Cybersecurity Research

Your watch knows what you did last summer

Nathan Kahl — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 17:36:08 +0000

Your watch knows what you did last summer Nathan Kahl Mon, 06/15/2026 - 13:36

A smartwatch sitting quietly on someone’s wrist may seem unremarkable. But in a criminal investigation, that device could become a witness.

Umit Karabiyik. Photo provided

911�� Cyber Security Engineering Associate Professor Umit Karabiyik helps law enforcement agencies across the country understand how data from everyday connected devices can provide critical evidence in criminal cases. Through a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)–funded project, Karabiyik and researchers trained thousands of criminal justice professionals and provided technical assistance on cases involving everything from smartwatches and fitness trackers to smart home devices and medical technologies.

“We try to understand this Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem and extract data from these technologies for evidentiary purposes in courts, criminal investigations, and criminal litigation,” said Karabiyik.

The project, funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, was first awarded in 2021 while Karabiyik was at Purdue University. Originally planned as a short-term effort, the grant was extended multiple times, allowing the team to continue responding to a growing challenge: helping investigators keep pace with the expansion of connected technologies in everyday life.

IoT devices include smartwatches, fitness trackers, smart appliances, home security systems, smart glasses, medical monitoring devices, and countless other products that collect and exchange data. “Law enforcement agencies need to understand what these technologies are, what the security issues are, what the privacy issues are, and most importantly, how to investigate them,” Karabiyik said.

Geolocation data points generated by an iPhone alongside data from nearby WiFi access points. Despite iPhone location services being disabled, information from surrounding devices is still collected. Image provided.

That work often goes beyond research papers and conference presentations. Since the project began, Karabiyik’s team has trained more than 7,000 criminal justice professionals through conferences, webinars, and specialized workshops. They have also become a resource for investigators facing technical questions in active cases.

“We get phone calls from law enforcement agencies that say, ‘I’ve got this case, and I got stuck. What do I do?’” Karabiyik said.

One line of research focused on how devices within Apple’s ecosystem communicate with one another. Karabiyik’s team discovered that Apple devices can collect identifying information about nearby Apple products even without direct interaction from users. The findings created new possibilities for investigators attempting to establish whether individuals or devices had been in proximity to one another.

After presenting the research, Karabiyik received inquiries from investigators working homicide and cold cases who wanted to know whether data from nearby Apple devices could help narrow the list of potential suspects. “These kinds of calls keep coming,” he said.

As part of the project, Karabiyik and colleagues serve as a criminal IoT helpdesk, of sorts.

In one case, Karabiyik served as an expert witness in a murder trial where investigators examined data from a smartwatch worn by the defendant, who maintained she had been asleep during the time prosecutors alleged the crime occurred.

“We looked at the technology and proved that she was indeed sleeping,” Karabiyik said. “There were no steps taken, and her stress level was perfectly fine until she found the victim dead.” The defendant was ultimately found not guilty.

While much of the project focuses on digital forensics, Karabiyik’s research also examines the privacy and security risks associated with connected devices. His team has built databases of vulnerabilities and studied how data collected by consumer technologies is stored, shared, and potentially exposed.

He noted that his research influences his own personal use. “I’m very picky about what technologies I use,” he said. He avoids devices with microphones and cameras whenever possible, does not use voice assistants such as Alexa or Google Home, and is cautious about products that collect large amounts of personal data.

At the same time, he sees enormous value in connected technologies when they are used responsibly. “Unless you are a bad person, these technologies can be super helpful,” he said. “If something happens to me, I know these devices are going to tell law enforcement a lot of things.”

As connected devices continue to multiply, Karabiyik expects demand for digital forensic expertise to grow as well. The current project concludes later this year, but he is already pursuing new DOJ funding opportunities aimed at helping forensic examiners, law enforcement agencies, and criminal justice professionals navigate an increasingly connected world.

