Venkatesh Kumar is a researcher in Computer Science with a strong focus on network security and applied cryptography. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, where his research interests span security in computer systems and networks, including applied and post-quantum cryptography, intrusion detection and prevention systems, secure network protocols, and vulnerabilities in modern web applications and distributed systems. He received his M.Tech. in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur in 2025, where his master’s thesis investigated consensus mechanisms for switch migration in distributed Software-Defined Network (SDN) controllers, with practical implementations using ONOS and Mininet. Prior to this, he earned his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology in 2021. During his postgraduate studies, he served as a Teaching Assistant in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at IIT Jodhpur, assisting in courses such as Cryptography, Security Engineering, Computer Networks, and Data Structures, where he was involved in laboratory instruction, assignment design, student evaluations, and mentoring large cohorts of students. Venkatesh has also gained valuable industry experience as an Application Development Analyst at Accenture, where he worked on enterprise-scale development workflows, automation, and SAP ABAP systems, as well as practical security exposure through a penetration testing internship at the Virtually Testing Foundation. His academic training has been complemented by participation in advanced research schools, including the ACM India Winter School on Modern Cryptography at IIT Madras and the ACM India Summer School on Theoretical Foundations of Cryptography at IIT Bombay. He has been recognized for his academic and technical achievements through distinctions such as qualifying the UGC-NET in Computer Science, securing a competitive rank in GATE CSE, receiving a scholarship to attend BLACK HAT Asia, and placing among the top performers in national-level cybersecurity competitions such as TCS HackQuest. Through his research, teaching, and professional experience, Venkatesh aims to contribute to the design and analysis of secure, reliable, and resilient computing systems.
For more information please visit: https://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/users/venkatesh25/ or the informal website: https://venkysharma.github.io/