das

Anupam Das Anupam Das is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at North Carolina State University. His research interests lie in the domain of security and privacy with a special focus towards designing secure and privacy-preserving technologies. His work has looked at understanding and mitigating the security and privacy risks of exposing sensors, embedded in smart devices. Most recently, he has been working on designing novel frameworks for enhanced transparency and protection in the Internet of Things (IoT). Prior to joining NC State, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Carnegie Mellon University. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science in 2016 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he was a recipient of Fulbright Science and Technology fellowship. He previously served as an Assistant Professor in the department of Computer Science and Engineering at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).

Alexandros Kapravelos

Alexandros Kapravelos Alexandros Kapravelos is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at NC State University. He received his PhD in Computer Science from University of California, Santa Barbara in 2015. His research interests span the areas of systems and software security. Currently, he studies how the web changes on the client side via browser extensions and how we can protect the browser from malicious client-side attacks. He is also interested in Internet privacy and browser fingerprinting specifically, where he is working on making Internet users less distinctive while they browse the web. He is the lead developer of Wepawet, a publicly available system that detects drive-by downloads with the use of an emulated browser, Revolver, a system that detects evasive drive-by download attempts, and Hulk, a browser extension analysis system.

Brad Reaves

Brad Reaves Brad Reaves is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the North Carolina State University. His research is dedicated to measuring and improving the security of computer systems, with a particular emphasis on telephone networks and mobile platforms. His work has addressed detection and measurement of mobile malware in the wild, identified systemic risks in developing world mobile money systems, and provided new techniques to distinguish legitimate and fraudulent phone calls. He holds a PhD from the University of Florida, an MS in Computer Science from Georgia Tech as well as a BS and MS in Computer Engineering from Mississippi State University. His work has been recognized with two best paper awards and is regularly published at top venues.

Douglas Reeves

Douglas Reeves Douglas Reeves is Professor of Computer Science and Associate Dean for Graduate Programs in the College of Engineering at N.C. State University. He received his PhD in Computer Science from Penn State in 1987 and joined the faculty at N.C. State in the same year. He has published on a variety of topics in computer systems and networks, with a focus in the last dozen years on computer and network security. His work has been supported by many federal agencies, including AFOSR, NSF, ARDA, ARO, and DARPA. He has advised or co-advised roughly 20 PhD students, and an equal number of masters students.

Alessandra Scafuro

Alessandra Scafuro Alessandra Scafuro is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at NCSU. She received her PhD from University of Salerno, Italy, in 2013. Prior to joining the NC State faculty, she was a post-doc at UCLA, and held a join post-doc position at Boston University and Northeastern University. Her research interests are in the theoretical foundations as well as practical applications of Cryptography. Presently she studies the problem of designing protocols for secure computation. The goal of secure computation is to allow several parties to compute a function of their joint inputs, in such a way that all participants learn the output of the function but yet, they do not learn the inputs of the other parties. This problem is relevant in scenarios where multiple parties are interested in evaluating function on sensitive data that must remain private, for example, running tests on medical records. While from a theoretical point of view this problem has been extensively studied, the challenge today is to design protocols that are efficient and usable in real world applications.

Laurie Williams

Laurie Williams Laurie Williams is the Acting Department Head of Computer Science and a Professor in the Computer Science Department of the College of Engineering at North Carolina State University (NCSU). Laurie is a co-director of the NCSU Science of Security Lablet. Laurie's research focuses on software security particularly in relation to healthcare IT; agile software development practices and processes; software reliability, software testing and analysis; and broadening participation and increasing retention in computer science. Laurie has more than 180 refereed publications. Laurie was named an ACM Distinguished Scientist in 2011, and is an NSF CAREER award winner. In 2009, she was honored to receive the ACM SIGSOFT Influential Educator Award. At NCSU, Laurie was named a University Faculty Scholars in 2013. In 2006, she won the Outstanding Teaching award for her innovative teaching and is an inductee in the NC State's Academy of Outstanding Teachers. Laurie leads the Software Engineering Realsearch research group at NCSU. With her students in the Realsearch group, Laurie has been involved in working collaboratively with high tech industries like ABB Corporation, Cisco, IBM Corporation, Microsoft, Nortel Networks, Red Hat, Sabre Airline Solutions, SAS, Tekelec (now Oracle), and other healthcare IT companies. They also extensively evaluate open source software. Laurie is one of the foremost researchers in agile software development and in the security of healthcare IT applications. She was one of the founders of the first XP/Agile conference, XP Universe, in 2001 in Raleigh which has now grown into the Agile 200x annual conference. She is also the lead author of the book Pair Programming Illuminated and a co-editor of Extreme Programming Perspectives. Laurie is also the instructor of a highly-rated professional agile software development course that has been widely taught in Fortune 500 companies. She also is a certified instructor of John Musa's software reliability engineering course, More Reliable Software Faster and Cheaper. Laurie received her Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Utah, her MBA from Duke University Fuqua School of Business, and her BS in Industrial Engineering from Lehigh University. She worked for IBM Corporation for nine years in Raleigh, NC and Research Triangle Park, NC before returning to academia.