Topics

Cybersecurity Research

Department of Cyber Security Engineering faculty

Internet of Things

Department of Justice

Research

Timing the perfect hardware hack

tdonnel — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 13:35:43 +0000

Timing the perfect hardware hack tdonnel Tue, 06/09/2026 - 09:35

Roombas have become a familiar part of everyday life, quietly navigating living rooms and kitchens. But behind that convenience is a complex system of sensors, algorithms, and data processing—and, as a group of 911�� cyber security engineering (CYSE) students—Finn Schaefer, Ryan Lam, Sidarth Kumar, Jimmy Tram, and Neil Sharma—discovered, a surprising vulnerability. Their capstone project research was accepted for presentation at one of the most prestigious venues for hardware-based security research, the IEEE International Symposium on Hardware Oriented Security and Trust (HOST).

“It just scans the room, goes around, and starts mapping," said Finn Schaefer, comparing the vacuum cleaner to the robot at the center of his team's project.

These autonomous systems rely on technologies like LiDAR and SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping) to build a virtual map of their environment and navigate safely. However, that same reliance on sensor data also opens the door to cyberattacks that can alter a robot’s perception, sometimes with dramatic consequences.

From left to right: Finn Schaefer, Neil Sharma, Ryan Lam, Sidarth Kumar, and Jimmy Tram. Photo provided.

The capstone project, advised by Assistant Professor Tanvir Arafin, challenged students to explore exactly that risk. From the outset, Arafin encouraged an open-ended, research-driven approach.

“Professor Arafin basically told us to try to break ROS, a robot operating system,” Schaefer said.

The assignment functioned as a “red-team” exercise, pushing students to think like attackers to understand vulnerabilities in autonomous systems.

The team’s early ideas focused on overwhelming the robot with false data, effectively flooding it with noise. But this proved too obvious. That initial concept “was really simple and easy to detect,” said Ryan Lam. A more subtle approach would be needed to create a meaningful, realistic attack.

Their breakthrough came in the form of a timing-based method that mimicked the robot’s normal operating patterns. Instead of bombarding the system, they carefully injected altered sensor data at precisely the right intervals.

“We eventually got to our more elegant solution, where we’re able to match the timing pattern that the robot actually expects,” Schaefer said. Because the manipulated data looked plausible and arrived in the expected cadence, the robot accepted it as real.

A judge examines the team's robot at the CYSE senior design event. Photo by Teresa Donnellan/CEC

The effect was striking: the robot’s internal map gradually diverged from reality. Even small manipulations could cause significant errors.

“With 2- to 5-percent drift, it would crash into walls,” Schaefer said.

In some cases, the system could be tricked into perceiving obstacles that didn’t exist. “It would see a wall that’s not actually there,” he added.

The team also demonstrated the ability to shrink or expand the robot’s perceived environment, causing navigation failures.

To prove the effectiveness of their approach, the students combined simulated analysis with real-world testing. They compared baseline maps to manipulated ones over time and observed the robot attempting to navigate using corrupted data.

“These comparisons served as the proof that we used to say that this works,” said team member Sidarth Kumar.

Additional testing showed that the attack remained effective even under network congestion.

This capstone project reflects Arafin’s broader work to secure the next generation of mobility systems, from connected vehicles to robotics. Moreover, the students came away with a deeper understanding of the emerging field of hardware security.

Tanvir Arafin (center) with the 2026 senior capstone teams he advised. Photo provided.

“This is an exceptional accomplishment and a testament to the curriculum rigor of the Cyber Security Engineering Department, reinforcing a tradition of excellence in undergraduate research at CYSE,” said Arafin. “Over the last few years, CYSE undergraduate students from our group have earned recognition at multiple national and international venues in transportation and autonomous systems security, notably the best demo award in the 18th Association for Computing Machinery Conference on Security and Privacy in Wireless and Mobile Networks and the first, second, and third places at the National Transportation Cybersecurity Competition. All of these accomplishments highlights both the students’ dedication and the strength of undergraduate research within our CYSE Department.”

In an era where autonomous systems are becoming increasingly common, from household robots to self-driving cars, the team’s work underscores a critical lesson: If a machine’s understanding of the world can be manipulated, so can its behavior. What seems like a harmless household device may, under the hood, share the same vulnerabilities as far more complex systems. And as these students demonstrated, understanding those vulnerabilities is the first step toward securing the future of autonomous technology.

