Ajay Kumara

Ajay Kumara

Assistant Professor of Cybersecurity and Computer Science

Department of Computer Science

University of North Carolina Wilmington

Biography

Dr. Ajay Kumara M. Annaiah is a tenure-track Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Previously, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Penn State, the University of Arizona, and Florida International University.

His research expertise lies at the intersection of cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. His work spans malware and binary code analysis, vulnerability detection, reverse engineering, obfuscation, virtual machine introspection, and memory forensics, with a strong emphasis on AI- and large language model (LLM)–driven approaches to address advanced cybersecurity problems.

At the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW), he leads the Cyber, Systems, and Software Security Research Lab (CS² Lab), where he works with a team of student researchers to tackle advanced cyber, systems, and software security challenges through intelligent reasoning and automation.

Interests
  • Cybersecurity & Privacy
  • Malware Analysis
  • Binary Code Analysis
  • Software Reverse Enginnering
  • Virtual Machine Introspection
  • Memory Forensics Analysis
  • Machine Learning & AI for Cybersecurity
  • Vulnerabality Analysis & Fuzzing
  • LLM for Security
Education

  • PhD, Computer Science & Cybersecurity, 2013-2018

    National Institute of Technology, Karnataka, India

  • B.E. and M.Tech in Computer Science, 2012.

    Visvesvaraya Technological University, Karnataka, India

Experience

 
 
 
 
 
Assistant Professor of Cybersecurity & Computer Science
University of North Carolina Wilmington
August 2024 – Present Wilmington, NC
Research in Cybersecurity & Privacy, Malware Analysis, Reverse engineering, Virtual machine introspection, Cloud security, Memory forensics, Binary code analysis, System & Software security, Machine learning, Deep Learning, and LLM.
 
 
 
 
 
Visiting Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Lenoir-Rhyne University
August 2021 – August 2024 Hickory, NC
Teaching in Cybersecurity and Computer Science Courses and Research in Cybersecurity and AI.
 
 
 
 
 
Postdoctoral Research Associate-I
University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
February 2021 – July 2021 Tucson, AZ
Research on static reverse engineering and obfuscation techniques. Building and configuring virtual machines for reverse and anti-reverse engineering tasks
 
 
 
 
 
Postdoctoral Researcher
Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
November 2019 – January 2021 State College, PA
Research on static binary code analysis techniques, binary disassembling, decompiler, reassembling, debugging, instrumentation, binary lifting, and LLVM-IR.
 
 
 
 
 
Postdoctoral Researcher
Applied Research Center, Florida International University, FL
December 2018 – November 2019 Miami, FL
Analyzed malware behavior using sandboxes on XEN and KVM Hypervisors in VM environments. Researched and tested the integration of new modules into the introspection system project at QEMU-KVM-hypervisor.
 
 
 
 
 
Tenure Track Assistant Professor
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (Amrita University), Bengaluru, India
October 2017 – November 2018 Bengaluru, India
Research on Deep Learning for Malware Analysis. Teaching Undergraduates in Computer Security and Computer Science Courses.

Publications

Filter publications here.

Ajay Kumara M.A , Jaidhar C.D (2018). Automated Multi-level Malware Detection System based on the Reconstructed Semantic View of Executable using Machine Learning Techniques at VMM. The International Journal of Future Generation Computer Systems, Elsevier, Volume 79, Part 1, Pages 431-44, February 2018.

Cite PDF

Ajay Kumara M.A , Jaidhar C.D, (2017). Leveraging Virtual Machine Introspection with Memory Forensics to Detect and Characterize Unknown Malware using Machine Learning Techniques at Hypervisor. The International Journal of Digital Investigation, Elsevier, Volume 23, Pages 99-123, December 2017.

Cite PDF

Abhishek Kumar, Jaidhar C.D, and Ajay Kumara M.A (2019). Experimental Analysis of Android Malware Detection based on Combinations of Permissions and API-calls. Journal of Computer Virology and Hacking Techniques, Springer publisher, Volume 15, Issue 55, pages 1-10, May 2019.

Cite PDF

Rathinaraja Jeyaraj, Anandkumar Balasubramaniam,, Ajay Kumara M.A , Nadra Guizani, and Anand Paul, Sebastian Pokutta (2023). Resource Management in Cloud and Cloud-Influenced Technologies for IoT Applications. ACM Computing Surveys, Mar 2023.

Cite PDF

Prasanna Kumar Gurumallu, Rajeshwari Dembala, Darshini Yoge Gowda, Ajay Kumara Makanahalli Annaiah , Manoj Kumar Muttyal, Vasanth Kumar, and Hardik Gohel (2024). Exploring Deep Learning Approaches for Ransomware Detection: A Comprehensive Survey. Recent Advances in Computer Science and Communications, Volume 18, Issue 2, May 2024.

Cite DOI

Prashanth B S, Manoj Kumar M V, Puneetha B H, Ajay Kumara M A, (2025). A Data-Driven Framework for Detecting and Mitigating Concept Drift in Adaptive Artificial Neural Networks. Procedia Computer Science, Elsevier journal, 2025 (Accepted)

Cite DOI

Puneetha B H , Manoj Kumar M V , Prashanth B S, and Ajay Kumara M A, (2025). Enhancing Fairness and Performance: Scalable Hybrid Solutions for Class Imbalance in Big Data Analytics. Procedia Computer Science, Elsevier journal, 2025 (Accepted).

Cite PDF

See all publications

Teaching

See all courses here.

Current teaching

- See all courses

Research

See all research work here.

My primary research interests are in the fields of cybersecurity & privacy, Malware analysis, Reverse engineering, Virtual machine introspection, Security, Cloud security, Memory forensics, Binary code analysis, System & Software security, Machine learning, Deep Learning, Large Language Model, and Generative AI.

To learn more about my research interests, project, and openings, see here.

Blogs

See all blog posts .

The blogs are undergoing major updates, and writing is in progress.
Come back and check here.

Contact

Email is the preferred and most reliable way to contact me.