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Sharad Agarwal

@shad1126.bsky.social

230 followers 250 following 22 posts

Cybercrime Researcher | PhD Candidate @uclcs @ucl | Product Analyst @StopScamsUK | Created http://csphdfellowships.org | Prev @BristolCyberSec @CMSExperiment @CERN @CERNopenlab 🌐 sharad1126.github.io

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Sharad Agarwal @shad1126.bsky.social · Nov 22

I’m a PhD candidate researching online financial fraud with a focus on #smishing at University College London (UCL). I also build products to save the UK economy from #scams at StopScamsUK!

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Sharad Agarwal @shad1126.bsky.social · Aug 7

The paper📝 is available here: www.usenix.org/conference/u... and @thetimes.com article citing our results is available here: www.thetimes.com/business-mon...

‘Hi Mum and Dad’ … inside the emotive text scam

Fraudsters are posing as vulnerable children to trick parents out of thousands of pounds — but the police and phone companies are playing catch-up

www.thetimes.com

Sharad Agarwal @shad1126.bsky.social · Aug 7

Looking forward to presenting our paper on “Hi mum and dad” SMS scams next week #USENIXSecurity in Seattle! If you are attending #USENIX25, come to the Fraud, Malware and Spam track on 14th Aug! @sec.cs.ucl.ac.uk @ucl.ac.uk @imdeainstitutes.bsky.social #StopScamsUK #onlinefraud #scams #cybercrime

Sharad Agarwal @shad1126.bsky.social · Jul 11

#Honeynet2025 talks are now live on YouTube including my talk on #smishing #honeypot! In case you missed the event or want to checkout the talks: m.youtube.com/watch?t=1630... @sec.cs.ucl.ac.uk @ucl.ac.uk @stratosphereips.bsky.social

Honeynet Project Workshop 2025 in Prague

YouTube video by The Honeynet Project

m.youtube.com

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Sharad Agarwal @shad1126.bsky.social · Jul 1

Looking forward to presenting my PhD research on #smishing and #smsscams on July 4th, 2025 in Vienna at TU Wien! Thanks to Dr Daniel Arp for the invite. @sec.cs.ucl.ac.uk @ucl.ac.uk #StopScamsUK #scams #onlinefraud

Click, Reply, Lose: Understanding How Scammers Lure Users into Smishing Attacks

Sharad Agarwal @shad1126.bsky.social · Jun 17

📣I will be presenting our paper on analyzing newly registered phishing domains that criminals abuse to conduct #smishing 📱in Tokyo next week at #WEIS2025!
Full paper: sharad1126.github.io/files/WEIS25_A…
Conference: http://kmlabcw.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp/weis/2025/
@sec.cs.ucl.ac.uk @ucl.ac.uk

Sharad Agarwal @shad1126.bsky.social · Jun 3

📣📱💳 Our paper titled "Card-Not-Present Fraud resulting from Smishing Attacks: An Experimental Study" was accepted at NSPW 2025! Looking forward to a great discussion. #CNPfraud #smscams #scams #smishing #onlinefraud #StopScamsUK #NSPW25 @sec.cs.ucl.ac.uk @ucl.ac.uk

Sharad Agarwal @shad1126.bsky.social · Jun 3

It was a pleasure to present our #smishing honeypot for the first time at #Honeynet2025! Thanks to the @stratosphereips.bsky.social team for organising a great event! @sec.cs.ucl.ac.uk @ucl.ac.uk

Stratosphere Laboratory @stratosphereips.bsky.social · Jun 2

Next at #Honeynet2025, Sharad Agarwal presents:
📲 “Staying Up-to-Date with SMS Scams: Building a Smishing Honeypot”

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Reposted by Sharad Agarwal

Stratosphere Laboratory @stratosphereips.bsky.social · May 14

🚨 The wait is over — the full program of briefings for the Honeynet Project Workshop 2025 in Prague is now live! 🎉

📍 NTK, Prague
🗓 June 2–4, 2025
👉 Register today: prague2025.honeynet.org/program/

#honeynet2025 #cybersecurity #infosec #deception #cyberdeception #TI #TTPs #Malware

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Sharad Agarwal @shad1126.bsky.social · May 2

Looking forward to showcasing our #smishing honeypot and presenting some very interesting results as case studies at The Honeynet Project’s Annual Workshop 2025 in Prague!
@sec.cs.ucl.ac.uk @ucl.ac.uk @stratosphereips.bsky.social #smsscams #onlinefraud #honeypots

Stratosphere Laboratory @stratosphereips.bsky.social · May 1

📱 Can honeypots keep pace with next-gen smishing?

We’re excited to welcome Sharad Agarwal to #Honeynet2025 in Prague to present Staying Up-to-Date with SMS Scams — showcasing a honeypot catching real-world scams across SMS, RCS, and iMessage.

