CYBERSECURITY · FULLSTACK · LEADERSHIP
Wanna check out my pwn.college history?Breaking systems
to build resilient ones.
“If it works the first time, I get suspicious.”
Get to know me a bit?
About me and profile scan
I'm Pratham Hegde, a Computer Science student at Arizona State University focused on cybersecurity. I enjoy building software just as much as figuring out how it breaks, which means a lot of my time goes into projects, hackathons, and pwn.college challenges where things rarely work on the first try.
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Education highlights
Background
Software Developer & Pwner
Barrett Honors College · Arizona State University
- •4.0 GPA
- •6× Dean's List
- •Completed undergrad in ~3 years with a planned 4+1 path
- •Currently pursuing a Master's alongside undergrad
- •Interested in pursuing a PhD
- •HackHarvard2025 Winner
pwn challenges
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Challenge: knowledge
The first program almost everyone writes
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Challenge: personal
What’s my favorite anime?
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Challenge: personal
My favorite ice cream flavor
Fun Fact
I practice more than 5 forms of martial arts
EXPERIENCE
Software Development Intern
Allergy Voyage
Tempe, AZ
New incoming internship where I will be working on developing features for the company's web applications using React, C#, Git and Node.js
Undergraduate Researcher
SEFCOM Lab, Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ
Developed and automated exploits for ASLR/PIE bypass, shellcode injection, and ROP chains on real-world binaries using pwntools, GDB, and framebuffer manipulation techniques
Reverse engineered x86/MIPS binaries using Ghidra and IDA Pro to analyze custom file formats, decrypt framebuffer directives, and reconstruct ANSI-rendered flags
Web Experience Designer
University College, Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ
Conceptualized and developed 10+ responsive web pages using ASU's branded design system, enhancing mobile usability and increasing user engagement
Conducted 20+ user research interviews and usability tests, leading to improved navigation flow and reduced bounce rates across redesigned pages
Oversaw front-end, back-end, and design efforts across UC's entire web portfolio, streamlining content workflows and accelerating site update processes
Software Development Intern
UNIUS
Remote
Designed and optimized user-facing features using Next.js and React, resulting in a 30% reduction in page load times and improved user engagement across platforms
Collaborated with cross-functional teams to integrate front-end components with back-end APIs, ensuring seamless data flow and consistent feature delivery across deployments
Undergraduate Teaching Assistant
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ
Assisted in teaching computer science courses and providing guidance to students
Conducted office hours and graded assignments to support course delivery
Barrett Research Fellow
Barrett, The Honors College
Tempe, AZ
Conducted research as part of the Barrett Honors College fellowship program
Collaborated with faculty on research initiatives and scholarly work
Software Development Intern
Calibre Technologies
Maharashtra, India
Developed a Task Management System using JavaScript, SQL, HTML and CSS to take user input of tasks, storing them, and enabling users to edit tasks upon completion
Used SQL and JavaScript to store user login info in SQL Database
$PROJECTS
Check out the projects that display me best.
CarbonCompass
Climate Impact Analytics
A climate-impact analytics application using Cloudflare Workers and D1, integrating LLM-powered data extraction through Gemini and Amazon Q to deliver real-time carbon-footprint estimates for consumer products.
SecureChat
Encrypted Messaging & Exploit Simulation
Built and reverse-engineered a full-stack messaging platform using Flask, SQLite, and AES-ECB, simulating encrypted DHE-AES conversations. Launched XSS, ECB replay, and Diffie-Hellman key manipulation attacks using Selenium automation.
MenuMaven
AI Restaurant Discovery Platform
An AI-powered restaurant discovery platform integrating Claude API, Google Maps API, and Yelp API to provide personalized dining recommendations based on user preferences and real-time data.
> Smart recommendations
$TECH STACK
Languages
7 TOOLS
Frontend
3 TOOLS
Backend
6 TOOLS
Security & Reverse Engineering
9 TOOLS
AI & ML
5 TOOLS
Core CS
3 TOOLS
$BLOG
16 Bytes and a Dream
pwn.college Yellow Belt Retrospective
Three Memory Corruption challenges. One Library study room that has witnessed things. A deep dive into the final three yellow belt challenges: ret2shellcode, constrained canary-aware payloads, and a GOT overwrite that made printf forget how to print.
I Asked AI to Build 12 “Secure” Apps. Then I Attacked Them.
Honors Thesis: Securing Vibe Coding
90% of AI-generated code that works is also vulnerable. I built a pipeline to find out exactly where and why: 12 apps, 3 prompt strategies, 5 attack scenarios. The answers were not what I expected.
I Cold Emailed a YC Founder and Asked to Hack His API
Production API Security Audit
A founder told me he was pretty confident I wouldn't find anything severe. I found something severe. A full 48-hour penetration test, 17 test scripts, and a confirmed cross-tenant cache isolation bug that let one customer retrieve another customer's cached data.
Security research, CTF writeups,
and dev deep-dives on the way.