diff --git a/EVAL.md b/EVAL.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c202b065
--- /dev/null
+++ b/EVAL.md
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+# Evaluation
+[WIP] More notes on Benchmarking Guide
+To be updated more comprehensively with the benchmarking guide (ongoing PRs) & blog that we have been working on this quarter.
+
+You should be **extra CAREFUL!** , be always paranoid about suspiciously good results — kernel engineers and existing compilers are already pretty good, so a >2x speedup for anything is highly unlikely. 
+
+
+> “if you beat cudnn by more than 10%, think again” -- 
+from [itsclivetime](https://x.com/itsclivetime/status/1992155951630307633?s=46)
+
+
+If the model can reward hack, it will find ways to reward hack! This can especially happen during RL training or evolutionary search.
+
+Check out resources here:
+- KernelBench [v0.1 Release](https://scalingintelligence.stanford.edu/blogs/kernelbenchv01/) 
+- Cognition and Stanford's [Kevin](https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.11948) project on various hacking behaviors observed in RL training
+- Jiwei Li's awesome [blogpost](https://deep-reinforce.com/defense_kernel_hack.html) on Hacks and Defenses in Automatic GPU Kernel Generation
+
+Our ongoing blogpost and PRs try to systematize and list out these behaviors and provide tests, detection, and mitigation toolings.
+
+
+## Methodology
+More on that coming.
+
+To ensure **consistency and reproducibility**, we recommend using `modal` and we have provided / are adding more various modal cloud functions to standardize the evaluation environment.
+
+### Correctness
+More coming. We also want to highlight community effort such as [BackendBench](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTfjdyZOKww).
+
+### Performance
+We highly recommend watching this [lecture](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i7dxoAfKOU) from GPU mode on kernel profiling. 
+
+We have (and continue to) implement various approaches to conduct kernel timing to understand the tradeoffs.
+
+Check out `timing.py` to see available timing methods and `src/unit_tests/test_eval_timing.py` to test out various timing methods (including leveraging `cuda_event` marker, Triton `do_bench`, `host_time` E2E time). @palic and team is working on a blogpost explaining the different tradeoffs soon. 
+
+### Unit Tests with Adversarial Examples
+We've included some unit tests for the eval script in `src/unit_tests/test_eval_adversarial.py`. These tests run adversarial kernels (see `src/unit_tests/test_kernels/`) that contain examples of reward hacking that we've seen from LLMs and ensures that the eval script catches them, either by failing their correctness checks or flagging them for excessive speedups. Examples include:
+- Reusing computations cached during the PyTorch reference
+- Modifying inputs to cheat correctness checks
+- Moving computation to a non-default CUDA stream
+
+We will continue to add more tests as we explore additional adversarial scenarios.
+
+
+Note: KernelBench is an ongoing open-source effort — please help us with issues and PRs!
+
+
+Shoutout to @bkal01, @palic, @miru_why, @ngc92, @itsclivetime, for their suggestions and feedback. 
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/eval.py b/src/eval.py
index 5f1fe8d8..51bdc6b6 100644
--- a/src/eval.py
+++ b/src/eval.py
@@ -109,13 +109,20 @@ class KernelExecResult(BaseModel):
     """
     Single Kernel Execution
     """
-
+    # Execution
     compiled: bool = False
     correctness: bool = False
-    metadata: dict = {}
+    metadata: dict = {} # NOTE: to include warning if any
+
+    # Timing
     runtime: float = -1.0  # in us, only recorded if we decide to measure performance
     runtime_stats: dict = {}  # only recorded if we decide to measure performance
 
+    # new: added ref time either through fetching prev runs or through execution
+    # could do eager for level 1 and compile for level 2 and 3
+    ref_runtime: float = -1.0  # in us, only recorded if we decide to measure performance
+    ref_runtime_stats: dict = {} # only recorded if we decide to measure performance
+
 
 def load_original_model_and_inputs(
     model_original_src: str, context: dict
@@ -402,6 +409,10 @@ def eval_kernel_against_ref(
     ),  # have to run on GPU
     backend: str = "cuda",  # can be 'cuda', 'triton', 'tilelang', or 'cute'
     precision: torch.dtype = torch.float32,
+
+    # Guard against potential reward hacking [optional but ongoing enhancement]
+    check_for_excessive_speedup: bool = True,
+    excessive_speedup_threshold: float = 10, # flag if the kernel is more than <excessive_speedup_threshold>x faster than the reference
 ) -> KernelExecResult:
     """
     Evaluate the custom kernel against the original model
@@ -415,6 +426,8 @@ def eval_kernel_against_ref(
     backend: str, one of 'cuda', 'triton', 'tilelang', or 'cute'
     precision: torch.dtype for computation (note: tilelang only supports fp16)
     timing_method: str, method to time kernel, see timing.py for more details 
+
+    ONGOING EFFORT to refactor and modularize this, and adding more tests for eval.