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Commonwealth Cyber Initiative CATAPULT fund launches translational research projects

Martha Bushong — Thu, 06 Oct 2022 18:18:33 +0000

Commonwealth Cyber Initiative CATAPULT fund launches translational research projects Martha Bushong Thu, 10/06/2022 - 14:18

In This Story

Liza Wilson Durant

Learn About the CCI

As researchers and their teams work to answer questions and find solutions for protecting privacy and securing information through cybersecurity innovation, many set their sights on commercialization. Still, the path from research ideas to consumer products can be long and winding. To help straighten the path the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI) is supporting a Cyber Acceleration, Translation, and Advanced Prototyping for University Linked Technology (CATAPULT) Fund. The fund’s purpose‑‑advance collaborative translational research projects among CCI partners, to speed up the progress of academic research outcomes to the marketplace.

"It is truly exciting to tap into the breadth of innovation from academic institutions across the Commonwealth and introduce these faculty inventors to the opportunity to expand the impact of their research through commercialization,” says Liza Wilson Durant, associate dean, strategic initiatives and community engagement, College of Engineering and Computing. “It is just the right time for Virginia to support and accelerate cybersecurity innovation as the Commonwealth establishes its role as a magnet for new companies with the best and brightest solutions to the nation's greatest cybersecurity challenges."

In July 2022 CCI awarded seven teams from four universities in the Northern Virginia Node funding for their projects. These research teams received up to $50,000, with funding increments released based on the achievement of agreed-upon milestones. The teams and their projects are as follows.

Protecting Smartphones from Fingerphoto Spoofing

911�� Assistant Professor Emanuela Marasco’s the project addresses the urgent need for a mechanism that properly secures smartphone technology. Contactless fingerprint authentication allows faster capture times, unattended operations, and high hygiene. These systems, however, are still in the early stages of development. Although researchers are advancing matching, the risk of spoofing for contactless authentication must be mitigated as well. This project addresses the problem.

Distributed Online Intrusion Detection System for IoT devices via Power Side-channel Auditing

As the number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices has increased rapidly, IoT botnets and information stealer attacks have exploited the vulnerabilities of IoT devices. It is still challenging, however, to detect the initial intrusion on IoT devices before massive attacks. Professor Gang Zhou, from the College of William & Mary, and his partners at Old Dominion University are addressing the challenge of the lack of accurate models in real-time for ubiquitous attack detection with their project.

Algorithm Evaluation for Backdoor Detection and Mitigation in Remote Sensing Systems

Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology has advanced to the point that it is inescapable in life and work. AI models extract knowledge from data to make decisions. Though AI has achieved state-of-the-art performances for many applications, it can be easily deceived by the backdoor attack. Old Dominion University Professor Jiang Li and his partners at Maxar’s project leverages a novel approach to addressing this concern.

RF Fingerprinting Techniques for Millimeter-Wave Device Authentication in 5G/NextG Wireless Communication

Millimeter-wave (mmWave) technology is a key enabler for 5G and NextG wireless communications as it supports applications that require high-throughput and ultra-low latency. Due to the broadcast nature of the wireless medium, however, mmWave communication is vulnerable to various attacks. With this project Kai Zeng, associate professor, 911�� and his team aim to develop robust and efficient techniques to address these vulnerabilities.

Extended Reality Empowered 5G Telemedicine Mentoring

Old Dominion University Associate Professor Sachin Shetty’s project looks at the development and commercialization of a 5G telemedicine platform that leverages Extended Reality technologies and a 5G environment. Because 5G technology supports massive capacity connections and fast data rates it has the potential to transform healthcare training and service delivery. One example, 5 G-enabled telemedicine, connects remotely located medical providers and allows access to near real-time data, and permits split-second decision-making critical in health care environments.

