VLDB 2026 Research / reviewers in the wild / expert
Akshaya Kumar
dblp:339/2029
· DBLP profile ↗
5ranked-venue papers
1as first author
5since 2021 · last 2026
0000-0003-4519-3718ORCID · corroborated
Domains — the database's venue-derived domains; a paper can count in several
Security and privacy · 5 · 1 first-author · 5 since 2021
| Year | Publication | Venue | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | SoK: Offline Finding Protocols for Lightweight Location TrackingabstractOffline finding (OF) protocols---such as Apple's Find My, Google's Find Hub, Samsung’s SmartThingsFind, and Tile---enable hundreds of millions of users to track their belongings via Bluetooth-based tracker tags. However, their scale and tracking capabilities give rise to privacy risks for tag owners and bystanders, as well as safety risks for victims of tag-facilitated stalking. In response, academics and practitioners have suggested cryptographic and non-cryptographic mitigations to improve privacy and anti-stalking protections, working to navigate complex and subtle tensions between these goals. The result is a large landscape of privacy goals, threat models, protocol designs, implementations, and analyses. In this work, we systematize the OF protocol landscape. We gather and analyze a corpus of 49 research papers and OF protocol technical specifications, and use it to develop a taxonomy capturing the functionality, security, and privacy goals of OF protocols. We use the taxonomy to guide a focused assessment of the four major OF deployments along with six academic constructions, comparing design choices, consolidating known attacks, and analyzing the designs' trade-offs between privacy, security, abusability, and efficiency. We provide a simple OF protocol that achieves most security goals, and which clarifies the essential cryptographic components underlying OF protocols. We also provide a survey of physical layer attacks and usability issues that undermine protections in practice. Finally, we discuss open problems and potential research directions towards secure, interoperable, and abuse-resistant OF systems. Akshaya Kumar, Carolina Ortega Pérez, Joseph Jaeger, Thomas Ristenpart, Michael A. Specter |
Proc. Priv. Enhancing Technol. | 1 |
| 2025 | A Sea of Cyber Threats: Maritime Cybersecurity from the Perspective of MarinersabstractMaritime systems, including ships and ports, are critical components of global infrastructure, essential for transporting over 80% of the world's goods and supporting internet connectivity. However, these systems face growing cybersecurity threats, as shown by recent attacks disrupting Maersk, one of the world's largest shipping companies, causing widespread impacts on international trade. The unique challenges of the maritime environment--such as diverse operational conditions, extensive physical access points, fragmented regulatory frameworks, and its deeply interconnected structure--require maritime-specific cybersecurity research. Despite the sector's importance, maritime cybersecurity remains underexplored, leaving significant gaps in understanding its challenges and risks. To address these gaps, we investigate how maritime system operators perceive and navigate cybersecurity challenges within this complex landscape. We conducted a user study comprising surveys and semi-structured interviews with 21 officer-level mariners. Participants reported direct experiences with shipboard cyber-attacks, including GPS spoofing and logistics-disrupting ransomware, demonstrating the real-world impact of these threats. Our findings reveal systemic and human-centric issues, such as training poorly aligned with maritime needs, insufficient detection and response tools, and serious gaps in mariners' cybersecurity understanding. Our contributions include a categorization of threats identified by mariners and recommendations for improving maritime security, including better training, response protocols, and regulation. These insights aim to guide future research and policy to strengthen the resilience of maritime systems. Anna Raymaker, Akshaya Kumar, Miuyin Yong Wong, Ryan Pickren, Animesh Chhotaray, Frank Li 0001, Saman A. Zonouz, Raheem A. Beyah |
CCS | 2 |
| 2025 | Analyzing Group Chat Encryption in MLS, Session, Signal, and Matrix
Joseph Jaeger, Akshaya Kumar |
EUROCRYPT (8) | 2 |
| 2024 | Symmetric Signcryption and E2EE Group Messaging in Keybase
Joseph Jaeger, Akshaya Kumar, Igors Stepanovs |
EUROCRYPT (3) | 2 |
| 2022 | Memory-Tight Multi-challenge Security of Public-Key Encryption
Joseph Jaeger, Akshaya Kumar |
ASIACRYPT (3) | 2 |