Cybersecurity Commons^™

Securing Secrets: Exploring The Aes Encryption And Key Security Capabilities Of Chatgpt, Kayla Taylor

Student Works

The development and increasing accessibility of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools and large language models (LLMs) have allowed cryptographers to explore a variety of cryptanalysis problems in dynamic and interactive ways. Prompt engineering, the process by which input text is tested and refined to elicit a desired response from LLMs, is a nascent area of research that remains largely unexplored in many contexts, including cryptography. This study will explore the potential applications and limitations of prompt engineering in the context of Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption and key security with OpenAI’s ChatGPT (GPT-4o) through two main objectives: First, given a …

Watchdogs Or Lapdogs: How Audit Committees Influence Financial Reporting Quality And Cybersecurity, Yanru Yang

2025

With the increasing complexity of the business environment, the role of corporate governance and oversight is expanding continuously. Grounded in archival research, my dissertation consists of three studies that explore the features of audit committees in monitoring both financial reporting and broader areas, such as cybersecurity.

The first paper, co-authored with Gopal Krishnan and Wei Yu, examines the implications of audit committee (AC) director departure for financial reporting quality and audit risk. We find that the departures in the firms with most concerning AC departures are associated with a higher likelihood of a future “Big R” restatement announcement and auditor …

Action This Day: The Mathematics And Machinations That Bested The German Enigma, Jonah Weinbaum

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

This thesis presents a comprehensive and chronological overview of cryptographic techniques designed to break Enigma, beginning in 1932 and culminating in the creation of the Turing-Welchman Bombe. We discuss the mathematical theory and electromechanical implements used to decode one of history's greatest ciphers.

Reexamining the Bombe through the lens of modern group theory, we critique Alan Turing's estimation of the number of "stops" that the Bombe produces for various plaintext-ciphertext pairing structures. To address its limitations, we introduce a new framework for estimating the number of stops by extending John Dixon's theorem concerning the probability that uniformly distributed elements of …

Machine Learning Methods For Intrusion Detection And Response In Network Security, Ayomide Oyemaja

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) play a crucial role in computer network security by identifying malicious activities and potential cyberattacks. This thesis combines machine learning and cybersecurity by applying Reinforcement Learning (RL) in intrusion detection and response using the NSL-KDD dataset.

We designed and implemented a Q-learning framework where an agent learns to classify network traffic over time by interacting with the environment and receiving rewards based on detection accuracy. We also look at the importance of feature selection and classification techniques and how effective they are in improving model performance, reducing the complexity of computation, and producing more desirable results. …

Dynamic Analysis Of Malware Detection Using Customized Payloads: Examining The Effectiveness Of Manual And Automated Approaches In Web Applications, Jiban Krisna Das

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Web applications are becoming the prime targets for cyber-attacks, where SQL injection (SQLi) and Cross Site Scripting (XSS) are the most exploited vulnerabilities. The study explores a novel approach using customized payloads to examine the effectiveness of manual and automated techniques of malware detection. This dynamic approach can effectively generate attack payloads and identify the vulnerabilities in a website thereby strengthening website security measures. This research focuses on dynamic analysis in a controlled environment while testing and analyzing SQL and XSS payloads under varying security conditions. This quantitative analysis involves crafting targeted payloads to bypass Web Application Firewall (WAF) filters …

Exploring Research And Tools In Ai Security: A Systematic Mapping Study, Sidhant Narula, Mohammad Ghasemigol, Javier Carnerero-Cano, Amanda Minnich, Emil Lupu, Daniel Takabi

School of Cybersecurity Faculty Publications

With the pervasive integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in various facets of modern technology, the importance of AI security has been thrust into the spotlight. The field is rapidly evolving, with new challenges and solutions emerging at a swift pace. However, the breadth and depth of AI security research have not been comprehensively mapped in recent times, presenting a crucial need for an extensive review and synthesis of existing literature. Given the increasing reliance on AI in critical domains such as healthcare, finance, and national security, ensuring the resilience and trustworthiness of these systems is imperative. This survey fulfills the …

Deepsecure: A Novel Deep Learning Model For Effective Detection Of Attacks On Big Data In Internet Of Urban Things, Laiba Sabir, Nadeem Javaid, Mariam Akbar, Nabil Alrajeh, Safdar Hussain Bouk, Abdulaziz Aldegheishem

School of Cybersecurity Faculty Publications

The Internet of Urban Things (IoUTs) regularly generates large amounts of data, making it a focus of cyberthreats such as denial-of-service attacks and malware bot networks. Traditional intrusion detection systems struggle to detect intricate attack patterns, handle class imbalance, capture temporal dependencies, and exhibit transparency. To address these limitations, we introduce a novel deep machine learning model, DeepSecure, a hybrid model that combines Deep Belief Networks (DBN) for hierarchical feature extraction and Deep Neural Networks for attack classification. DBN is used for feature selection through unsupervised learning to extract hierarchical representations in the IoUTs network data. We assess the random …

Nexus: Network Exploration For Exploiting Unsafe Sequences In Multi-Turn Llm Jailbreaks, Javad Rafiei Asl, Sidhant Narula, Mohammad Ghasemigol, Eduardo Blanco, Daniel Takabi

