Hafizul Islam Chowdhuryy
Hafizul Islam Chowdhuryy
Computer Architecture · Hardware Security

Hafizul Islam Chowdhuryy

Post-doctoral Researcher at Computer Architecture and Systems Research (CASR) Lab

University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida, USA [email protected]

I am joining the ECE department at UNC Charlotte as a tenure-track Assistant Professor, starting Fall 2026.

Multiple PhD positions available, starting Spring 2027 / Fall 2027. If you are interested in computer architecture and hardware security, please reach out.

About

I am currently a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Computer Architecture and Systems Research (CASR) Lab at the University of Central Florida, where I earned my Ph.D. in Computer Engineering, advised by Dr. Fan Yao.

My research interests are in computer architecture and hardware security, with a focus on microarchitectural and side-channel security, the security of emerging memory and storage systems, secure hardware for machine learning, and trusted execution environments. My work has been published in top-tier computer architecture and systems security conferences and journals such as ISCA, MICRO, HPCA, IEEE S&P, USENIX Security, and IEEE TCAD; my IEEE S&P 2022 work was selected for the Top Picks in Hardware and Embedded Security.

Research Focus
  • Computer architecture and hardware security
  • Microarchitectural side channel attacks & defenses
  • Hardware/software infrastructure for secure and privacy-preserving AI/ML
  • Secure processor architectures & trusted execution
  • Security of emerging memory & storage
Selected Publications
MICRO'26
DireLeak: Cross-socket Cache Timing Channels Exploiting Memory Directory
Md Hafizul Islam Chowdhuryy, Kunbei Cai, Zhenkai Zhang, Hao Zheng, Fan Yao
IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Microarchitecture (MICRO), 2026
TCAD'26
BeKnight+: Mitigating Information Leakage in Speculatively-updated Branch Predictor
Md Hafizul Islam Chowdhuryy, Zhenkai Zhang, Fan Yao
IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems (TCAD), 2026
Paper
USENIX'25
Phantom: Privacy-Preserving Deep Neural Network Model Obfuscation in Heterogeneous TEE and GPU System
Juyang Bai, Md Hafizul Islam Chowdhuryy, Jingtao Li, Fan Yao, Chaitali Chakrabarti, Deliang Fan
USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security), 2025
Paper
MICRO '24
IvLeague: Side Channel-resistant Secure Architectures Using Isolated Domains of Dynamic Integrity Trees
Md Hafizul Islam Chowdhuryy, Fan Yao
IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Microarchitecture (MICRO), 2024
Paper Slides
ISCA'24
MetaLeak: Uncovering Side Channels in Secure Processor Architectures Exploiting Metadata
Md Hafizul Islam Chowdhuryy, Hao Zheng, Fan Yao
IEEE/ACM Annual International Symposium on Computer Architecture (ISCA), 2024
Paper Slides
SP'24
DeepVenom: Persistent DNN Backdoors Exploiting Transient Weight Perturbations in Memories
Kunbei Cai, Md Hafizul Islam Chowdhuryy, Zhenkai Zhang, Fan Yao
IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (SP), 2024
Paper Slides
All publications
Latest
  • paperDireLeak is accepted in MICRO ’26. (July 2026)
  • paperBeKnight+ is accepted in IEEE TCAD. (June 2026)
  • serviceServing as a Program Committee member for HPCA ’27. (2026)
  • serviceServing on the Artifact Evaluation Committee of ASPLOS ’26. (2025)
  • serviceServing as a Program Committee member for GLSVLSI ’25. (2025)
  • talkGave an invited talk at the University of Central Florida. (March 2025)
  • paperPhantom is accepted in USENIX Security ’25. (Jan. 2025)
  • talkPresented IvLeague at New England Hardware Security Day (NEHSD ’25). (Jan. 2025)
  • talkGave a talk at the MICRO 2024 PhD Forum. (Nov. 2024)
  • serviceServing on the Artifact Evaluation Committee of ASPLOS ’25. (2024)
  • awardDeepSteal is selected for Top Picks in Hardware and Embedded Security. (2024)
  • paperIvLeague is accepted in MICRO ’24. (July 2024)
  • otherSuccessfully defended my PhD dissertation. (July 2024)
  • paperMetaLeak is accepted in ISCA ’24. (March 2024)
  • paperPowSpectre is accepted in AsiaCCS ’24. (March 2024)
  • paperDeepVenom is accepted in IEEE S&P ’24. (March 2024)
  • serviceServed as Publicity Chair for IEEE ICCD 2023. (2023)
  • paperBeKnight is accepted in ICCAD ’23. (July 2023)
  • paperWork on PCM side channels is accepted in IEEE Micro. (Jan. 2023)
  • paperD-Shield is accepted in HPCA ’23. (Oct. 2022)
  • talkGave an invited talk at the University of Delaware. (2022)
  • paperDeepSteal is accepted in IEEE S&P ’22. (March 2022)
  • paperBranchSpectre is accepted in IEEE Transactions on Computers. (Oct. 2021)
  • serviceServed on the Artifact Evaluation Committee for IEEE IISWC 2021. (2021)
  • paperR-SAW is accepted in SEED ’21. (Sept. 2021)
  • paperNMT-Stroke is accepted in SEED ’21. (Sept. 2021)
  • paperLADDER is accepted in MICRO ’21. (July 2021)
  • paperBranchSpec is accepted in ICCD ’20. (Aug. 2020)