Empirical Insights into the Operational Dynamics of DNS-Reliant Security Protocols: A Longitudinal and Qualitative Study of Email and DNS Security

Ishtiaq is a Ph.D. candidate in Computer Science at Virginia Tech, expected to graduate in December 2025. His doctoral research lies at the intersection of Internet Measurement and Security with a strong focus on email and DNS security. During his Ph.D., Ishtiaq has uncovered widespread misconfigurations in the email and DNS ecosystems, as well as several denial-of-service (DoS) vulnerabilities in the email sender authentication infrastructure. He has also developed an automated DNSSEC error remediation pipeline to assist DNS operators in resolving various DNSSEC issues. His work has resulted in multiple publications at top measurement and security venues, including USENIX Security, IMC, and PAM. In addition to his academic pursuits, Ishtiaq completed a couple of summer internships during his Ph.D. on the Browser Core Infrastructure Team at Meta, where he contributed to Meta's In-App Browser