Super Timelines

When a cybersecurity incident occurs, analysts need to quickly construct a forensic timeline of events to assess the impact and plan the response. This effort typically involves extracting logs and other artifacts from various sources and then combining them into a single list, ordering them by date and time. Only then can an analyst look for clues to help better understand the course of events before, during, and after the incident. With Super Timelines, Florian Buchholz, professor at James Madison University, and his partners at Gigasheet (https://www.gigasheet.com) will develop a turnkey solution for this problem, based on a modern cloud-based infrastructure.

“Without this funding from CCI, the research and start-ups that are so critical to Virginia’s strategy of building a high-impact cyber economy would not have the opportunity to meet the wonderful members of the tech community who have rallied around them to provide advice, guidance, and structure to launching new products and companies,” says Associate Vice President of the Office of Research Innovation and Economic Development, at 911��, Paula Sorrell.

Topics

Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI)

Cybersecurity Awareness Month

Cybersecurity Research

Information Sciences and Technology Department

CEC faculty research

Foteini Baldimtsi earns NSF CAREER Award

Martha Bushong — Mon, 16 May 2022 15:05:16 +0000

Foteini Baldimtsi earns NSF CAREER Award Martha Bushong Mon, 05/16/2022 - 11:05

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Foteini Baldimtsi

Computer Science, Assistant Professor, Foteini

Baldimtsi.

911�� Department of Computer Science Assistant Professor Foteini Baldimtsi has been granted a National Science Foundation CAREER Award for her project, Privacy Preserving Transactions with Accountability Extensions.

Baldimtsi recently discussed the ubiquity of cryptography. “We use cryptography every single day. Every time you log in to your email or make a transaction with your bank, you use cryptography. Data do not fly around unencrypted.”

Even so, certain types of interactions require people to offer up more data than they might be comfortable with. She gave a non-digital example of buying alcohol at a store, noting that a vendor simply needs to know if a buyer is over 21. When the buyer shows a driver’s license, the vendor can learn a customer’s full name, address, and exact date of birth, even though they didn’t need that information for the transaction. Using cryptographic techniques, she seeks to create digital credentials that only prove the necessities for a particular interaction. Such “zero-knowledge proofs,” she says, “lets me prove something to you about my identity, while keeping the rest of the stuff hidden.”

Privacy has a price, one of which is speed. She said, “A big part of my CAREER award is how to make privacy techniques practical by being faster and more efficient.” She is particularly looking at anonymous payments. A credit card company, for example, may know that someone is buying coffee from Einstein’s Bagel in the Nguyen Engineering Building every day, though they only need to be able to process a financial transaction. “If you pay with cash, your bank only knows you withdrew a sum of money, but no one knows where or how you’re spending that money. Using a credit card is so much more convenient than paying with cash,” she said. “The question is, using our credit cards or our phones, can we maintain the same level of privacy? The answer is yes.”

Digital privacy has regulatory consequences. “There is a tension between privacy and the ability to enforce the law,” she noted. “If we make everything completely private, there are regulatory issues, so I’m trying to design auditable or accountable schemes that ensure the following - as long as users obey the law, their privacy is maintained. If they break the law - under some well-defined notion of what the law says - their privacy will be lifted.” A key part of her grant, she said, is tackling the challenge of determining ways to mathematically formulate the law. To assist with this, she will be collaborating with the Mason policy and business schools.

From her abstract: “The amount of digital data collected electronically is increasing and poses threats to user privacy. Cryptographic mechanisms enhancing data privacy suffer from prohibitive computational and communication costs and do not offer accountability mechanisms. Towards the goal of bringing privacy-enhancing technologies closer to adoption, this project defines and constructs new cryptographic building blocks like: new types of digital signatures, cryptographic accumulators, and zero-knowledge proofs, which are at the core of mechanisms used to enhance privacy.”

The award totals more than $500K and the award period is from July 2022 to June 2027.