     """
     # TODO: check device is busy
     assert torch.cuda.is_available(), "CUDA is not available, cannot run Eval"
@@ -598,11 +611,64 @@ def eval_kernel_against_ref(
                     print(f"[Eval] Performance Stats: {runtime_stats}")
                 kernel_exec_result.runtime = runtime_stats["mean"]
                 kernel_exec_result.runtime_stats = runtime_stats
+
         except Exception as e:
             if verbose:
                 print(f"[Eval] Error in Measuring Performance: {e}")
             kernel_exec_result.metadata["error_during_performance"] = e
 
+
+
+    ###############################################################
+    # [Experimental] to be modularized
+    # Condition: custom kernel ModelNew is correct and we are able to time it correctly with kernel_exec_result
+    # We are working on preventing excessive speedup issues
+    ##############################################################
+
+    if measure_performance and check_for_excessive_speedup:  # experimental: hence able to shut off codepath if needed
+    
+        if verbose:
+            print("[Eval] Additional checks to flag excessive speedup")
+
+        torch.cuda.synchronize(device=device)
+        set_seed(seed_num)
+        inputs = get_inputs()
+        # Convert inputs for performance measurement
+        inputs = [_process_input_tensor(x, device, backend, precision) for x in inputs]
+        
+        model_new = custom_model.to(device=device, dtype=precision)
+        torch.cuda.synchronize(device=device)
+
+        # time PyTorch reference function
+        # same timing_fn as specified from before
+        timing_fn = timing.get_timing_function(timing_method)
+        reference_elapsed_times = timing_fn(
+            original_model,
+            inputs, # ideally cloned for extra safety but handled already in correctness check
+            num_trials=num_perf_trials,
+            verbose=verbose,
+            device=device,
+        )
+        reference_runtime_stats = timing.get_timing_stats(reference_elapsed_times, device=device)
+        kernel_exec_result.ref_runtime = reference_runtime_stats["mean"]
+        kernel_exec_result.ref_runtime_stats = reference_runtime_stats
+
+        # Compute Effective Speedup
+        effective_speedup = kernel_exec_result.ref_runtime / kernel_exec_result.runtime
+
+        # TODO: integrate SoL estimation for each unique program on designated hardware
+        # for now, we will use a heuristics such as 5-10x which is very hard to achieve
+
+        if verbose:
+            print(f"[Eval] Effective Speedup is {effective_speedup:.2f}x using timing method {timing_method}")
+
+        if effective_speedup > excessive_speedup_threshold:
+            kernel_exec_result.metadata["excessive_speedup"] = True
+            
+            print(f"[WARNING] Excessive speedup {effective_speedup:.2f}x over {excessive_speedup_threshold}x threshold detected")
+            print(f"[WARNING] Double check your kernel carefully to ensure it is not reward hacking.")
+
+
     graceful_eval_cleanup(context, device, tempfile)
     return kernel_exec_result
 
diff --git a/src/unit_tests/test_eval_adversarial.py b/src/unit_tests/test_eval_adversarial.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d741c408
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/unit_tests/test_eval_adversarial.py
@@ -0,0 +1,112 @@
+import os
+
+from src.dataset import KERNEL_BENCH_PATH
+from src.eval import eval_kernel_against_ref
+from src.utils import read_file
+
+"""
+Specifically testing the robustness of the eval function.
