I’m Carlo Ramponi, a System Security researcher in the UniTN Cybersecurity Research Group at the University of Trento. My primary focus revolves around the security aspects of embedded and Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices. I specialize in discovering attacks and implementing defenses from the OS-level downward.
Education
PhD in Cybersecurity, 2024-Present
My research interests are in the field of System Security, with a focus on embedded systems, IoT and IIoT devices.
MSc in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, 2021-2023, 110 cum laude /110
Thesis: Diving into Stalink’s User Terminal (link)
BSc in Computer Science, 2018-2021, 110 cum laude /110
Experience
System Security Reasercher intern, Huawei Research Center, Munich (DE), 2024
During my internship at Huawei, I focused on the security of in-house AI accelerators and Nvidia GPUs. I also wrote about the GPU paper that grew out of this work and additional research at the University of Trento.
Security Researcher intern, Quarkslab, Paris (FR), 2023
During my Internship at Quarkslab, I focused on analyzing the User Terminal of a satellite internet provider (Starlink). I employed reverse engineering techniques to understand its internal operations and to research possible vulnerabilities. I’ve also published a blog post about my research.
Teaching
Ethical Hacking, Master’s degree in Computer Science, University of Trento, Academic years 2023/24, 2024/25, 2025/26
Together with my colleague Dr. Matteo Golinelli, I ideated, created, and started teaching the Ethical Hacking course. The course is CTF-based and teaches students how to responsibly hack modern systems: by studying how attacks work in practice, students naturally learn how to design and apply effective defenses. My contribution focuses on software analysis, reverse engineering, and low-level binary exploitation.
Interests
CTFs
I like participating cybersecurity competitions, take a look at the team I’m part of: CyberSp3ck
My preferred challenge cathegories are (in order of preference): Binary Exploitation (pwn), Reverse Engineering (rev), Hardware (hw) and Crypto.
Volleyball
Nothing else to add here, I love the sport and play in an amateur team as a middle blocker.