📅 June 2–4, 2025
🔗 prague2025.honeynet.org

Sharad Agarwal @shad1126.bsky.social · Apr 29

Interested in honeypots? Or SMS Phishing? I’ll be presenting our #smishing honeypot📱at The Honeynet Project Annual Workshop 2025 in Prague on 2nd June!
🔗 prague2025.honeynet.org/program
@sec.cs.ucl.ac.uk @ucl.ac.uk #scams #honeypots

Reposted by Sharad Agarwal

Nick Stapleton @nickstapleton.tv · Apr 16

Three #scam calls hitting #UK today:

1) "Solar rebates program" #phishing call, trying to get you to share info about property/personal circumstances, by claiming they can get you discounted solar panels. Probably going to pass on to other scammers or use themselves in future.

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Sharad Agarwal @shad1126.bsky.social · Apr 5

🔔🚨The results from our work on categorization of #SMSscams published at #IMC2024 and the upcoming paper on “Hi Mum and Dad” SMS scams at #USENIXSecurity are published in today’s article @thetimes.com by @yennahsmart.bsky.social www.thetimes.com/business-mon... #StopScamsUK #scams @sec.cs.ucl.ac.uk

‘Hi Mum and Dad’ … inside the emotive text scam

Fraudsters are posing as vulnerable children to trick parents out of thousands of pounds — but the police and phone companies are playing catch-up

www.thetimes.com

Sharad Agarwal @shad1126.bsky.social · Apr 1

Live data sharing is crucial in the fight against scams. Check out how we and our members are committed on sharing intelligence data to stop scams at source! #StopScamsUK @financialtimes.com
www.ft.com/content/12bb...

Banks and tech groups commit to live data-sharing in UK fraud clampdown

Industry-led initiative promises to beat existing scam-monitoring systems

www.ft.com

Sharad Agarwal @shad1126.bsky.social · Mar 20

Criminals have been abusing newly registered domains towards SMS phishing #smishing. Our research empirically investigates the abuse of over 15k newly registered phishing domains using @spamhaustech.bsky.social @spamhaus.bsky.social passive DNS. @sec.cs.ucl.ac.uk www.spamhaus.com/resource-cen...

Supporting researchers: How Passive DNS enabled a study into abuse of newly registered domains for phishing - Spamhaus Technology

UCL researchers use Spamhaus' Passive DNS to investigate domains abuse - read on to learn more.

www.spamhaus.com

Sharad Agarwal @shad1126.bsky.social · Feb 25

It’s always exciting to see your research making an impact and being referred by industry stakeholders. Our “Hi Mum and Dad” SMS scam paper set to appear @ #USENIXSecurity, has been referred by @phonely.bsky.social in their latest blog article on #himum #scams! www.phonely.co.uk/blogs/guides...

The Startling Mum and Dad Scam: Parental Emotions Targeted

Discover the Mum & Dad scam targeting UK parents & grandparents & spot the warning signs.

www.phonely.co.uk

Sharad Agarwal @shad1126.bsky.social · Jan 14

Based on our research, we submitted a response to @ofcom.bsky.social’s consultation on reducing messaging scams which is now available at www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-b... @sec.cs.ucl.ac.uk @ucl.ac.uk

Call for input: Reducing mobile messaging scams

This Call for input covers Short Message Service (SMS) and Rich Communications Services (RCS). Both require a user’s mobile telephone number in order to deliver a message over the mobile network and t...

www.ofcom.org.uk

Sharad Agarwal @shad1126.bsky.social · Dec 31

Wishing you all a very #happynewyear2025

Sharad Agarwal @shad1126.bsky.social · Dec 25

Merry Christmas 🎄

Sharad Agarwal @shad1126.bsky.social · Nov 26

Managed to listen to Tom Bloomfield at Imperial today and got to know his story from Oxford to building @monzobank.bsky.social and going to @ycombinator.com.web.brid.gy! Take risks and build what you’d use.

Sharad Agarwal @shad1126.bsky.social · Nov 26

Congratulations 🎉

Reposted by Sharad Agarwal

Catalin Cimpanu @campuscodi.risky.biz · Nov 25

"The McAfee mobile research team recently identified a significant global increase of SpyLoan, also known as predatory loan apps, on Android"

www.mcafee.com/blogs/other-...

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Sharad Agarwal @shad1126.bsky.social · Nov 25

Last weekend, #StopScamsUK was featured on the #BTTower supporting the #ScamSafe week along with the #BBCNews! Not everyday your organisation gets on the BT Tower. Stay Scam Safe!

Sharad Agarwal @shad1126.bsky.social · Nov 22

Appreciate it. Thanks!

Sharad Agarwal @shad1126.bsky.social · Nov 22

Thanks for creating this. Would love to be added to the list!

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Sharad Agarwal @shad1126.bsky.social · Nov 22

I’m a PhD candidate researching online financial fraud with a focus on #smishing at University College London (UCL). I also build products to save the UK economy from #scams at StopScamsUK!

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