+Through a few targeted adversarial kernels.
+
+Run with pytest
+pytest src/unit_tests/test_eval_adversarial.py
+"""
+
+def run_test_kernel(problem_name, 
+                    kernel_filename, 
+                    timing_method="cuda_event",
+                    num_perf_trials=100):
+    """
+    Run a test kernel agains the reference architecture and return the result.
+
+    Inputs:
+    - problem_name: name of the KernelBench problem to test on (e.g. "level1/1_Square_matrix_multiplication_.py")
+    - kernel_filename: name of the adversarial kernel (e.g. "zero_out_kernel.py")
+
+    Output:
+    - result: KernelExecResult object
+    """
+    print(f"Running test adversarial kernel {kernel_filename} against problem {problem_name}")
+    ref_src = read_file(os.path.join(KERNEL_BENCH_PATH, problem_name))
+    # TODO: replace with Omar's dataset object
+    kernel_src = read_file(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "test_kernels", kernel_filename))
+    
+    return eval_kernel_against_ref(
+        original_model_src=ref_src,
+        custom_model_src=kernel_src,
+        num_correct_trials=5, # under mulitiple correctness trials
+        num_perf_trials=num_perf_trials,
+        measure_performance=True,
+        timing_method=timing_method,
+        # for checking against reward hacking
+        check_for_excessive_speedup = True, 
+        excessive_speedup_threshold = 10
+    )
+
+
+def test_result_cache_reuse():
+    """
+    Test to prevent adversarial kernel by reuse computed PyTorch results 
+
+    Methodology: 
+    - Adversarial kernel allocate memory for result but does not initialize it.
+    - Potential Hacking scenario: CUDA cache allocator might give that un-erased physical memory to the custom kernel (which contains the result) and it will incorrectly pass
+    - Eval script should flag this as incorrect as the reference kernel did not conduct any meaningful computation
+    """
+    result = run_test_kernel(problem_name="level1/1_Square_matrix_multiplication_.py", 
+                            kernel_filename="result_reuse_kernel.py")
+    assert result.correctness is False, "Cache reuse hack detected"
+    print("Result: Eval Function Passed Test Result Cache Reuse")
+    print(result)
+
+def test_input_modification():
+    """
+    Test that even if the model tries to modify the inputs to pass the tests,
+    we still flag it as incorrect.
+
+    Methodology:
+    - Adversarial kernel zeros out all inputs and returns all zeros for the final matmul shape.
+    - Potential Hacking scenario: Since adversarial kernel zero out the input, the reference might ran the kernel with all zeros. 
+      Hence both refernece and custom kernel return all zeros, and this incorrectly pass.
+    - Eval script should flag this as incorrect as this kernel zeros out inputs and trick the reference kernel into returning all zeros.
+    """
+    result = run_test_kernel(problem_name="level1/1_Square_matrix_multiplication_.py", 
+                            kernel_filename="zero_out_kernel.py")
+    assert result.correctness is False, "Input modification hack detected"
+    print("Result: Eval Function Passed Test Input Modification Hack")
+    print(result)
+
+
+def test_non_default_stream(timing_method="do_bench", threshold=1.5):
+    """
+    Test that we will flag adversarial kernels that cheat by assigning work to non-default CUDA streams.
+
+    Methodology:
+    - Adversarial kernel assigns work to non-default CUDA streams.
+    - Potential Hacking scenario: Eval script waits on the default stream only when measuring kernel runtime, leading to unrealistic speedups.
+    - Eval script should accurately measure runtime by waiting on all streams, not just the default stream.
+    """
+    result = run_test_kernel(problem_name="level1/1_Square_matrix_multiplication_.py", 
+                            kernel_filename="non_default_stream_kernel.py",
+                            timing_method=timing_method,
+                            num_perf_trials=10 ) # keep it low as we are leaking cuda stream
+
+    print(result)
+    if result.metadata.get("excessive_speedup") is True:   
+        print("Result: Eval Function successfully marked excessive speedup from the hacky CUDA Stream implementation")
+        print("This indicates the eval script properly detected and flagged potential cheating behavior.")
