Assistant Professor (Lecturer)

Monash University

I am an Assistant Professor (Lecturer) in the Department of Software Systems and Cybersecurity (SSC) at Monash University, where I lead a research lab working on security and privacy. I did my PhD at Indiana University, where I was advised by XiaoFeng Wang and Feng Qian. Please refer to my CV for more information.

My research aims to enhance security and privacy of online communication and computation. Example research topics include security of decentralized network infrastructures, network proxies and anonymous communication, security of AI agents, and privacy-preserving prevention of harmful online content.

PhD positions are available with full RA/TA support. I am also happy to work with passionate master/undergraduate students, drop me a message if you are interested.

Interests
  • Trustworthy AI & Agent
  • Network Security
  • Security Measurement
  • Applied Cryptography
Education

  • PhD in Computer Science, 2015 - 2020

    Indiana University Bloomington

  • B.E. in Software Engineering, 2009 - 2013

    Beijing Institute of Technology

Publications

Summary: My research has led to datasets and tools released to the public, along with publications in well-recognized security venues, e.g., IEEE Security & Privacy, USENIX Security, CCS, NDSS, IMC, CoNEXT, DSN, ACSAC, AsiaCCS, etc. Most publications can be grouped by the following research topics:

The security risks of residential proxies and reverse proxies: [SP'19-a] [NDSS'21] [CCS'22-a] [arXiv'24-a] [EuroSP'25].

The security of AI agents (e.g., voice assistants): [IMC'17] [SP'19-b] [AsiaCCS'24]

The security of decentralized network infrastructures: [IWQoS'23] [DSN'24] [ACSAC'24]

Privacy-preserving prevention of harmful content (e.g., spam and malware): [CCS'22-b] [arXiv'24-e] [arXiv'24-f].

Detecting and understanding online abuse and cybercrime: [SP'17] [NDSS'18] [NDSS'19] [Security'19] [arXiv'24-c] [WWW'25]

The full list of publications

[EuroSP'25] Port Forwarding Services Are Forwarding Security Risks
Haoyuan Wang, Yue Xue, Xuan Feng, Chao Zhou, Xianghang Mi
In EuroSP 2025.
Code Project Arxiv
[WWW'25] Detecting and Understanding the Promotion of Illicit Goods and Services on Twitter
Hongyu Wang, Ying Li, Ronghong Huang, Xianghang Mi
In the 2025 ACM Web Conference.
Code Dataset Project Arxiv
[ACSAC'24] Dissecting Open Edge Computing Platforms: Ecosystem, Usage, and Security Risks
Yu Bi, Mingshuo Yang, Yong Fang, Xianghang Mi, Shanqing Guo, Shujun Tang, Haixin Duan
In The Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC) 2024.
Code Dataset Arxiv
[AsiaCCS'24] Command Hijacking on Voice-Controlled IoT in Amazon Alexa Platform
Wenbo Ding, Song Liao, Long Cheng, Xianghang Mi, Ziming Zhao, Hongxin Hu
In the Proceedings of the 19th ACM Asia Conference on Computer and Communications Security.
PDF
[DSN'24] Stealthy Peers: Understanding Security and Privacy Risks of Peer-Assisted Video Streaming
Siyuan Tang, Eihal Alowaisheq, Xianghang Mi, Yi Chen, XiaoFeng Wang, Yanzhi Dou
In 54th Annual IEEE/IFIP International Conference on Dependable Systems and Networks (DSN).
Code Dataset Arxiv
[arXiv'24-a] Shining Light into the Tunnel: Understanding and Classifying Network Traffic of Residential Proxies
Ronghong Huang, Dongfang Zhao, Xianghang Mi, XiaoFeng Wang
In arXiv Preprint 2024.
Code Dataset Project Arxiv
See all publications

Awards & Honors

Nov 15, 2019
Best Paper Award of CSAW'19 Applied Research Competition

Refer to the conference website for the finalists and winners. Learn more details from my poster, blog article, talk video, and also the paper.

Mar 1, 2019
NDSS Distinguished Paper Award 2019

Congrats to my co-authors! See here for the paper detail.

Graduated Students

  • Ronghong Huang, MPhil 2025 → Software Engineer at Tencent

  • Yue Xue, MPhil 2025 → Software Engineer at ADBC (Agricultural Development Bank of China)

  • Yong Fang, MPhil 2025 → Software Engineer at CSNWD Group

  • Yu Bi, MPhil 2024 → Security Engineer at Meituan

  • Mingshuo Yang, MPhil 2024 → Software Engineer at Huawei

  • Mingkai Li, BS 2023 → PhD at Columbia University

  • Ying Li, MPhil 2023 → PhD at UCLA

  • Hanliang Jiang, BS 2023 → Master at UIUC

  • Wenxin Rong, BS 2022 → PhD at University of Delaware

Experience

 
 
 
 
 
Assistant Professor (Lecturer)
Monash University
Dec 2025 – Present Clayton, Australia
 
 
 
 
 
Pre-Tenure Full Professor
USTC (University of Science and Technology of China)
Sep 2021 – Dec 2025 Hefei, China
 
 
 
 
 
Tenure-Track Assistant Professor
University at Buffalo
Jan 2021 – Aug 2021 New York, United States
 
 
 
 
 
Research Scientist
Facebook Inc.
Jun 2019 – Jan 2021 California, United States
Working on fuzzing and abuse detection
 
 
 
 
 
PhD in Computer Science
Indiana University
Aug 2015 – May 2019 Indiana, United States
Research in Security and Networking
 
 
 
 
 
Senior Software Engineer
Baidu Inc.
May 2014 – Jun 2015 Beijing, China
Web backend development
 
 
 
 
 
B.E in Software Engineering
Beijing Institute of Technologies
Sep 2009 – Jun 2013 Beijing, China
Undergraduate study in Software Engineering