Eight Georgia Tech researchers were honored with the ACM Distinguished Paper Award for their groundbreaking contributions to cybersecurity at the recent ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS).

Three papers were recognized for addressing critical challenges in the field, spanning areas such as automotive cybersecurity, password security, and cryptographic testing.

“These three projects underscore Georgia Tech's leadership in advancing cybersecurity solutions that have real-world impact, from protecting critical infrastructure to ensuring the security of future computing systems and improving everyday digital practices,” said School of Cybersecurity and Privacy (SCP) Chair Michael Bailey.

One of the papers, ERACAN: Defending Against an Emerging CAN Threat Model, was co-authored by Ph.D. student Zhaozhou Tang, Associate Professor Saman Zonouz, and College of Engineering Dean and Professor Raheem Beyah. This research focuses on securing the controller area network (CAN), a vital system used in modern vehicles that is increasingly targeted by cyber threats. 

"This project is led by our Ph.D. student Zhaozhou Tang with the Cyber-Physical Systems Security (CPSec) Lab," said Zonouz. "Impressively, this was Zhaozhou's first paper in his Ph.D., and he deserves special recognition for this groundbreaking work on automotive cybersecurity." 

The work introduces a comprehensive defense system to counter advanced threats to vehicular CAN networks, and the team is collaborating with the Hyundai America Technical Center to implement the research. The CPSec Lab is a collaborative effort between SCP and the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE).

In another paper, Testing Side-Channel Security of Cryptographic Implementations Against Future Microarchitectures, Assistant Professor Daniel Genkin collaborated with international researchers to define security threats in new computing technology.  

"We appreciate ACM for recognizing our work," said Genkin. “Tools for early-stage testing of CPUs for emerging side-channel threats are crucial to ensuring the security of the next generation of computing devices.”

The third paper, Unmasking the Security and Usability of Password Masking, was authored by graduate students Yuqi Hu, Suood Al Roomi, Sena Sahin, and Frank Li, SCP and ECE assistant professor. This study investigated the effectiveness and provided recommendations for implementing password masking and the practice of hiding characters as they are typed and offered.

"Password masking is a widely deployed security mechanism that hasn't been extensively investigated in prior works," said Li. 

The assistant professor credited the collaborative efforts of his students, particularly Yuqi Hu, for leading the project.

The ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS) is the flagship annual conference of the Special Interest Group on Security, Audit and Control (SIGSAC) of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). The conference was held from Oct. 14-18 in Salt Lake City.