Current PhD Students

Sathvik Prasad, Lead Graduate Student

Sathvik Prasad Sathvik Prasad is a PhD student being advised by Dr. Bradley Reaves. Sathvik's current research focuses on measuring and improving the security of telephone networks. His broader research interest is in data-driven security and network security. Previously, he worked at Cisco, where he developed VoIP software, supported some of the largest networks in the world, and developed in-house productivity enhancing tools.

Dilawer Ahmed

Dilawer Ahmed Dilawer Ahmed is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Computer Science at NC State University. Advised by Dr. Anupam Das, his current research focuses on Web Security and IoT Security & Privacy. Dilawer, through his research, hopes to make IoT and Web systems more secure and transparent. Before Graduate School, Dilawer was a Research Assistant at Lahore University of Management Science and received a B.S. Computer Science degree from Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan.

Sanghyun Ahn

Sanghyun Ahn Sanghyun Ahn is currently a PhD student in the WSPR lab advised by Dr. Douglas Reeves. His primary research interests are in the area of Network Security, with a focus on Automated Intrusion Response Systems. Prior joining NC State, he earned his M.S., and B.S in Computer Science from the Oklahoma State University in 2007 and Korea Military Academy in 2002, respectively.

Iffat Anjum

Iffat Anjum Iffat Anjum has joined the Department of Computer Science at NC State University in Fall 2018. Her primary research interest lies in the area of network security, specially SDN security. She is supervised by Dr. William Enck and pursuing her research in the WSPR Lab. Iffat received her bachelor’s degree in 2013 and master’s degree in 2015 from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Dhaka. She is a faculty member on leave from the same institution.

Setu Kumar Basak

Setu Kumar Basak Setu Kumar Basak started his Ph.D. program in the department of Computer Science at North Carolina State University in Fall 2021. His research interest is in the area of Software Engineering and Software Security. Currently, he is working under the supervision of Dr. Laurie Williams. He is currently working on risk-based software secret management. He received his bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Engineering at Khulna University of Engineering & Technology. Before joining NCSU, he worked at Enosis solutions for five years in Bangladesh, where his work domain was dental practice management software systems and opportunity model analysis. He loves to play cricket, table tennis, and volleyball.

Trevor Dunlap

Trevor Dunlap Trevor Dunlap is a Ph.D. student being co-advised by Dr. William Enck and Dr. Bradley Reaves. Trevor joined the WSPR lab in 2020. His research interest is in the area of system security, particularly access control. Before joining NCSU, Trevor obtained his B.S. in Computer Engineering in 2016 from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

K. Virgil English

K. Virgil English Kelly Virgil English is a Ph.D. student of North Carolina State University in the Computer Science department under the advisement of Dr. William Enck. He joined WSPR Lab in 2021 as an M.S. student and transitioned to Ph.D. in Fall 2022. He currently works on 5G Cellular Security, focusing on cryptography and access control. Other research interests include embedded system security and memory corruption. Virgil received his B.S. in Computer Science from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2020 and his M.S. in Computer Science from NCSU in 2022.

Abida Haque

Abida Haque Abida Haque is a PhD student under Dr. Alessandra Scafuro in the Department of Computer Science at North Carolina State University. She is currently researching constructions of threshold ring signatures. She is also interested in non-interactive zero knowledge proofs and Bloom filters. She received a B.S. in Mathematics from Carnegie Mellon in 2010.

