Ranjan Pal Provost Fellow   Department of Computer Science Viterbi School of Engineering University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA Email: rpal@usc.edu   Visiting Research Collaborator at Princeton University

About Myself

I am an Indian third year Ph.D candidate in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Southern California’s (USC) Viterbi School of Engineering, as well as a visiting student research collaborator (VSRC) in the Electrical Engineering department at Princeton University. My major research interest lies in the area of economics of distributed network security. I also have a minor research interest in the economics of societal networks. I am presently working with Professor Leana Golubchik and Professor Konstantinos Psounis for my Ph.D. At Princeton, I am working with Professor Mung Chiang in the Princeton EDGE Laboratory. I am a recipient of the prestigious Provost Fellowship at USC. Prior to joining USC, I completed my M.S in Computer Networks from the Department of Computer Science at University of California, Davis, in 2007. I have also obtained the S.M degree (the MIT masters degree) in Computer Science (specialization in Computational Biology) from National University of Singapore and Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the Singapore-MIT Alliance program, in 2005. I did my B.E in Computer Science from Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi, India in 2002. Prior to joining my undergraduate studies, I completed my high school from Don Bosco, Park Circus, Calcutta, India, in 1998. In the past, as an undergraduate and a graduate student, I have held research positions at Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, India, Center for TeleInfrastruktur, Aalborg, Denmark, and Deutsch Telekom Laboratories (T-Labs), Berlin, Germany. I am a member of Pi Mu Epsilon (the National Mathematics Honor Society of USA). My Erdos number is 4. I have been recently inducted into Marquis Who's Who of America, 2011, as one of the most influential people in Science and Engineering. Apart from my academic employments, I have also worked as a software engineer (2002-2004) in Cadence Design Systems, Noida, India.

My Research Philosophy

I am mainly interested in mathematical modeling and analysis of networked and distributed systems. I feel that a good theoretical study on a problem is the purest form of engineering research and the most practical thing to do. My primary current research interest lies in the economics of distributed network security (focus on the role of cyber-insurance in Internet security) with a minor interest in the economics of societal networks (i.e., health networks, power grids, cloud computing, monetized file sharing systems, social community networks, mobile social networks). As a Ph.D student, I am keen to solve problems that are challenging, interesting, and have good practical and industry significance. My current research is purely theoretical and lies at the boundary of information security, microeconomics, game theory, and systems optimization.

In the past (prior to joining the PhD program at USC), I have researched on several problems in different areas of computer networks with the aim to develop my versatility, research learning, and experience for a future research career. The areas include wireless ad-hoc networks, wireless sensor networks, wireless mesh networks, WiMAX, bio-medical networks, and cognitive radio/dynamic spectrum access networks. I also have an interest in the area of applied operations research and did work on some interesting problems during my undergraduate studies. My research strengths are creativity, self-motivation, determination, hard work, ability to recognize and frame important research problems, versatility, and a good independent problem solving ability. As a PhD student at USC, I look forward to mingling with the best technical brains at USC and elsewhere, and tackling challenging fundamental research problems in my current research interests.

Academic Materials

Full Resume

Publication list (UG, M.S, Ph.D)

Academic and Industrial Experience

Awards and Honors

Selected Graduate Coursework

Design and Analysis of Algorithms

Mathematical Analysis

Probability Theory and Stochastic Processes

Mathematical Optimization (primarily convex optimization, slight emphasis on vector space optimization)

Network Economics and Network Game Theory

Computer Networks (The Internet, wireless networks, and distributed systems)

Ph.D Thesis Statement Summary

The trustworthiness of Internet-based systems heavily depends on their security characteristics. Despite the large body of products designed to increase security, e.g.,anti-virus software, anti-spam software, and firewalls, such self-protection tools can at best reduce the risk of end-users but cannot eliminate it. To this end, in this thesis I propose to address such risk through cyber-insurance - simply put, I consider solutions where risk is transferred to another entity (i.e., insurance company) in return for a fee (i.e.,the insurance premium). Cyber-insurance is a promising, potentially multi-billion dollar industry that can help secure the cyber-space, with profound benefits to both, individuals and corporations.

