► VIDEO | January 29, 2021, 12 pm EDT
Presented by Phani Vadrevu
Assistant Professor, University of New Orleans
Abstract
Malicious ads often use social engineering (SE) tactics to coax users into downloading unwanted software, purchasing fake products or services, or giving up valuable personal information. These ads are often served by low-tier ad networks that may not have the technical means (or simply the will) to patrol the ad content they serve to curtail abuse. This lecture will describe a system for large-scale automatic discovery and tracking of SE Attack Campaigns delivered via Malicious Advertisements (SEACMA). The system aims to be generic, allowing us to study the SEACMA ad distribution problem without being biased towards specific categories of ad-publishing websites or SE attacks. Professor Vadrevu will share thoughts on methods to find potential research ideas to focus on in the area of social engineering and web security drawing from personal experiences.
Speaker Bio
Phani Vadrevu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of New Orleans. He is a member of the UNO Cyber Center, a group of faculty members, full-time researchers, and students focused on solving cybersecurity problems. He is interested in all areas of applied security. His current research interests lie in web security topics like phishing, social engineering attacks, and telephony scams. The work often involves applications of machine learning techniques to solve security problems.
