Welcome!

About Me

Hey there! My name is Luis; I am a data scientist and a cyber security researcher. Currently, I work at Alethea as a data scientist, focusing on developing tools that help explore, analyze, and combat online disinformation. Previously, I completed my Ph.D. at the University of Florida's Computer & Information Sciences & Engineering (CISE) Department. I worked at the Florida Institute for CyberSecurity (FICS) lab where I was advised by Dr. Patrick Traynor.

My current research interests include cyber security measurement studies, spread of disinformation, natural language processing, and graph-based approaches to security problems.

News

  • January 2022 - Our work on identifying deepfake audio has been accepted and will soon appear at USENIX Security 2022.
  • September 2021 - I have accepted an offer to work at Alethea Group as a data scientist where I will focus on creating tools & models that help combat disinformation.
  • August 2021 - Well... it has been a long ride but I can finally be called a Doctor! I successfully defended my dissertation!
  • January 2021 - I am officially a Ph.D. Candidate! I plan to finish my doctorates degree by the ending of Summer 2021.
  • October 2020 - Our work on detecting disinformation-like coordinated activity has been accepted at the Cloud Computing Security Workshop (CCSW'20).
  • April 2020 - I am happy to say that I will again spend my summer working with FireEye working on creating tools to better analyze disinformation campaigns.

Publications

Logan Blue, Kevin Warren, Hadi Abdullah, Cassidy Gibson, Luis Vargas , Jessica O’Dell, Kevin Butler, and Patrick Traynor. Who Are You (I Really Wanna Know)? Detecting Audio DeepFakes Through Vocal Tract Reconstruction. In 31st USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security 22), 2022.
paper

Luis Vargas , Patrick Emami, Patrick Traynor. On the Detection of Disinformation Campaign Activity with Network Analysis. In Proceedings of the 2020 ACM SIGSAC Cloud Computing Security Workshop, CCSW ’20, 2020.
paper

Luis Vargas , Logan Blue, Vanessa Frost, Chritopher Patton, Nolen Scaife, Kevin R.B. Bulter, and Patrick Traynor. Digital Healthcare-Associated Infection: A Case Study on the Security of a Major Multi-Campus Hospital System. In Proceedings of the 2019 Network and Distributed System Security Symposium, NDSS ’19, 2019.
paper, talk

Bradley Reaves, Luis Vargas, Nolen Scaife, Dave Tian, Logan Blue, Patrick Traynor, and Kevin R.B. Butler. Characterizing the Security of the SMS Ecosystem with Public Gateways. ACM Transactions on Privacy and Security (TOPS), 2018.
paper

Luis Vargas, Gyan Hazarika, Rachel Culpepper, Kevin R.B. Bulter, Thomas Shrimpton, Doug Szajda, and Patrick Traynor. Mitigating Risk while Complying with Data Retention Laws. In Proceedings of the 2018 ACM SIGSAC Conference on Computer and Communications Security, CCS ’18, 2018.
paper, talk

Logan Blue, Luis Vargas, and Patrick Traynor. Hello, Is It Me You're Looking For? Differentiating Between Human and Electronic Speakers for Voice Interface Security. In Proceedings of the 11th ACM Conference on Security and Privacy in Wireless and Mobile Networks, 2018.
paper

Logan Blue, Hadi Abdullah, Luis Vargas, and Patrick Traynor. 2MA: Verifying Voice Commands via Two Microphone Authentication. In Proceedings of the 13th ACM Symposium on Information, Computer and Communications Security, ASIACCS ’18, 2018.
paper

Bradley Reaves, Logan Blue, Hadi Abdullah, Luis Vargas, Patrick Traynor, and Tom Shrimpton. AuthentiCall: Efficient Identity and Content Authentication for Phone Calls. In Proceedings of the 26th USENIX Security Symposium, 2017.
paper

Alexander Pons, Andrew De La Rosa, Silvia Vidaurre, Luis Vargas, and Eugene Pons. Security and Privacy Implications of ’Do Not Track’. International Journal of Information Privacy, Security and Integrity, 3(2):117–133, 2017.

The Guy Behind the Keyboard

Outside of my research, I am an outdoor enthusiast looking for the next adventure.

Scuba Diving
Growing up in Florida, I always had the beach no more than a 45-minute drive. This led me to experience a wide range different aquatic activities. However, out of all my experiences, scuba diving has been my favorite. I am currently in the process of obtaining my advanced scuba diving open water certificate!

Mountains
Though Florida is not known for the its beautiful mountains (that is what we call our few small hills), I do enjoy biking around the few trails we have in the state parks.

Contact Me

email
lvarg025 'at' gmail 'dot' com (personal)
Curriculum Vitae