Bogdan Carbunar

Associate Professor
Knight Foundation School of Computing and Information Sciences
Florida International University
Office: CASE 365
Email: carbunar at cs dot fiu dot edu
CV

About

I am an associate professor in the Knight Foundation School of Computing and Information Sciences at FIU, and director of the CaSPR lab in Miami. I study how powerful actors that include corporations, governments, and coordinated networks shape information online. We develop methods that detect manipulation, explain risks to users, and enable protective action. Our goal is to shift power back to users by strengthening autonomy, privacy, and security at scale. At CaSPR, we:
  • Build and evaluate secure, privacy-preserving systems
  • Combine AI, applied cryptography, systems engineering, and user studies
  • Detect and audit manipulative information flows at platform scale
  • Translate research into practical defenses that restore user control

    Recent Publications

  • [ACM CSCW] Cooperative Dynamics of Censorship, Misinformation, and Influence Operations: Insights from the Global South and U.S.
    Zaid Hakami, Yuzhou Feng, Bogdan Carbunar.
    Accepted in the Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction (PACMHCI), 2025. [pdf]

  • [IEEE S&P] INVISILINE: Invisible Plausibly-Deniable Storage.
    Sandeep Pinjala, Bogdan Carbunar, Anrin Chakraborti, Radu Sion.
    In Proceedings of the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, 2024. [pdf]

  • [Usenix Security] A Study of China's Censorship and Its Evasion Through the Lens of Online Gaming.
    Yuzhou Feng, Ruyu Zhai, Radu Sion, Bogdan Carbunar.
    In Proceedings of the 32nd Usenix Security Symposium, August 2023. [pdf]

    Longer list
    DBLP
    Google Scholar

    Students

    Current students:
        Ashfaq Ali Shafin
        Zaid Hakami

    Former students:
        Yuzhou (Aaron) Feng, Ph.D., Thesis title: ``Evading Information Cocoons: Defenses Against the Interplay of Censorship and False Information''. Defended: March 2025.
        Rubén Recabarren, Ph.D., Thesis title: ``Secure Distributed Systems in Satoshi Blockchains''. Defended: March 2021. First employer: Facebook
        Nestor G. Hernandez, Ph.D., Thesis title: ``Demystifying Search Optimization Fraud in App Markets''. Defended: June 2020. First employer: MathWorks
        Mozhgan Azimpurkivi, Ph.D., Thesis title: ``Image Based Authentication''. Defended: March 2019. First employer: Bloomberg LP (AI Software Engineer)
        Sajedul Talukder, Ph.D., Thesis title: ``Detection and Prevention of Abuse in Online Social Networks''. Defended: April 2019. First employer: Edinboro University
        Md Mizanur Rahman, Ph.D. Thesis title: ``Search Rank Fraud Prevention in Online Systems''. Defended: November 2018. First employer: Amazon
        Mahmudur Rahman, Ph.D. Defended: December 2015. First employer: IBM Watson
        George Burri. M.S., First employer: Jive Software
        Madhusudan Banik. M.S. First employer: Eden Rock Communications

    SERVICE

    I am or have been involved with the following venues: IEEE Security and Privacy 2026, 2025, ACM Web Conference 2023, ACM WiSec 2023, ACM Web Conference 2022, ACM WiSec 2025, 2022, ACM CCSW 2025, 2021, ACM WPES 2021, PoPETS 2021, ACM Web Conference 2021, ACM WiSec 2020, PoPETS 2020, ACM CCSW 2019, ACM Web Conference 2019, PoPETS 2019, ACM AsiaCCS 2018, IEEE ICNC 2018, CANS 2017, IEEE LCN 2017, ACM AsiaCCS 2017, IEEE ICNC 2017, IoTPTS 2017, IEEE LCN 2016, HotPOST 2016, IoTPTS 2016, WESS 2015, IEEE CloudCom 2015, NSS 2015, IEEE LCN 2015, ISC 2014, WESS 2014, ICCVE 2014, IEEE LCN 2014 (Publicity Chair), INSCRYPT 2013, CANS 2013, ICICS 2013, IEEE ICDCS 2013, IEEE CCNC 2013, WESS 2013, Inscrypt 2012, IEEE ICPADS 2012, IEEE SICK, ISOC NDSS 2012, CCSocialComp 2011, ACM STC 2011, IEEE ICME 2011, ACM CCSW 2010, ACM STC 2010, ACM SAC 2010, FC 2010, CoSec 2009, ACM STC 2009, ACM CCSW 2009, IEEE NPSec 2009, IEEE NPSec 2008, FC 2008 (Poster Chair), MODUS 2008, IEEE NPSec 2007, Inscrypt 2007
    .