About Harsh Raj
Independent security researcher and Computer Science student focused on Cyber Threat Intelligence, vulnerability research, and systems engineering.
01.The entry into systems and cybersecurity
My foundation in technology began through a fascination with operating system internals, network protocols, and packet-level data exchanges. Rather than treating computers as black boxes that run high-level applications, I wanted to understand how data flows across physical interfaces, how memory models behave, and why protocols fail under adversarial manipulation.
Studying computer networking and systems programming made one principle evident: security is not a feature added at the end of the software lifecycle, it is the structural integrity of the entire machine under unexpected stress.
02.Vulnerability research & practical disclosures
As I progressed through academic coursework, I realized that simulated security labs often fail to mirror the nuanced reality of real-world threats. Real systems break at the seams where business logic, authentication states, and distributed APIs intersect.
I began independent vulnerability research across web and mobile platforms. Through rigorous manual testing and traffic interception using Burp Suite, I identified and responsibly disclosed high-impact flaws: from chained account takeovers (ATO) and OTP bypasses on Bewakoof, to transaction routing abuse on RedBus, and external security issues across Clovia, Marks & Spencer (London), and Cadbury.
03.Security intelligence and defensive architecture
Most organizations only discover exposures after alerts trigger from internal detection systems. Adversaries, however, spend weeks staging lookalike portals, configuring DNS records, and analyzing external assets.
My research focuses on identifying these weak reconnaissance signals—Certificate Transparency logs, passive DNS churn, and TLS heuristics—to turn fragmented telemetry into structured, defensive insight before adversaries weaponize an exposure.
04.Connecting CTI, systems engineering, and academic rigor
I view my academic foundation, threat research, and systems engineering not as separate pursuits, but as mutually reinforcing pillars:
Grounds my thinking in algorithmic complexity, database constraints, network protocols, and cryptographic guarantees (JECRC University · B.Tech in CSE).
Investigates real threat actor campaigns (APT42), tracks underground Telegram channels, analyzes RAT tools, and monitors card fraud syndicates.
Synthesizes theory and vulnerability observations into reliable, defensive software tools with strict validation and verified certifications (CompTIA Security+).
05.Current technical focus and direction
- Adversary Infrastructure Tracking: Using passive DNS heuristics, TLS certificate transparency stream parsing, and JARM fingerprint clustering to discover staging servers.
- API & Web Application Security: In-depth manual penetration testing, OWASP Top 10 evaluation, broken object level authorization (BOLA/IDOR), and authentication bypass auditing.
- Safe Dark Web Reconnaissance: Engineering isolated retrieval workflows on Tor hidden services with strict CSP enforcement to mitigate untrusted client execution hazards.
- Explainable Machine Learning: Applying Grad-CAM and interpretability methods to convolutional neural networks (ResNet18) to verify what features drive visual classification decisions.
I respond promptly to verifiable professional communications at secwithharsh@gmail.com.