Topics

Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity Research

cryptography

computer science

Research

At the Cross-Roads of Health Policy and Information Technology - Cybersecurity and Healthcare Data: What Executives and Policy Makers Need to Know Event Held in Arlington

John Brandon Cantrell — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 18:59:20 +0000

At the Cross-Roads of Health Policy and Information Technology - Cybersecurity and Healthcare Data: What Executives and Policy Makers Need to Know Event Held in Arlington John Brandon C… Wed, 10/06/2021 - 14:59

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Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity Research

Health Information Technology

Arlington Forward

CHHS News

Tech Talent Investment Pipeline (TTIP)

TTIP

Tech Talent Investment Program

In This Story

Alison Evans Cuellar, PhD, MBA

Department of Health Administration and Policy Partner with Healthcare Technology Network (HealthTechNet) and Arlington Forward to Host a Successful Event.

The cybersecurity event provided attendees with networking opportunities, a keynote presentation, and a panel of cybersecurity experts discussing the top concerns in the federal, state, and private sectors.

Cyberattacks have become a pervasive threat in the health care industry. As more hospitals, clinics, and other health care organizations rely on technology for storing confidential medical records and delivering patient care, cyberattacks can jeopardize the safety and health of millions of individuals, making cybersecurity a priority for protecting public health.

As leaders in health administration, policy, and informatics, Mason’s Department of Health Administration and Policy (HAP) partnered with Healthcare Technology Network (HealthTechNet) and Arlington Forward to address this important issue and help professionals learn about the latest cybersecurity concerns in health care—and what to do about it.

On September 23, information technology (IT), cybersecurity, and health care professionals across the DMV region gathered in Mason's Van Metre Hall in Arlington, Virginia, for “Cybersecurity and Healthcare Data: What Executives and Policy Makers Need to Know,” hosted by HAP, HealthTechNet, and Arlington Forward.

"It was a pleasure to moderate this panel of experts," said Alison Cuellar, HAP professor and the event moderator. "Cybersecurity in health care has become hugely important. As we learned from our panelists, it's more than a data security issue; for providers, it can mean patient safety, too. And the state, federal, and private partners are working to address this important challenge."

Connecting, Collaborating, and Gaining Insight from Leading Cybersecurity Experts

The event offered attendees a valuable opportunity to network with a wide range of professionals dedicated to improving cybersecurity practices in their organizations. More than 100 professionals registered for the event.

PJ Maddox, HAP department chair, welcomed attendees and noted the significance of partnering with like-minded organizations to create an event where professionals can connect, collaborate, and gain insight from leading cybersecurity experts.

Keynote speaker Robert Wood, chief information security officer at Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, spoke about simplifying cybersecurity processes throughout his career and encouraged attendees to be flexible and adaptable to meet the fast-paced changes in cybersecurity successfully.

The panel provided a robust conversation on the public and private sectors' cybersecurity concerns. Alison Cuellar guided the discussion regarding current threats through the unique lens of each panelist, resulting in a well-rounded perspective on how cybersecurity affects all areas of health care and individual citizens.

Top Cybersecurity Concerns for Federal, State, and Private Sectors

John Riggi, senior advisor for cybersecurity and risk at the American Hospital Association, spoke on how the pandemic created vulnerabilities at hospitals throughout the country and the move to increased telehealth delivery created new opportunities for hackers to take advantage of weaknesses in cybersecurity – resulting in security breaches that affected millions of patients.

John Guerriero, a senior policy analyst in Homeland Security & Public Safety at the National Governors Association, discussed how cyberattacks affect the public’s trust in state government and the state executives’ focus on policies that protect patient data.

Looking to the future, Melina Scotto, chief information and security officer at General Dynamics Information Technology, focused her discussion on how private sectors can be proactive in cybersecurity by investing in educational pathways for students to become experts in cybersecurity engineering.

What's Next for HAP, Arlington Forward, and HealthTechNet

The event was one in a series of seminars on the most pressing issues at the intersection of information technology and health care.

"At HealthTechNet, we are proud of our growing collaboration with 911�� and its Department of Health Administration and Policy," said Jim Oakes of HealthTechNet and adjunct faculty at Mason. "Several HAP faculty members were instrumental in the growth of HealthTechNet over twenty years ago, and we are grateful for their ongoing support and contributions to our programs. We are delighted to have put on this joint program and look forward to working together in the future."

