Phan The Duy — Cybersecurity Researcher

About Me

I am a PhD researcher at VNU-HCM University of Information Technology, working in cybersecurity. My work spans intelligent fuzzing, federated-learning defense, smart-contract vulnerability detection, and adversarial machine learning. I have published over fifty peer-reviewed papers in venues such as Expert Systems with Applications, Journal of Network and Computer Applications, and Information and Software Technology.

Research Interests

My research focuses on the intersection of AI and cybersecurity, organized around four themes:

LLM-Powered Security: multi-agent and RAG-driven systems for vulnerability discovery, intelligent fuzzing of web application firewalls, and automated penetration testing.
Federated & Distributed Learning Defense: anti-poisoning mechanisms, autoencoder-based latent-space inspection, and federated threat hunting in SDN-based IIoT environments.
Web & Network Security: malware detection via graph optimization of static features, intrusion detection robust to adversarial samples, and phishing / scam-campaign analytics.
Smart Contract & Blockchain Security: contextual language models for reentrancy detection, multi-chain interoperable systems, and zero-knowledge prescription management.

Personal

My name is Ryan, and Duy in Vietnamese. I come from the South-western region of Vietnam (Mekong Delta), currently living in Ho Chi Minh City to pursue my dream. To somebody, I may be an engineer or a technology cruiser, but deep in my mind, I know I'm just someone who's looking for happiness. I love technology, beauty, music, wild things, and exploring strange things — I feel that I can touch the face of happiness when I let myself drown in them.

Within my ability, I choose to spend most of my time falling into technology research and getting my own findings; I force myself to try doing new things to learn more about what I've never known, but it never seems enough to me.

With science and technology, I find this will be a place where I can let my knowledge and emotions go their ways, as well as share my positive experience about what I've been through. Hopefully this will be something that can inspire you, make you believe in happiness, or at least let you find someone who has the same feeling as you.

News

[2026]Site launched. Recent and upcoming news will appear here.
[Coming soon]Stay tuned for updates on talks, papers, and collaborations.

Selected Publications

* equal contribution · ✉ corresponding author · Full list on Google Scholar.

2026

A Multi-Agent and Explainable Semantic-Guided Smart Contract Fuzzing with LLMs

Le Quoc Ngo, Tran Tien Nhat, anon anon, Triet Huynh Minh Le, Muhammad Ali Babar, Van-Hau Pham, Nguyen Tan Cam

preprint, 2026

Android malware detection by using graph optimization of static features based on pre-trained language models

Nghi Hoang Khoa, Doan Minh Trung, Duong The Dat, Phan The Duy, Van-Hau Pham, Nguyen Tan Cam

Information and Software Technology, 2026

AutoWAFuzzer: An adaptive framework for web application firewall penetration testing with multi-agent system and RAG-enabled reinforcement learning

Phan The Duy, Nguyen Ngoc Thanh, Pham Cong Lap, Van-Giau Ung, Khanh-Khoa Ngo, Tram Truong-Huu, Van-Hau Pham

Expert Systems with Applications, 2026

FraudTrace: Verifying Fraudulent News to Prevent Online Scam Campaigns via a Multi-agent LLM-Based System

Nguyen Hoang Phuc, Bui Tan Hai Dang, Nguyen Huu Quyen, Phan The Duy

Network and System Security, 2026

Multimodal Learning with LLM-Fusion Head for Android Malware Detection: Enhancing Cross-Modality Robustness Against Obfuscation and Adversarial Samples

Luong Hoang Minh, Duong The Dat, Bui Tan Hai Dang, Le Duc Thinh, Doan Minh Trung, Phan The Duy

Network and System Security, 2026

P4P: A probe-guided anti-poisoning defense for federated learning-based intrusion detection in IoT networks under non-IID data

Thai Tuan Khang, Tran Huu Duc, Dang Van Huynh, Van-Hau Pham, Phan The Duy

Journal of Network and Computer Applications, 2026

The fire tries gold: Evaluating pre-trained language models for multi-label vulnerability detection in ethereum smart contracts

Trung Kien Luu, Doan Minh Trung, Tuan-Dung Tran, Phan The Duy, Van-Hau Pham

Journal of Systems and Software, 2026

X-AdvIDS: A Framework for Assessing and Improving the Adversarial Robustness of Intrusion Detection Systems with Explainability-Guided Mutation and Analysis

Phan The Duy, Truong Thi Hoang Hao, Nguyen Viet Hoang, Nguyen Duc Trung, Le Duc Thinh, Doan Minh Trung, Van-Hau Pham

Network and System Security, 2026

xPriMES: Explainable reinforcement learning-guided mutation strategy with dual-environment interaction for evading black-box malware detectors

Phan The Duy, Nguyen Manh Cuong, Ha Trieu Yen Vy, Le Tuan Luong, Nguyen Tran Duc Anh, Nghi Hoang Khoa, Van-Hau Pham

Information and Software Technology, 2026