AI in Cybersecurity, 2nd Edition

A special issue of Electronics (ISSN 2079-9292). This special issue belongs to the section "Computer Science & Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 November 2024 | Viewed by 4019

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, TX 78363, USA
Interests: computer vision; machine learning; artificial intelligence; pattern recognition; biomedical engineering; biomedical signal and image processing; bioinformatics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, TX 78363, USA
Interests: bioinformatics; computational biology; machine learning; pattern recognition; data mining and analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, TX 78363, USA
Interests: parallel distributed systems; networking; storage systems; cluster and grid computing; real-time systems; fault-tolerant computing; performance evaluation; dynamic resource management; network security
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, TX 78363, USA
Interests: object-oriented programming; mobile development
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Cyber defense and security is now an essential field of computer science in light of the ever-increasing threats and attacks on computer infrastructure. Machine learning and artificial intelligence methods are applicable in the detection of cyber threats, such as malware analysis, intrusion detection, injection attacks, etc. There are various algorithms in machine learning and artificial intelligence methods. Additionally, there are several applications of cyber defense, including firewall configuration, packet sniffing, network analysis, and network traffic monitoring. This Special Issue welcomes papers on any of these above mentioned or related topics using or developing machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms.

Dr. Ayush Goyal
Dr. Avdesh Mishra
Dr. Mais Nijim
Dr. David Hicks
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • cybersecurity
  • cyber defense
  • cyber intelligence
  • machine learning
  • artificial intelligence
  • intrusion detection
  • malware analysis

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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21 pages, 1524 KiB  
Article
An Ensemble of Text Convolutional Neural Networks and Multi-Head Attention Layers for Classifying Threats in Network Packets
by Hyeonmin Kim and Young Yoon
Electronics 2023, 12(20), 4253; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics12204253 - 14 Oct 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1185
Abstract
Using traditional methods based on detection rules written by human security experts presents significant challenges for the accurate detection of network threats, which are becoming increasingly sophisticated. In order to deal with the limitations of traditional methods, network threat detection techniques utilizing artificial [...] Read more.
Using traditional methods based on detection rules written by human security experts presents significant challenges for the accurate detection of network threats, which are becoming increasingly sophisticated. In order to deal with the limitations of traditional methods, network threat detection techniques utilizing artificial intelligence technologies such as machine learning are being extensively studied. Research has also been conducted on analyzing various string patterns in network packet payloads through natural language processing techniques to detect attack intent. However, due to the nature of packet payloads that contain binary and text data, a new approach is needed that goes beyond typical natural language processing techniques. In this paper, we study a token extraction method optimized for payloads using n-gram and byte-pair encoding techniques. Furthermore, we generate embedding vectors that can understand the context of the packet payload using algorithms such as Word2Vec and FastText. We also compute the embedding of various header data associated with packets such as IP addresses and ports. Given these features, we combine a text 1D CNN and a multi-head attention network in a novel fashion. We validated the effectiveness of our classification technique on the CICIDS2017 open dataset and over half a million data collected by The Education Cyber Security Center (ECSC), currently operating in South Korea. The proposed model showed remarkable performance compared to previous studies, achieving highly accurate classification with an F1-score of 0.998. Our model can also preprocess and classify 150,000 network threats per minute, helping security agents in the field maximize their time and analyze more complex attack patterns. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue AI in Cybersecurity, 2nd Edition)
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Review

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30 pages, 5833 KiB  
Review
A Survey: Security Vulnerabilities and Protective Strategies for Graphical Passwords
by Zena Mohammad Saadi, Ahmed T. Sadiq, Omar Z. Akif and Alaa K. Farhan
Electronics 2024, 13(15), 3042; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics13153042 - 1 Aug 2024
Viewed by 385
Abstract
As technology advances and develops, the need for strong and simple authentication mechanisms that can help protect data intensifies. The contemporary approach to giving access control is through graphical passwords comprising images, patterns, or graphical items. The objective of this review was to [...] Read more.
As technology advances and develops, the need for strong and simple authentication mechanisms that can help protect data intensifies. The contemporary approach to giving access control is through graphical passwords comprising images, patterns, or graphical items. The objective of this review was to determine the documented security risks that are related to the use of graphical passwords, together with the measures that have been taken to prevent them. The review was intended to present an extensive literature review of the subject matter on graphical password protection and to point toward potential future research directions. Many attacks, such as shoulder surfing attacks, SQL injection attacks, and spyware attacks, can easily exploit the graphical password scheme, which is one of the most widely used. To counter these security threats, several measures have been suggested, but none of the security attacks can be completely overcome. Each of the proposed measures has its pros and cons. This study begins by elucidating some of the graphical password schemes studied between 2012 and 2023, delving into potential threats and defense mechanisms associated with these schemes. Following a thorough identification and selection process, five of the reviewed papers explain the threat of shoulder surfing and spyware attacks on graphical password schemes, while two explain the threat of brute force attacks. One paper focuses on dictionary attacks, while four other papers address social engineering, SQL injection attacks, and guessing attacks as potential threats to graphical password schemes. In addition, the papers recognize other forms of attacks, such as video recording attacks, filtering attacks, reverse engineering attacks, multiple observation attacks, key/mouse logger attacks, insider attacks, computer vision attacks, image gallery attacks, sonar attacks, reply attacks, data interception attacks, and histogram manipulation attacks. These attacks are examined in three, three, eight, one, four, one, one, one, one, one, one, and one papers, respectively. Moreover, out of all such countermeasures, most of them are based on three categories—randomization, obfuscation, and password space complexity—which are the most commonly employed strategies for improving graphical password schemes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue AI in Cybersecurity, 2nd Edition)
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18 pages, 640 KiB  
Review
A Review of Deep Learning-Based Binary Code Similarity Analysis
by Jiang Du, Qiang Wei, Yisen Wang and Xiangjie Sun
Electronics 2023, 12(22), 4671; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics12224671 - 16 Nov 2023
Viewed by 1874
Abstract
Against the backdrop of highly developed software engineering, code reuse has been widely recognized as an effective strategy to significantly alleviate the burden of development and enhance productivity. However, improper code citation could lead to security risks and license issues. With the source [...] Read more.
Against the backdrop of highly developed software engineering, code reuse has been widely recognized as an effective strategy to significantly alleviate the burden of development and enhance productivity. However, improper code citation could lead to security risks and license issues. With the source codes of many pieces of software being difficult to obtain, binary code similarity analysis (BCSA) has been extensively implemented in fields such as bug search, code clone detection, and patch analysis. This research selects 39 papers on BCSA from top-tier and emerging conferences within artificial intelligence, network security, and software engineering from 2016 to 2022 for deep analysis. The central focus lies on methods utilizing deep learning technologies, detailing a thorough summary and the arrangement of the application and implementation specifics of various deep learning technologies. Furthermore, this study summarizes the research patterns and development trends in this field, thereby proposing potential directions for future research. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue AI in Cybersecurity, 2nd Edition)
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