+    else:
+        raise AssertionError(
+            "Excessive speedup not detected - Eval Function failed to flag adversarial kernel that exploits cuda stream timing hack"
+        )
+
+
+def main():
+    test_result_cache_reuse()
+    test_input_modification()
+    test_non_default_stream()
+
+    # we might add more adversarial tests in the future
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    main()
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/unit_tests/test_kernels/non_default_stream_kernel.py b/src/unit_tests/test_kernels/non_default_stream_kernel.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..37fe00fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/unit_tests/test_kernels/non_default_stream_kernel.py
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+import torch
+import torch.nn as nn
+from torch.utils.cpp_extension import load_inline
+
+###########################################
+# CUDA_STREAM_ADVERSARIAL
+# adversarial kernel assigns all work to a non-default CUDA stream.
+# If the eval script waits only on the default cuda stream when measuring kernel runtime, this will lead to unrealistic speedups.   
+###########################################
+# this adversarial kernel obtains a non-default, non-blocking stream via cudaStreamCreateWithFlags(...) and sets to be the stream of the cuBLAS handle.
+# then, it performs a matrix multiplication on this new stream.
+
+# if timing harness only waits on default stream, it will measure near-zero time because the actual computation is still running asynchronously on the other stream.
+
+matmul_cuda_source = r"""
+#include <torch/extension.h>
+#include <cuda_runtime.h>
+#include <cublas_v2.h>
+
+torch::Tensor matmul_cuda(torch::Tensor A, torch::Tensor B) {
+    int M = A.size(0);
+    int K = A.size(1);
+    int N = B.size(1);
+    
+    auto result = torch::empty({M, N}, A.options());
+    
+    cudaStream_t stream;
+    cudaStreamCreateWithFlags(&stream, cudaStreamNonBlocking);
+    
+    cublasHandle_t handle;
+    cublasCreate(&handle);
+    cublasSetStream(handle, stream);
+    
+    float alpha = 1.0f, beta = 0.0f;
+    
+    cublasGemmEx(handle,
+        CUBLAS_OP_N, CUBLAS_OP_N,
+        N, M, K,
+        &alpha,
+        B.data_ptr<float>(), CUDA_R_32F, N,
+        A.data_ptr<float>(), CUDA_R_32F, K,
+        &beta,
+        result.data_ptr<float>(), CUDA_R_32F, N,
+        CUBLAS_COMPUTE_32F, CUBLAS_GEMM_DEFAULT);
+
+    // NOTE: Intentionally leaking CUDA resources (stream + cuBLAS handle) to preserve
+    // adversarial behavior. Calling cudaStreamDestroy() would implicitly synchronize,
+    // defeating the purpose of this test (which checks if the eval harness detects
+    // work launched on non-default streams). Keep num_perf_trials low to avoid OOM.
