ABOUT.CYY
I received my M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Information Security from Royal Holloway, University of London, in 1996 and 2000, respectively. After completing my Ph.D., I joined Toshiba TRL in Bristol, U.K., and later became Vice President of the Mobile Handset Research and Development Center at LG Electronics in Seoul, South Korea, in 2005. In this role, I was responsible for developing mobile TV technologies and applications of security.
I left LG Electronics in 2007 and joined KAIST, South Korea, where I worked until September 2008. In September 2008, I joined Khalifa University of Science and Technology. I am currently a researcher in cybersecurity, with research interests including IoT/USN security, cyber-physical system security, cloud/fog security, and cryptographic techniques. I serve as an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science and as the Secure and Trusted Computing Theme Leader at the Centre for Intelligent Computing, Networks and Sensing (ICONS). I previously served as Cyber Security Theme Leader (2016–2026) and Deputy Director (2022–2023) of the Center for Cyber-Physical Systems (C2PS).
I enjoy lecturing on M.Sc. cybersecurity and Ph.D. engineering courses at Khalifa University. I have published more than 250 journal articles and conference papers, nine book chapters, and ten patent filings. I also serve on the editorial boards of multiple international journals and on the steering committees of international conferences.
EXPERIENCE.CYY
Associate Professor, Computer Science
Khalifa University
Assistant Professor
Khalifa University, Information Security Research Center
Visiting and Research Appointments
Vice President, Mobile Handset R&D Center
LG Electronics, Korea. Led development of Mobile TV (DVB-H, TDMB, MediaFLO) and mobile security. Delivered the world's first commercial 3G DVB-H, 3G TDMB and MediaFLO launches, and chaired the TDMB trials in the UK and Germany.
Wireless Security Research Team Leader
Toshiba Research Europe, England. Led research on 4G mobility security, including PKI, DRM, Bluetooth, WLAN, MANET, Mobile IPv6 and IPSec. Contributed to the EU projects TRUST and SCOUT.
EDUCATION.CYY
Ph.D. in Information Security
Royal Holloway, University of London
M.Sc. in Information Security
Royal Holloway, University of London
B.Sc. in Mathematics with Information Technology
Middlesex University, 2.1 Class
HONORS.CYY
Best Paper Award, IEEE CH 2026 (Venice, Italy)
For the paper "Mikyas: Audit-First Evaluation of Large Language Models for UAE Government Data Classification".
Top 2% Cited Scientist
Listed in the 2025 Elsevier/Stanford database of standardized citation indicators, and in the top 0.5% of researchers in Networking and Telecommunications.
Best Paper Award, ICESI 2018
For the paper "Empirical Research on use of Electroencephalographic (EEG) devices in personal identification".
Chartered Mathematician (CMath)
Professional title awarded by the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA), UK.
PUBLICATIONS.CYY
PATENTS.CYY
Secure software download techniques
Methods for securely downloading software over a data link.
Secure software download techniques (companion)
A companion filing covering a related approach to secure software download.
Secure mobile delegation techniques
Lets a mobile device securely hand over authority to another device or party.
Flexible security delegation techniques
A flexible way to delegate security permissions between parties.
Deniable authentication protocols
Authentication that proves identity to the other party, while giving a third party no proof that the exchange took place.
Communication device networks
Methods for building secure networks of communicating devices.
Secure "bind friendship" establishment
Securely sets up a trusted "friendship" relationship between two devices.
Location information preference authority
Lets users control who can see their location, protecting privacy in location-based services.
Security for emerging ubiquitous networks
Security mechanisms for always-connected, ubiquitous networks.
Chaotic cryptography for OFDM-based communication systems
Uses chaos-based encryption to secure OFDM wireless communications.
FUNDING.CYY
Robust AI-based Real-time Identification Friend or Foe (IFF)
GeoSense: Geo-deployable TENG System for Tactile Ground Activity Detection and Perimeter Security
Google.org: Google–Khalifa University Grant
C2PS: Cyber Security of Intelligent Devices
TII: Prevention and Detection of Poisoning and Adversarial Attacks on Machine Learning Models
TII: An Enhanced µTESLA Protocol for IoT Environment
C2PS: User Authentication and Identification in CPS Systems
TEACHING.CYY
SUPERVISION.CYY
INNOVATION.CYY
Principal Investigator, Identification Friend and Foe (IFF)
Moving the prototype from lab validation (TRL 4) to industrial environment validation (TRL 5).
Provisional patent filing
Security mechanisms based on TESLA protocols, for resource-constrained devices.
Cybersecurity Academy Initiative with KUEC
Co-developed and led a revenue-generating training enterprise. Delivered training to Abu Dhabi Police, the UAE Cybersecurity Council and industry partners.