Tae Hyun Kim

Tae Hyun Kim Tae Hyun Kim is a PhD student at NC State University's Department of Computer Science and joined the WSPR Lab in 2017. His primary research interests Networking Security, especially DNS Security, as advised by Dr. Douglas Reeves. He received his bachelor's degree in computer science from the Korea Army Academy in 2003 and his master's degree in computer science from Auburn University in 2008.

Elizabeth Lin

Elizabeth Lin Elizabeth Lin is a PhD student in the Department of Computer Science at North Carolina State University. Elizabeth joined the WSPR lab in 2022 and is being advised by Dr. William Enck. She is currently focusing on software supply chain security. Before joining NCSU, Elizabeth received her B.S. in Computer Science in 2022 from National Chengchi University.

Samin Yaseer Mahmud

Samin Yaseer Mahmud Samin Yaseer Mahmud is a Ph.D student of North Carolina State University in Computer Science department. He joined WSPR lab from August, 2018 and currently he is working under the supervision of Dr. William Enck. His research interest lies in Mobile application security with current focus on analyzing vulnerabilities of mobile payment applications. He completed his B.Sc from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology(2016) in CSE. He also had industry experience in working at KONA Software Lab Ltd.

Varun Rajeev Madathil

Varun Rajeev Madathil Varun is a PhD student under Dr. Alessandra Scafuro in the Department of Computer Science at North Carolina State University. He is currently researching privacy of blockchains and proving the security of privacy preserving blockchains. He is also interested in zero knowledge proofs and secure multi-party computation. He received his Bachelors of Engineering in Computer Science from Birla Institute of Technology and Science in 2016.

Lorenzo Neil

Lorenzo Neil Lorenzo Neil is a PhD student in the Department of Computer Science. He joined the WSPR lab in 2019 and is being advised by Dr. Bradley Reaves. His research interests include secure, usable authentication. Before joining NCSU, Lorenzo received his B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in 2019.

Chris Orsini

Chris Orsini Chris is a PhD student in the Department of Computer Science at North Carolina State University. He is currently researching Commit and Prove Schemes, and in general, is interested in Secure Computation and Proof-systems. He received his B.S. in Mathematics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2015.

Nikolaos Pantelaios

Nikolaos Pantelaios Nikolaos Pantelaios is a PhD student in Computer Science at North Carolina State University. He joined the WSPR lab in 2018 advised by Dr. Alexandros Kapravelos. He is currently working in Web Security, with a focus on Network Security using Machine Learning techniques. He graduated with a Diploma in Electrical and Computer Engineering at National Technical University of Athens, Greece.

Isaac Polinsky

Isaac Polinsky Isaac Polinsky is a PhD student in the Department of Computer Science at NCSU. Isaac joined the WSPR lab in 2016. His primary research interest is focused on using properties provided by cloud environments to detect attacks originating from the internet and to guarantee the integrity of data accessed by cloud based web servers. Before joining NCSU, Isaac received his B.S in Computer Science from Penn State University at Harrisburg in May 2015.

Md Rayhanur Rahman

Md Rayhanur Rahman Md Rayhanur Rahman has started his Ph.D. program in the department of Computer Science at North Carolina State University in fall 2018. His research interest is in the area of Software Engineering and Software Security. He works under the supervision of Dr. Laurie Williams. Currently he is working on the research domain of mining the cyber threat intelligence artifacts. He has received his bachelor's and master's degree in Software Engineering at University of Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2012 and 2014. He is a faculty member (on study leave) from the same institution.

Hafiza Ramzah Rehman

Hafiza Ramzah Rehman Hafiza Ramzah Rehman is a Ph.D. student being advised by Dr. Brad Reaves. Ramzah joined the WSPR lab in the Spring of 2021. Her research interest is in cellular network security, particularly 5G networks. Previously, she worked as a research associate at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), where she worked on load-balancing schemes for datacenters that work resiliently under link failures and network asymmetries. She obtained her B.S. in Computer Science in 2018 from the National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences (NUCES), Lahore.