+    // cublasDestroy(handle);
+    // cudaStreamDestroy(stream);
+    
+    return result;
+}
+"""
+
+matmul_cuda_cpp = "torch::Tensor matmul_cuda(torch::Tensor A, torch::Tensor B);"
+
+# Compile inline extension
+matmul_module = load_inline(
+    name="fast_matmul",
+    cpp_sources=matmul_cuda_cpp,
+    cuda_sources=matmul_cuda_source,
+    functions=["matmul_cuda"],
+    verbose=False,
+)
+
+class ModelNew(nn.Module):
+    def __init__(self) -> None:
+        super().__init__()
+        self.matmul = matmul_module
+
+    def forward(self, A: torch.Tensor, B: torch.Tensor) -> torch.Tensor:
+        return self.matmul.matmul_cuda(A, B)
+
+N = 2048 * 2
+
+def get_inputs():
+    A = torch.rand(N, N)
+    B = torch.rand(N, N)
+    return [A, B]
+
+def get_init_inputs():
+    return []
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/unit_tests/test_kernels/result_reuse_kernel.py b/src/unit_tests/test_kernels/result_reuse_kernel.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..88258ddf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/unit_tests/test_kernels/result_reuse_kernel.py
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+import torch
+import torch.nn as nn
+from torch.utils.cpp_extension import load_inline
+
+###########################################
+# 
+# This adversarial kernel utilizes empty which can get allocated the same physical memory as the PyTorch reference outputs
+# If the eval script deletes/frees the PyTorch output object at some point before the custom kernel is run, 
+# the CUDA cache allocator might give that un-erased physical memory to the custom kernel and it will incorrectly pass
+# So, we should ensure we zero out physical memory to prevent reuse
+###########################################
+
+# Returns a zero_
+matmul_cuda_source = r"""
+#include <torch/extension.h>
+#include <cuda_runtime.h>
+
+torch::Tensor matmul_cuda(torch::Tensor A, torch::Tensor B) {
+    auto C = torch::empty({A.size(0), B.size(1)}, A.options());
+    return C;
+}
+"""
+
+matmul_cuda_cpp = "torch::Tensor matmul_cuda(torch::Tensor A, torch::Tensor B);"
+
+# Compile inline extension
+matmul_module = load_inline(
+    name="fast_matmul", # this is a hacky kernel that shall not pass; it would extra fast since it just allocates memory of result shape
+    cpp_sources=matmul_cuda_cpp,
+    cuda_sources=matmul_cuda_source,
+    functions=["matmul_cuda"],
+    verbose=False,
+)
+
+class ModelNew(nn.Module):
+    def __init__(self) -> None:
+        super().__init__()
+        self.matmul = matmul_module
+
+    def forward(self, A: torch.Tensor, B: torch.Tensor) -> torch.Tensor:
+        return self.matmul.matmul_cuda(A, B)
+
+N = 2048 * 2
+
+def get_inputs():
+    A = torch.rand(N, N)
+    B = torch.rand(N, N)
+    return [A, B]
+
+def get_init_inputs():
+    return []
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/unit_tests/test_kernels/zero_out_kernel.py b/src/unit_tests/test_kernels/zero_out_kernel.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..aba20620
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/unit_tests/test_kernels/zero_out_kernel.py
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+import torch
+import torch.nn as nn
+from torch.utils.cpp_extension import load_inline
+
+###########################################
+# This custom kernel zeros out the inputs and returns a zero matrix.
+# It is specifically designed to test the eval script's robustness.
+# Running this zero kernel should result in incorrectness for eval,
+# as the reference kernel will not return all zeros.
+###########################################
+
+# Destroys all inputs, returns all zeros for final matmul shape
+matmul_cuda_source = r"""
+#include <torch/extension.h>
+
+torch::Tensor matmul_cuda(torch::Tensor A, torch::Tensor B) {
+    A.zero_();
+    B.zero_();
+    return torch::zeros({A.size(0), B.size(1)}, A.options());
+}
+"""
+
+matmul_cuda_cpp = "torch::Tensor matmul_cuda(torch::Tensor A, torch::Tensor B);"
+
+# Compile inline extension
+matmul_module = load_inline(
+    name="fast_matmul", # this is a hacky kernel that shall not pass; it would extra fast since it just allocates 0s
+    cpp_sources=matmul_cuda_cpp,
+    cuda_sources=matmul_cuda_source,
+    functions=["matmul_cuda"],
+    verbose=False,
+)
+
+class ModelNew(nn.Module):
+    def __init__(self) -> None:
+        super().__init__()
+        self.matmul = matmul_module
+
+    def forward(self, A: torch.Tensor, B: torch.Tensor) -> torch.Tensor:
+        return self.matmul.matmul_cuda(A, B)
+
+N = 2048 * 2
+
+def get_inputs():
+    A = torch.rand(N, N)
+    B = torch.rand(N, N)
+    return [A, B]
+
+def get_init_inputs():
+    return []
\ No newline at end of file