$ whoami
Hello and welcome!
My name is Simone Aonzo, but online I am also known as packm(a|4)d
.
I am an assistant professor at the Eurecom graduate school and research center, located in the Sophia Antipolis technology park on the French Riviera.
I work in the Software and System Security (S3) Group, and my research areas are
- Mobile (Android) system security
- Malware analysis (Android and Windows)
- Human studies in security processes
- Phishing
My publications are listed here.
I have contributed to the academic community by serving on the program committees of conferences such as USENIX Security and RAID, and as a reviewer for ACM TOPS.
As for teaching, I have two courses. A basic one, “Introduction to Cybersecurity”, and an advanced one, “Reverse Engineering Malware”. In the spirit of open source, all my course material is publicly available here.
Beyond academia, I co-founded ThreatNemesis, a cybersecurity startup specializing in Android sandboxing technology - based on years of extensive research.
Personal life
I’m Italian, and I was born in 1988 in Savona.
I studied, lived, and worked for many years in Genova. I have mixed feelings about this city, but it is undoubtedly one of the most charming cities I’ve ever seen [video]. At the moment, I live in Antibes, France. So I always woke up with the smell of the sea, I just can’t get rid of it!
I’m a father of twins, Francesco and Alessandro, born in 2010. I have discovered a new world through their eyes. In my opinion, having children is the most difficult, but also, without a doubt, the most rewarding experience.
I was a pro kickboxing K-1 fighter until 2015. I won two belts: amateur European Champion and professional Italian Champion [video]. I am still training, I have no intention to stop, but only to eat Italian food without getting fat! 🙂
I have a lot of hobbies, depending on the season (and sometimes I sleep):
- “Mental riddles”, like Capture the Flag and board games
- Sports: boxing, running, swimming, skiing, kayaking
- Motorbike trips (I own a Ducati Monster 695)
- Watching movies
- Reading books
- Chess (awful player)