Alex Ross

Alex Ross Alex Ross is a PhD student in the Department of Computer Science at North Carolina State University. He joined the WSPR lab in 2020 and is being advised by Dr. Bradley Reaves. His research interests include hardware, network, and IoT security along with edge computing, embedded systems, and virtual and augmented reality. Before joining the NCSU Wolfpack, Alex received his B.S. in Computer Science from Wake Forest University. When he is not busy with academics or research, Alex likes to design, build, and program smart electrical devices.

Aafaq Sabir

Aafaq Sabir Aafaq Sabir is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Computer Science at NCSU supervised by Dr. Anupam Das. His research interests lie in web security and privacy. He is currently working on analyzing and mitigating security and privacy problems in smart home devices and voice assistants. His research involves understanding the gap between a user's mental model and system behavior, detecting and regulating advertisements in smart home devices, and analyzing online tracking technology across different platforms, among other aspects. Before joining NCSU, he graduated with a B.S. in Computer Science from Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in 2020.

Shaown Sarker

Shaown Sarker Shaown is a PhD student in the department of Computer Science at NC State and he joined the WSPR lab in 2016. Shaown is advised by Dr. Kapravelos and is mostly interested in static and dynamic analysis of JavaScript, malicious JavaScript detection, drive-by and malicious downloads. When he is not busy in his research, Shaown likes to dabble in the dark arts of binary exploitation and capture the flag competitions.

Abhinaya Srividhya Balaji

Abhinaya Srividhya Balaji Abhinaya Srividhya Balaji (Abhinaya S B) joined the Computer Science department at NC State University in Fall 2022. She is a Ph.D. student in the WSPR lab advised by Dr. Anupam Das. Her research interests include usable security and privacy in emerging technologies. She earned her Bachelors in Computer Science from National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli (NIT Trichy), India, in 2019. he gained 3 years of industry experience at Qualcomm as a Software Architect, working on mobile, compute, and auto chipsets.

Junhua Su

Junhua Su Junhua Su is currently a Ph.D. student in the WSPR lab advised by Dr. Kapravelos. He received his B.S. in Computer Science and minor in Physics from NC State University in 2021. He is currently working on web measurement and browser fingerprinting. He is also interested in privacy analytics in the web and browser.

Seaver Thorn

Seaver Thorn Seaver is a PhD student advised by Dr. William Enck in the Department of Computer Science at NCSU. Seaver joined the WSPR lab in 2020. His current focus is in 5G Cellular Network Security, but has other research interests in OS and network security. He received his M.S in Computer Science from NC State in 2020 and his B.S in Computer Science from East Carolina University in 2018.

Greg Tystahl

Greg Tystahl Greg Tysthal is a PhD student in the Department of Computer Science at North Carolina State University. Greg joined the WSPR lab in 2022 and is being co-advised by Dr. William Enck and Dr. Alex Kapravelos. He is currently focusing on software supply chain security. Before joining NCSU, Greg received his B.S. in Computer Science and a minor in Mathematics in 2022 from Buena Vista University.

Ahsan Zafar

Ahsan Zafar Ahsan Zafar is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Computer Science at NC State University and is being advised by Dr. Anupam Das. His research interests include online privacy and tracking in the context of evolving web applications. He is currently exploring the fingerprinting surface of mobile and desktop platforms and continues to develop measurement tools that can increase the transparency of web interactions. He graduated with a B.S. in Computer Science from Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in 2020.

Nusrat Zahan

Nusrat Zahan Nusrat Zahan is a Ph.D. student who joined NCSU CS in 2020. She is working under the supervision of Dr. Laurie Williams. Her research interest is Cybersecurity, especially industrial control system security, healthcare software security. Currently, she is analyzing healthcare software efficiency, reliability across different security techniques. Along with that, she is researching on Industrial Control System's security framework development. Nusrat has received her bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Khulna University of Engineering Technology, 2015. Before joining NCSU, she worked at NEC corporation for three years in Bangladesh, where her work domain was Biometric technology and its application.

Shaohu Zhang

Shaohu Zhang Shaohu is currently a PhD candidate under guidance from Dr. Anupam Das. He earned his masters degree from South Dakota State University in 2017. Before that, he was a Logistics Engineer in Shanghai, China, working on a number of projects on mobile sensor systems for Intelligent Transportation Systems. His current research interests include sensor sensing and IoT security.

Current MS Students

PhD Alumni

MS Alumni