I am not the first to argue in favor of cyber-insurance. Economists have attempted to extend conventional insurance models into the cyber-insurance context, and, quite recently, a few researchers from the broader networking and performance analysis communities have attempted to shed some light on the issues associated with cyber-insurance. However, despite this body of work, cyber-insurance has not yet become a reality due to a number of unresolved research challenges as well as practical considerations. A number of these challenges are rooted in some fundamental differences between cyber-insurance and other forms of insurance. Most notably, the networked environment over which cyber-insurance operates implies that the usual assumptions of independent security and non-correlated risk among end-users cannot be made. Moreover, information asymmetries between insured and insurers are particularly pronounced, making the modelling of such entities quite complex. My goal in this thesis is to focus on those aspects of the problem that are particular to cyber-insurance (in contrast to other forms of insurance), with the end goal of moving towards the realization of cyber-insurance.

Tools used in thesis: Economics, Game Theory, Probability Theory and Stochastic Processes, Mathematical Optimization, Graph Theory

Ph.D Research Progress (Main Thesis)

For my Ph.D thesis I am proposing various models related to cyber-insurance - a potential risk management technique for Internet/distributed systems security. As part of my PhD, I did an extensive study of existing research in this field, and my papers reflect solutions to important unsolved problems in cyber-insurance research.

• Paper entitled Modeling Investments in Internet Security: Tackling Topological Information Uncertainty accepted in IEEE/ACM GameSec, 2011, Maryland, USA. (one out of 16 papers accepted in the conference)
• Paper entitled Aegis: A Novel Cyberinsurance Model accepted in IEEE/ACM GameSec, 2010, Maryland, USA. (one out of 16 papers accepted in the conference)
• Received Travel Award from GameSec 2011 committee to attend IEEE/ACM GameSec 2011.
• Cleared Ph.D qualifying examination in the Computer Science Department (January 12th, 2011). Fastest ever at Viterbi School of Engineering (EE + CS departments).
• Paper entitled On Economic Perspectives of Internet Security: The Problem of Designing Optimal Cyber-Insurance Contracts accepted in ACM SIGMETRICS Workshop (MAMA 2010), Columbia University, New York, USA. A slightly modified version of this paper appeared in ACM SIGMETRICS Performance Evaluation Review, 2010.
• Received Travel Award from IEEE ICDCS 2010 committee to attend the conference.
• Paper entitled Analyzing Self-Defense Investments in Internet Security Under Cyber-Insurance Coverage accepted in IEEE ICDCS, 2010, Genoa, Italy. (Acceptance rate 14.3%)
• Invited by Nokia Siemens Networks in Portugal to deliver a special lecture on cyber-insurance in Internet security, December 2009.
• Invited by Technical University of Lisbon to deliver a special lecture on cyber-insurance in Internet security, December, 2009.
• Cleared the Ph.D screening exam (2009) in the department of computer science.

Progress on Research in Minor Area

My minor research area covers topics that I got associated with during course projects at USC, and my summer visits at Princeton University, Aalborg University, and Deutsch Telekom Research Laboratories. As a versatile researcher, I proposed simple solutions to a few small-scale problems in health networks, monetary file-sharing systems, social community networks, mobile social networks, and cloud computing.

• Paper entitled Economics Models for Cloud Service Markets: Pricing and Capacity Planning accepted for publication in Elsevier Theoretical Computer Science.
• Paper entitled Economic Models for Cloud Service Markets accepted in ICDCN 2012, Hong Kong.
• Invited to give a talk at INFORMS Annual Meeting, 2011 on Economics of Cloud Markets
• Paper entitled Settling For Less : A QoS Compromise Mechanism for Mobile Opportunistic Networks accepted in ACM SIGMETRICS Workshop (MAMA 2011), San Jose, USA. A slightly modified version of this paper appeared in ACM SIGMETRICS Performance Evaluation Review, 2011
• Gave a talk on real-time pricing in power grids at EPFL Lausanne, June 2011.
• Visited Deutsch Telekom Laboratories, Berlin, Germany to conduct research with Dr. Pan Hui on QoS aspects of mobile opportunistic networks, April-June, 2011.
• My paper on Sharing-Mart entitled Sharing-Mart: Online Auctions for Digital Content Trading and Content Incentivization, has been published in the proceedings of GameNets, 2011, Shanghai, China.
• My solo paper entitled On Wireless Social Community Network Routers: The Design and Cost Sharing Problem for Better Deployment , has been published in IEEE GLOBECOM 2010, Florida, USA (Outcome of course project in EE599 - Network Economics and Game Theory).
• Paper entitled Sharing Costs in Social Community Networks accepted for publication in IEEE ICNC Workshop on Computing Networking and Communications, 2012, Maui, Hawaii, USA.
• Attended ACM SIGMETRICS 2010 tutorials on Network Adiabatics and Large Deviation Theory (June 14, 2010).
• Visited the Electrical Engineering department at Princeton University to work with Professor Mung Chiang, his research group, and Professor Vincent Poor on problems related to monetized file-sharing systems (Sharing-Mart Project), June-July 2010.
• My paper entitled Playing Games with Human Health: A Game-Theoretic Approach to Optimizing Reliability in Wireless Health Networks, has been published in the proceedings of IEEE ISABEL 2010, Rome, Italy.