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Large Language Models (LLMs) have revolutionized natural language processing, yet remain vulnerable to jailbreak attacks—particularly multi-turn jailbreaks that distribute malicious intent across benign exchanges, thereby bypassing alignment mechanisms. Existing approaches often suffer from limited exploration of the adversarial space, rely on hand-crafted heuristics, or lack systematic query refinement. We propose NEXUS (Network Exploration for eXploiting Unsafe Sequences), a modular framework for constructing, refining, and executing optimized multi-turn attacks. NEXUS comprises: (1) ThoughtNet, which hierarchically expands a harmful intent into a structured semantic network of topics, entities, and query chains; (2) a feedback-driven Simulator that iteratively refines and prunes these chains …

Qos-Aware Link Adaptation For Beyond 5g Networks: A Deep Reinforcement Learning Approach, Ali Parsa, Neda Moghim, Sachin Shetty

Center for Secure and Intelligent Critical Systems (CSICS) Publications

Modern wireless communication systems face increasingly complex challenges due to rapidly changing channel conditions and the growing diversity of application-specific Quality of Service (QoS) requirements. Traditional link adaptation mechanisms primarily aim to maximize throughput and often lack the flexibility to support emerging applications, such as Extended Reality (XR) and Virtual Reality (VR), which demand simultaneous guarantees for high data rates, ultra low latency, and high reliability. These stringent and multidimensional QoS needs call for more intelligent and adaptive solutions. In this paper, we propose QDRLLA (QoS-aware Deep Reinforcement Learning-based Link Adaptation), a novel framework that employs deep reinforcement learning to …

Long-Term Traffic Prediction Using Deep Learning Long Short-Term Memory, Ange-Lionel Toba, Sameer Kulkarni, Wael Khallouli, Timothy Pennington

School of Cybersecurity Faculty Publications

Traffic conditions are a key factor in our society, contributing to quality of life and the economy, as well as access to professional, educational, and health resources. This emphasizes the need for a reliable road network to facilitate traffic fluidity across the nation and improve mobility. Reaching these characteristics demands good traffic volume prediction methods, not only in the short term but also in the long term, which helps design transportation strategies and road planning. However, most of the research has focused on short-term prediction, applied mostly to short-trip distances, while effective long-term forecasting, which has become a challenging issue …

Privacy-Preserved And Incentivized Knowledge Sharing For Reinforced-Learning Based Iot Platform Security, Weichao Wang, Md Morshed Alam, Yu Wang

School of Cybersecurity Faculty Publications

With the fast development and deep penetration of IoT devices and smart environments, using localized machine learning models to detect malicious activities has also been developed and deployed. However, these isolated learning models and results cannot be effectively federated together because of privacy concerns and lack of incentivization. This paper proposed several mechanisms to solve the problem. A verification method was designed for phased learning results to protect user privacy and prevent individual parties from manipulating the verification selection. The paper also presented an incentive method based on delay of distribution of the latest federated learning results. Extensive simulations were …

Zero Trust Architecture As A Risk Countermeasure In Small-Medium Enterprises And Advanced Technology Systems, Ahmed M. Abdelmagid, Rafael Diaz

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

The growing sophistication of cyberattacks exposes small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to a widening range of security risks. As these threats evolve in complexity, the need for advanced security measures becomes increasingly pressing. This necessitates a proactive approach to defending against potential cyber intrusions. Emerging technologies, such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, and Zero Trust security framework, offer crucial tools for strengthening the digital infrastructure of SMBs. The Zero Trust architecture (ZTA) holds significant promise as a critical strategy for protecting SMBs. While existing literature explores the implementation of ZTA in various business settings, discussions specifically addressing the financial, human resource, …

Security Enhancement In Uav Swarms: A Case Study Using Federated Learning And Shap Analysis, Sushmitha Halli Sudhakara, Lida Haghnegahdar

School of Cybersecurity Faculty Publications

As cyber-physical systems (CPSs) increasingly integrate physical and digital realms, securing critical infrastructure, such as the Port of Virginia, becomes paramount. Among CPSs, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are vital for monitoring, communication, and supporting the command and control through remote reconnaissance and surveillance missions. These UAV applications often require coordination, planning, and runtime reconfiguration, traditionally managed by human decision-makers. However, this approach has limitations, as extensively documented in the literature. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a pivotal tool to address these limitations, enhancing risk mitigation and informed decision-making. This research proposes a machine learning (ML) based security mechanism, leveraging …

Problem-Centered Post-Secondary Computer Science Education: A Study Of The Private Artificial Intelligence Curriculum, Golnoush Haddadian, Prajwal Panzade, Daniel Takabi, Min Kyu Kim

School of Cybersecurity Faculty Publications

In response to the demand for Artificial Intelligence (AI) experts, this study introduced a curriculum development initiative. The aim was to design and implement a Private AI curriculum to understand the computer science (CS) students’ evaluations of the curricular activities and their levels of interest and motivation. Twenty-five students, a mix of undergraduates and graduates, were recruited and a scaled-down version of the curriculum was implemented. A parallel mixed-methods approach was employed. The results reinforced the significance of problem-centered curricula in CS context. Students rated the curricular activities highly and demonstrated strong motivation; however, graduates expressed more favorable view of …

