About me

Howdy! I am Sonjoy Kumar Paul, a third-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University, advised by Dr. Nitesh Saxena in the SPIES — Security and Privacy In Emerging computing and networking Systems — research lab. My research sits at the intersection of cybersecurity, cognitive security, and brainwave privacy, with broader interests in usable security, end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) messaging, and neuro-security. I design attacks and defenses that connect human cognition with system security — for example, inferring speech and identity from consumer brain–computer interface (BCI) headsets, detecting whether users actually comprehend security warnings from their gaze and cursor dynamics, and uncovering device-linking weaknesses in E2EE messengers.

My work has been published at venues including USENIX Security and the APWG eCrime, with five additional papers currently under review.

Before my Ph.D. journey, I spent five years as a C++ software engineer (most recently Senior Software Engineer) at CodeCrafters International Ltd., building large-scale portfolio-management and credit-analysis software — a codebase of over 2 million lines used by Fortune 500 firms. There I developed deep expertise in system design, code review, and efficient data structures. I hold a B.Sc. in Computer Science and Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Dhaka, Bangladesh.

🔍 Actively seeking internship/co-op opportunities from Fall 2026, where I can bring together my research in cybersecurity, usable security, and applied ML with my industry software-engineering background. If you're hiring or think we might collaborate, I'd love to connect!

News

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.