About me
Howdy! I am Sonjoy Kumar Paul, a third-year Ph.D. student in Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University, advised by Dr. Nitesh Saxena in the Security and Privacy in Intelligent Emerging (computing and networking) Systems (SPIES) Lab. My research focuses on cybersecurity, cognitive security, and brainwave privacy. I design attacks and defenses at the boundary between human cognition and system security, including speech and identity inference from consumer brain–computer interface (BCI) headsets, detection of security-warning miscomprehension from gaze and cursor dynamics, and device-linking weaknesses in end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) messengers. My work has appeared at USENIX Security and APWG eCrime, with five more papers under review.
Before my Ph.D., I spent five years as a C++ software engineer at CodeCrafters International Ltd., most recently as Senior Software Engineer, building portfolio-management and credit-analysis software (a 2M+ line codebase) used by Fortune 500 firms. I hold a B.Sc. in Computer Science and Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).
News
October, 2026: Presented our BrainPhone poster at the Texas A&M Global Cyber Research Institute Summit 2026.
September, 2026: Presented our BrainPhone poster at the Texas Security Workshop 2026 at The University of Texas at Dallas.
December, 2025: Our paper “SoK: PHILTER: Uncovering Security and Functional Gaps in AI-based Phishing Website Detection Literature via an LLM-based Reasoning Framework” has been accepted to 35th USENIX Security Symposium, August 2026.
September, 2025: Our paper “Infrastructure Patterns in Toll Scam Domains: A Comprehensive Analysis of Cybercriminal Registration and Hosting Strategies” has been accepted to APWG’s Symposium on Electronic Crime Research (eCrime 2025).
January, 2024: Started my Ph.D. journey in Computer Science at Texas A&M University, focusing on cybersecurity, brainwave privacy, and cognitive security under the guidance of Dr. Nitesh Saxena.
July, 2022: Promoted to Senior Software Engineer at CodeCrafters International Ltd.
July, 2019: Advanced to Software Engineer at CodeCrafters International Ltd, contributing to critical system enhancements and performance optimization.
January, 2018: Began my professional career as a Software Developer at CodeCrafters International Ltd, focusing on financial software solutions.
September, 2017: Graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE), BUET.
January, 2016: Awarded 2nd Runner-up at the Software Project Show, International Conference on Networking, Systems, and Security (NSysS), 2016, for the Hall Management System project, recognized for its efficiency and usability.
February, 2013: Enrolled in the Bachelor’s program in Computer Science and Engineering at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), marking the beginning of my academic journey in computer science.