Journey of an Engineer

Abhinav Kharbanda

Alumni (2012-2016 batch), 

Dept of CSE&IT

The NorthCap University, Gurgaon

In the world, where the proliferation of data and information drives technologies, securing such data becomes pertinent and of utmost importance. With the fact that a single data leak can lead to compromise of millions of accounts, it would not be an over statement to say that protection of confidential information is a billion dollar industry. India is on a path to realize the potential of secure applications and I believe numerous opportunities will be created in this domain in near future. I’ll be pursuing my Master’s in the domain of cyber security to harness these opportunities when the time comes and wish to sway the general opinion of security not being an overload but a cardinal pillar of software development life cycles. 

I got the opportunity to be selected into New York University and Northeastern University for the Master's program in Computer Science. With an aim to specialize in the domain of Information Assurance and Cyber Security, I chose Northeastern because it is in pursuit of an excellent research that allows automatic Bot detection and Reverse Engineering of Commodity software. It also has professors revered amongst the top 5 security researchers in the United States and has been certified by NSA as the National Center of Excellence in Information Assurance Research. 

I believe that it is your zeal and will to pursue your goals, which takes you forward when everything else is working against you. It is your perseverance that remains when all the glory subsides. That is what I believe is passion and this is what I would advise my juniors to strive for. A by-product of the wish to challenge my own intellect led me to develop a home automation system that allows me to send voice commands via Google Now, to a RaspberryPi module that controls the electronic appliances in my room. I am extending this project further to automate and secure door locks, to provide better home security solutions. In my second year, I got the opportunity to develop Digital Signage Board for the CSE Department. It was a long haul of learning Python, on-the-go, that ultimately led to the successful completion of the project which is now installed in the University campus, and is also being forwarded for a patent by the CSE Department. 

Throughout my courses of under-graduation, I have had the support of my teachers, and my HOD, Dr. Latika Singh, and even though it was sometimes disguised as strong demurral, it ultimately led me towards being better. I wish to thank Dr. Meena Kumari with all my heart, for her constant support. She believed in me and my final year project when everyone else had lost hope including me. She encouraged me to keep trying and that tenacity lead to the design of a successful malware for peripheral devices communicating via DMA. 

I'll be heading for my Master's this fall to USA and would wish to congratulate everyone who has the privilege of being a part of The NorthCap University, one of the best universities in Delhi-NCR. It is an honour to be under the guidance of such learned faculty that continuously strives to push your limits and in a true sense gives your dreams a flight.