Prospective Students
I am seeking dedicated Ph.D. candidates who are passionate about Cybersecurity research and wish to embark on their Ph.D. journey at Towson University, starting in Spring/Fall 2025. If you have a keen interest in Cybersecurity, specifically focusing on Malware Analysis, Defense Strategies, and Deception-based System Orchestration, I encourage you to contact me at msajid@towson.edu. Please include your CV/Resume, GRE/TOEFL Scores, and a statement outlining your motivation to pursue a Ph.D. RA positions are available.
Preferred Qualities in Prospective Students:
- Bachelor/Masters degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related field (mandatory) with experience or a background in cybersecurity, which is highly advantageous (preferred). Possession of a Master's degree is beneficial, though not strictly required (preferred).
- Proficiency in C++ (mandatory) with substantial knowledge and practical experience as it would be advantageous for malware analysis/reverse engineering and system orchestration.
- Research experience and prior publication(s) (mandatory).
- Strong motivation to conduct impactful research within Cybersecurity field (mandatory).
- Excellent problem-solving abilities and a proactive mindset.
- Previous experience working with extensive datasets, analyzing insights, and utilizing ML/DL models for detection, prediction, and forecasting (preferred).
My current prioritized research areas are as follows:
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Automated and Verifiable Deceptive System Orchestration through Systematic Planning: Cyber deception has always been a focal point of my research. One of the core challenges in orchestrating deceptive systems is understanding the system variables attackers rely on to achieve their goals. In the future, I will continue to work on effectively extracting deception parameters from malware or compromised systems using dynamic malware analysis and utilizing them to orchestrate deceptive environments. The next challenge lies in selecting optimal deception actions considering their effectiveness, costs, and overhead. Hence, I intend to combine active learning, such as reinforcement learning, with the deception planner to optimize deception planning. The outcome of this research will also enrich deception-based malware detection approaches.
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Advanced Automated Dynamic Malware Analysis and Reasoning: This project focuses on enhancing automated dynamic malware analysis to combat stealthy cyber-attacks. Our objective is to develop a sophisticated analysis framework using AI-powered symbolic execution, targeting the high-level behaviors of malware. The goal is to overcome existing limitations and expedite the process by guiding execution towards malicious objectives. Additionally, we will automate information extraction and reasoning using AI, CTIO, and NLP, ensuring an efficient and effective analysis of evolving threats.
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Leveraging LLM Models for Autonomous Understanding of Malware Behaviors and Designing Deception Systems: In this project, we aim to utilize Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and employ prompt engineering techniques to comprehend malware behavior using diverse inputs such as malware execution logs, malicious subgraphs, and event logs. By leveraging LLMs' capabilities in understanding patterns and contextual information, we intend to extract actionable insights regarding malicious activities. Subsequently, we will utilize this knowledge to design and develop sophisticated deception-based systems that effectively counter attackers, enhancing cybersecurity measures in the evolving threat landscape.
Please note: If you are solely interested in ML/DL-based research, I kindly request that you refrain from contacting me. At present, I already have students dedicated to this area. Please reach out only if you are enthusiastic about delving into the realms of system security and malware analysis.
While my ongoing projects focus on specific areas within cybersecurity, I am more than willing to explore and engage with proposals that may fall outside those projects but align with my expertise and knowledge. If you have a compelling research proposal that showcases creativity and innovation within the realm of cybersecurity or related fields, I encourage you to reach out. I am open to discussing potential collaborations and providing guidance to help bring your research vision to fruition.