Teaching Activities

1. Analysis of Algorithms (Graduate Level): Teaching Assistant, Fall 2011, USC

2. Analysis of Algorithms (Graduate Level) : Teaching Assistant, Fall 2010, USC

3. Unix and C Programming (Undergraduate Level): Teaching Assistant, Spring 2006, UC Davis

Summer Research Appointments

1. Visiting Researcher - Deutsche Telekom Laboratories (T-Labs), Berlin, Germany, Summer 2011

2. Visiting Researcher - Electrical Engineering Department, Princeton University, USA, Summer 2010

3. Visiting Researcher - Center for TeleInfrastruktur (CTiF), Aalborg University, Denmark, Summer 2009

Invited Talks on Introductory Ideas

1. Real-Time Pricing in Power Grids: Ecole Polytechnique Federal De Lausanne (EPFL), June 2011

2. Trends in Future Internet Security Economics, Technical University of Lisbon, December 2009.

3. Trends in Future Internet Security Economics, Nokia-Siemens Networks, Portugal, December 2009.

Professional Memberships

Student Member, IEEE, Student Member, ACM

Professional Activities

I am an official reviewer for the IEEE Transactions on Communications (Networking Area)

Hobbies (Although I donot get time to pursue some of them :))

Sports: Cricket, Soccer, Swimming, Blackjack

Reading: Vedic Astrology, Philosophy, Sports Magazines (mainly cricket and soccer)

Travel: International travel ( 22 countries visited till date)

Entertainment: Listening to music of all genres, Bollywood movies and Bengali classics

Problem Solving: Solving riddles and math puzzles

My Research Collaborators

I consider myself fortunate to have had the opportunity to collaborate (thesis work and/or paper writing) with the following exceptional professors and researchers during my entire academic career.

• Leana Golubchik, Professor, University of Southern California, USA
• Konstantinos Psounis, Associate Professor, University of Southern California, USA
• Mung Chiang, Professor, Princeton University, USA
• Harold Vincent Poor, Professor and Dean (School of Engineering), Princeton University, USA
• Pan Hui, Research Scientist, Deutsch Telekom Laboratories, Berlin, Germany
• Vaneet Aggarwal, Research Scientist, AT&T Research, New Jersey
• Ramjee Prasad, Professor, University of Aalborg, Denmark
• David Hsu, Associate Professor, National University of Singapore, Singapore
• Tomas-Lozano Perez, Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
• Neeli Prasad, Associate Professor, University of Aalborg, Denmark
• Chen-Nee Chuah, Professor, University of California, Davis, USA
• Rajib Mall, Professor, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India
• Somprakash Bandyopadhyay, Professor, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, India
• Manabendra Nath Pal, Professor, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, India

Traveling

I love to travel. Life is boring without it!!!. I consider myself immensely lucky to have travelled to various parts of the world for both, academic as well as for holidaying purposes, at an young age. I generally make short yearly trips with friends, and really enjoy and relish the culture, food, nature, and monumental architecture in all the countries I visit. Listed below are the countries I have visited till date (airports not included :) ).

Asia: Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia

North America: USA

Europe: Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, France, Switzerland, Italy, Vatican City, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, England, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Spain, and Portugal

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