Afsah is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, NM. His primary research goal is to contribute to the understanding of malicious activity on the internet and its impact on individuals and society. His work has resulted in tools and frameworks that impact various stages of the incident-response life cycle. 

As an ICFP Fellow, Afsah will conduct a comprehensive analysis of the security issues in VPNs. Given mounting privacy concerns among the public and the fact that some ISPs play a role in censorship, VPNs often advertise themselves as the guardians of online safety. However, there is a lack of comprehensive research on the impact of compromised VPN endpoints on user experience and the measures that can be taken to prevent them. Compromised endpoints allow attackers to evade detection by hiding behind VPNs and can negatively impact the user experience, such as requiring frequent CAPTCHA challenges. 

Afsah will examine the impact of compromised endpoints on the user experience and evaluate the existing measures VPN service providers take to prevent malicious use of endpoints. He will also research best practices for addressing these challenges, with the goal of developing guidelines that can help organizations and users better protect their networks and data when using VPNs.