Hello, I'm

Shariful Alam

Senior Security & Crypto Engineer @ Marvell Technology

Securing systems from silicon to software. My research focuses on operating system security, hardware security, and investigating covert channels in modern CPU architectures.

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About Me

Self-motivated, goal-oriented security researcher and enthusiastic polyglot programmer. Ph.D. graduate in Computing with an emphasis in Cybersecurity.

I completed my Ph.D. in Computing with a focus on Cybersecurity from Boise State University in May 2025. Currently, I work as a Senior Security & Crypto Engineer at Marvell Technology in Santa Clara, California. My research interests are mainly in cybersecurity with particular emphasis on operating system security and hardware security. My doctoral work investigated covert channels in modern CPU architectures.

I was born and raised in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. I earned my Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Engineering in Bangladesh in 2014 and obtained my Master's degree in Computer Science from Lamar University, Texas, in the fall of 2018. In addition to my research interests, I enjoy exploring new places and spending my free time chatting with family and friends.

Years of Research

Publications

Degrees Earned

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Curiosity

Experience & Education

Work Experience

August 2022 - Present

Senior Security & Crypto Engineer

Marvell Technology, Inc

Firmware Development: Developing a Zephyr RTOS-based firmware app for CXL command handling; gaining RTOS application development experience.
Interface Design: Defined interfaces for firmware component communication to process CXL requests.
Simulation & Debugging: Using VDKs for custom SOC simulation and firmware debugging.
Testing Environment: Setting up a comprehensive environment for custom firmware testing.
Data Security Collaboration: Collaborated on integrating advanced PQC algorithms to enhance data security against quantum threats.
Hardware Security Module Oversight: Managing a Hardware Security Module toolkit; responsible for maintenance, implementation, debugging, and monthly releases.
Customer Support: Assisted operations teams with software-related customer queries, ensuring high service quality.

January 2019 - May 2022

Graduate Assistant

Boise State University, USA

Extensively researched methods to reduce the attack surface of Operating System kernels, resulting in the implementation of a virtualization-based research idea. This work led to the acceptance of a conference paper.
Configured an Apache server for HTTPS protocol and digital certificates, resulting in a comprehensive understanding of Public-key Infrastructure.
Utilized GDB to debug and analyze the OpenSSL source code, gaining insights into the inner workings of cryptographic libraries in real-world applications.
Developed a secure OpenSSL engine incorporating C, MbedTLS library, multithreading, virtualization, and inline assembly. Project executed and tested in a Linux environment.
Conducted an investigation of possible covert channels using modern x86 CPU features.
Wrote kernel rootkits and device drivers and gained hands-on experience with the system call table of Operating Systems.

February 2017 - December 2018

Graduate Assistant

Lamar University, USA

Collaborated with a development team to create an internet-based self-therapy platform aimed at helping patients with hearing disabilities. The platform also generated real-life data that was used to support ongoing research efforts.
Demonstrated full-stack web development skills by utilizing jQuery and Twitter Bootstrap for the front end and the CodeIgniter Framework for the back end, complete with a MySQL database, ultimately resulting in a fully functional web application.