Secure manufacturing saves energy and protects businesses

Martha Bushong — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 16:36:05 +0000

Secure manufacturing saves energy and protects businesses Martha Bushong Thu, 04/15/2021 - 12:36

In This Story

Paulo Costa

Duminda Wijesekera

Paulo Costa (on right) with his team in the RARE Lab.

Cybersecurity experts from Mason’s College of Engineering and Computing are playing an important role in protecting American manufacturing automation and supply chains from cyber threats and designing better security into advanced manufacturing plants.

Through its membership with the Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CyManII, pronounced sī-man-ē), researchers will focus on developing an integrated cybersecurity architecture and achieving significant energy efficiencies in manufacturing.

The institute is led by the University of Texas at San Antonio and has an initial 5-year budget of $111 million, including $70 million from the U.S. Department of Energy. The remaining budget is comprised of cost-sharing, member contributions, and other factors that together will ensure the self-sustainability of CyManII after this initial period.

As a managing member, Mason is overseeing and operating CyManII’s East Coast headquarters on the Arlington Campus. The headquarters will house the institute’s primary offices, meeting space, and training facilities for the National Capital Region.

“The Arlington facility will house lab space and equipment to demonstrate, test, and validate CyManII’s emerging cybersecurity and advanced manufacturing technologies and products,” says Associate Professor and Vice President for Securing Automation and Supply Chain Paulo Costa. “Our proximity to the Department of Energy and Washington, D.C. will be useful to visitors when we return to in-person meetings and events.”

The 13,000-square-foot facility supports robotic platforms that evaluate security vulnerabilities, the impact of 5G on autonomous vehicles, the power grid, smart buildings and cities, and smart manufacturing. The space will also host a robotic smart manufacturing testbed and provide meeting and temporary office space for visiting researchers and staff.

Other benefits of filling the role of managing partner include representation on the governance board for leadership on strategic directions, planning, prioritization, and key programming.

Mason will participate in road mapping efforts and strategic decisions about investments, technical focus, and projects. Mason faculty will also gain complimentary access to CyManII events, tech showcases and meetings, and participate in annual RFP competition with extensive outreach promoting completed projects/technologies.

Mason researchers from the College of Engineering and Computing, who are setting up the lab, are playing key roles in CyManII’s first-year projects, finding ways to protect manufacturing automation and supply chains from cyber threats, and designing better security into advanced manufacturing plants.

In one of the projects, Professor Duminda Wijesekera, CyManII’s Coordinated Vulnerability Awareness Lead, is working with Bo Yu, research assistant professor, and Matt Jablonski, a PhD candidate and research assistant, to study Smart Manufacturing Architecture (SMA).

SMA has the potential to make American manufacturing more productive, more energy-efficient, more competitive, and verifiably correct. “We hope our research in Smart Manufacturing Architecture provides the backbone for modeling that will speed up the adoption of these technologies and processes and help companies to create new, secure, integrated systems,” says Jablonski. “We know that the sooner we can identify risks, the better we can help manufacturers mitigate the risks.”

The team’s work addresses potential methods for formally analyzing safety and security risks in Automated Manufacturing Systems. They emphasize how to identify components and the communication interfaces and components that can be modeled using formal methods.

Recently the team used an automated manufacturing system that produces aluminum cans to show how these processes are modeled using a suite of formal methods that included Linear Time propositional Temporal Logic, Architecture Analysis, and Design Language, as well as fault and attack tree analysis.

“This work is some of the most exciting work I’ve ever done,” says Yu. “The real-world application of this knowledge has tremendous impact. This modeling and what it does can protect the reputation of a business by finding weaknesses early on.”

As CyManII’s work becomes more established, the research enterprise will expand and grow into additional areas, such as other cyber-physical systems that directly control physical processes such as machinery, vehicles, cranes, and other movable infrastructure.

“Formal guarantees are needed in secure manufacturing automation because, in their absence, there is no acceptable way to guarantee against failures that occur due to malice and natural faults,” says Wijesekera. “These failures can affect the operational safety of machinery, operators, and the equipment that uses manufactured parts, resulting in wasted material and energy.”