AI can write, create, diagnose, and predict. Smartphones can unlock with our faces. Cars can drive themselves. Nearly everything we do is faster, smarter, and more connected than ever.
But for all these advances, there’s one critical problem technology still hasn’t solved: real-world identity, which remains fuzzy.
Despite all our apps, platforms, and digital tools, proving who someone really is—online—remains deeply fragmented and unreliable. We still create new accounts for every service, repeat the same form-filling rituals, and scatter pieces of our identity across countless databases. Control over personal information is weak at best, and transparency is almost nonexistent.
With the explosive rise of AI, this problem is only getting worse.
Synthetic identities, deepfakes, and convincing impersonations are now easier than ever to create. Attackers can leverage our fragmented digital footprints and overshared data to convincingly pretend to be anyone, opening the door to a new wave of fraud, scams, and identity-based attacks.
It’s a strange paradox:
We can teach machines to imitate our voices, generate our likenesses, and predict our next move—yet we still can’t reliably prove that someone online is who they claim to be.
Until we address this fundamental challenge, every breakthrough will bring new risks. It’s time for a new approach to digital identity—one built for the age of AI that prioritizes security and privacy. The future of online trust depends on it.
]]>While the recognition was an incredible honor, the real value came from the lessons learned during the process. For any student starting their research journey, I wanted to share a few takeaways from the experience of taking an idea from a whiteboard to an award-winning paper and artifact.
Our work started with a simple, universal frustration: robocalls. Grounding our research in a problem that affects millions of people daily gave the project a clear sense of purpose. It’s easy to get lost in purely theoretical questions, but focusing on a tangible, real-world issue provides constant motivation and a clear benchmark for success: does this actually help solve the problem?
The Distinguished Artifact award was, in many ways, more meaningful to me than the paper award. Theorizing is one thing; building a functional system that withstands real-world constraints is another. Creating the Jäger prototype forced us to confront messy engineering challenges and prove our approach was practical, not just plausible. The process of building something concrete deepens your understanding and makes your research infinitely more credible.
Jäger would not exist without my collaborators, Varun Madathil and Sathvik Prasad, and my advisors, Dr. Bradley Reaves and Dr. Alessandra Scafuro. Every hard problem was solved through discussion, debate, and combining different perspectives. Don’t try to go it alone. Actively seek out collaboration—it’s the fastest way to find the flaws in your own thinking and build something better than you could on your own.
A final paper presents a clean, linear story. The reality is anything but. Our path was filled with failed experiments and dead ends that will never see the light of day. That’s not a sign of failure; it’s the definition of research. Pushing through that uncertainty is where the breakthroughs happen. The persistence required to navigate the “grind” is the most critical skill.
These awards are a welcome validation, but they are a snapshot of a long process. The real takeaways are the habits and principles that lead to good work. As I look towards graduating in 2026, these are the lessons I’ll be taking with me: find important problems, build real solutions, work with great people, and don’t be afraid of the grind.
]]>Attending a top-tier conference is always an incredible learning experience, but this one was truly special.
Presenting our paper, “Jäger: Automated Telephone Call Traceback,” was a highlight. It’s one thing to work on a project for months in the lab, but it’s another to share it with a room full of the leading experts in your field. The questions and discussions that followed were insightful and gave me new perspectives on our work.
The most surreal moment of the week, however, came during the awards ceremony. Hearing “Jäger” announced not once, but twice—for both the Distinguished Paper Award and the Distinguished Artifact Award—was an absolute shock. To receive that level of recognition for my first Ph.D. paper, from a community I respect so deeply, is an honor I find difficult to put into words. It was a powerful validation of our team’s hard work and our belief that building practical, deployable systems is crucial for security research.
Beyond our own presentation, the week was packed with fascinating talks on everything from new cryptographic methods to the security of large language models. The “hallway track” was just as valuable, offering a chance to connect with researchers whose papers I’ve admired and to spark ideas for future collaborations.
I’m leaving CCS feeling energized, inspired, and more motivated than ever. This experience was a powerful reminder of why I chose this path and the incredible potential our community has to solve meaningful problems. Now, it’s time to get back to work.
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