I recently delivered my first research talk at USEC 2026 co-located with NDSS, presenting my first PhD paper on a new and unexpected AI-powered NSFW deepfake marketplace that seems to be hiding in plain sight on Fiverr.
Honestly, it felt a bit surreal. I was presenting work I genuinely care about, in front of people whose work I had been following online and learning from for years, back when I was still an undergrad in Egypt. Getting to meet them in person, share my own work, and learn from both our conversations and their inspiring research made the whole experience exceptional for me.
I'm very grateful for the constant support of my advisor, Ram Sundara Raman, who was there that day as always. I'm also deeply thankful to my co-author and mentor, Alejandro Cuevas — we missed him at the conference, and I truly appreciate his guidance and support throughout this work and in preparing for the talk.
You can read the full paper or see the original LinkedIn post.