Security Enhancement In Aav Swarms: A Case Study Using Federated Learning And Shap Analysis, Sushmitha Halli Sudhakara, Lida Haghnegahdar

School of Cybersecurity Faculty Publications

As cyber-physical systems (CPSs) increasingly integrate physical and digital realms, securing critical infrastructure, such as the Port of Virginia, becomes paramount. Among CPSs, Autonomous Aerial Vehicles (AAVs) are vital for monitoring, communication, and supporting the command and control through remote reconnaissance and surveillance missions. These AAV applications often require coordination, planning, and runtime reconfiguration, traditionally managed by human decision-makers. However, this approach has limitations, as extensively documented in the literature. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a pivotal tool to address these limitations, enhancing risk mitigation and informed decision-making. This research proposes a machine learning (ML) based security mechanism, leveraging …

From Cyclones To Cybersecurity: A Call For Convergence In Risk And Crisis Communications Research, Ann Marie Reinhold, Ross J. Gore, Barry Ezell, Clemente I. Izurieta, Elizabeth A. Shanahan

VMASC Publications

Effective risk and crisis communication can improve health and safety and reduce harmful effects of hazards and disasters. A robust body of literature investigates mechanisms for improving risk and crisis communication. While effective risk and crisis communication strategies are equally desired across different hazard types (e.g., natural hazards, cyber security), the extent to which risk and crisis communication experts utilize the “lessons learned” from scientific domains outside their own is suspect. Therefore, we hypothesized that risk and crisis communication research is siloed according to academic disciplines at the detriment to the advancement of the field of risk communications research writ …

Sting: A Stealthy Backdoor Attack On Gnn-Based Malicious Domain Detection Via Dns Perturbations, Muhammad Anan, Mahmoud Nazzal, Abdallah Khreishah, Issa Khalil, Nhathai Phan, Ahmad Sawalmeh

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Detecting malicious Internet domains is essential for safeguarding against various online threats. The current approach to detecting malicious domains (MDD) employs a graph neural network (GNN) method, which uses DNS logs to construct heterogeneous graphs for determining the maliciousness of unknown domains. Despite its success, this method is vulnerable to data poisoning attacks where an adversary can manipulate specific graph nodes to implant a backdoor into the model during training. To showcase the vulnerability, we propose a stealthy trigger injection attack on node features and graph structure in MDD, dubbed (STING). The attacker carefully manipulates selected features and edges of …

T3-Ciders: Fostering A Community Of Practice In Ci-And Data Enabled Cybersecurity Research Through A Train-The-Trainer Program, Wirawan Purwanto, Mohan Yang, Peng Jiang, Masha Sosonkina

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

We present a training program named T³-CIDERS, the Train- The-Trainer approach to fostering cyberinfrastructure (CI)- and Data-Enabled Research in CyberSecurity. T³-CIDERS is a train-the-trainer program for advanced cyberinfrastructure (CI) skills that is designed to be synergistic with research, teaching, and learning activities in cybersecurity and cyber-related disciplines. The participants, termed 'future trainers' (FTs), are trained in effective instructional design and CI hands-on materials from DeapSECURE, developed in a previous CyberTraining program. T³-CIDERS aims to enhance cybersecurity research and education through broader adoption of advanced CI techniques such as artificial intelligence, big data, parallel programming, and platforms like high-performance computing (HPC) …

A Comprehensive Exploration Of 6g Wireless Communication Technologies, Md Nurul Absar Siddiky, Muhammad Enayetur Rahman, Md. Shahriar Uzzal, H. M. Dipu Kabir

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

As the telecommunications landscape braces for the post-5G era, this paper embarks on delineating the foundational pillars and pioneering visions that define the trajectory toward 6G wireless communication systems. Recognizing the insatiable demand for higher data rates, enhanced connectivity, and broader network coverage, we unravel the evolution from the existing 5G infrastructure to the nascent 6G framework, setting the stage for transformative advancements anticipated in the 2030s. Our discourse navigates through the intricate architecture of 6G, highlighting the paradigm shifts toward superconvergence, non-IP-based networking protocols, and information-centric networks, all underpinned by a robust 360-degree cybersecurity and privacy-by-engineering design. Delving into …

Leveraging Large Language Models To Create Learner Personas For Training Design, N. Lovett, M. Yang, K. Herman, B. Li, M. Sosonkina, W. Purwanto, P. Jiang, M. H. Wu

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

This case examines the innovative use of Large Language Models (LLMs) to generate learner personas for developing learner-centered cybersecurity training materials when direct access to initial learner data is not available. The team developed a nine-stage iterative process for creating and refining AI-generated personas to address this constraint, integrating ethical review, stakeholder feedback, and action research principles. The process expanded upon Kouprie and Visser’s (2009) empathic design framework to ensure cultural responsiveness and mitigate potential biases in LLM outputs. Through multiple refinement cycles, initial generic personas evolved into detailed, context-rich archetypes which informed the development of effective and context-responsive training …