The healthcare system in USA is vulnerable and has been subject to multiple cyberattacks, including the shutting down of ChangeHealthcare in 2023. Ransomware attacks on hospitals have been increasing, as demonstrated by incidents at Hackensack Meridian, and Scripps Health. Attackers choose critical infrastructure targets such as hospitals as they are more willing to pay ransoms to protect their patients. Since the usage of medical IoT devices are increasing rapidly, attackers may use these devices as entry points due to their weaker security. The Mirai botnet demonstrated the potential for large scale IoT-based attacks. Attackers in the the Colonial Pipeline incident exposed vulnerabilities on the operational technology side. Process sensors and critical control equipment also need to be made secure. In order to minimize such cybersecurity risks, it is important for organizations to follow the security guidelines set up by standards bodies including the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Regulatory agencies need to ensure that these guidelines are being followed. The Consumer and Technology Association (CES) has established a baseline cybersecurity standard for devices and systems (e.g. ANSI/CTA-2088 A). These standards specify best practices, including proper credentialing, protection of data at rest and in transit, and data validation to prevent common web application attacks. Artificial intelligence technology is increasingly being applied to cybersecurity problems. AI can continuously monitor network traffic and device behavior. It can quickly identify unusual activity that may indicate a security breach. User and entity behavioral analytics (UEBA) is a promising application of machine learning to cybersecurity and can detect signs of compromise, allowing threats to be addressed before they escalate. The main idea is that AI can learn normal user and device behaviors over time, through a training phase. It can then flag suspicious activities that deviate from these norms. This method can also be used to detect activity by malicious insiders who may be trying to exfiltrate data. UEBA helps to identify unusual download and data access patterns. As a concrete illustration of UEBA, we present results from our paper published in 2024 on user behavior analytics. We embedded accelerometer and gyroscope sensors in a door knob. We were able to identify users by first measuring patterns of their interactions with a doorknob and then applying deep-learning-based algorithms to these measurements. These methods are quite general and can be applied to other sensors and configurations where labeled user data can be collected.
"Challenges of implementing the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) in practice"
PCI DSS is a set of security standards designed to ensure the protection of cardholder data and is mandatory for organisations that handle payment card information. However, complying with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) can be a complex and challenging process and these challenges can vary depending on the size and nature of the organisation. This report will provide guidance and practical experience on how to overcome the main challenges of implementing this standard in a specific organization by providing practical advice based on real-world examples.
"Challenges of Cyber Security in Modern Society: The Impact of Social Engineering"
Social engineering is a significant cybersecurity vulnerability that exploits human psychology to manipulate individuals into exposing confidential information. Unlike other forms of cyberattacks that target technological weaknesses, social engineering attacks leverage psychological aspects such as emotions, trust, and authority. These tactics often involve the use of "weapons of influence," which include reciprocity, commitment, social proof, authority, liking, and scarcity. Social engineering can manifest in various forms, such as phishing, pretexting, baiting, and reverse social engineering, where attackers manipulate targets into reaching out to them for assistance. In 2024, statistics show that social engineering remains a prevalent threat, accounting for a significant portion of cybersecurity breaches globally. According to recent reports, nearly 70% of businesses have experienced at least one social engineering attack in the past year. High-profile examples of social engineering attacks include phishing emails disguised as official communications, pretexting to gather personal information under false pretenses, and baiting with enticing offers that lead to malware installation. As cyber threats become more sophisticated, the trends in social engineering are expected to evolve, incorporating advanced techniques such as deep-fake technology and artificial intelligence to enhance their effectiveness. Attackers are leveraging these technologies to create more convincing scenarios, making it increasingly challenging for individuals and organizations to differentiate between legitimate and fraudulent communications. To combat these threats, it is crucial to implement comprehensive training programs focusing on the psychological aspects of social engineering, emphasizing the importance of skepticism and verification before divulging sensitive information. Organizations should also consider employing interactive methods such as short videos to illustrate real-world examples of social engineering attacks, enhancing employee awareness and engagement. By fostering a culture of vigilance and continuous learning, individuals and organizations can better protect themselves against the growing threat of social engineering, ensuring a more secure cyber landscape in the years to come.
"Blackbox Android Malware Detection Using Machine Learning and Evasion Attacks Techniques"
Over the past ten years, researchers have extensively explored the vulnerability of Android malware detectors to adversarial examples through the development of evasion attacks. Nevertheless, the feasibility of these attacks in real-world use case scenarios is debatable. Most of the existing published papers are based on the assumptions that the attackers know the details of the target classifiers used for malware detection. Nevertheless, in reality, malicious actors have limited access to the target classifiers. This proposed talk presents a problem-space adversarial attack designed to effectively evade blackbox Android malware detectors in real-world use case scenarios. The proposed approach constructs a collection of problem-space transformations derived from benign donors that share opcode-level similarity with malware applications through the consideration of an n-gram-based approach. These transformations are then used to present malware instances as legitimate entities through an iterative and incremental manipulation strategy. The proposed presentation will describe a manipulation model that is based on a query-efficient optimization algorithm, which can identify and implement the required sequences of transformations into the malware applications. The model has already been evaluated relative to more than 1,000 malware applications. This demonstrates the effectiveness of the reported approach relative to the generation of real-world adversarial examples in both software and hardware-related scenarios. The experiments that we conducted demonstrate that the proposed model may effectively trick various malware detectors into believing that malware entities are legitimate. More precisely, the proposed model generates evasion rates of 90%–95% relative to data sets like DREBIN, Sec-SVM, ADE-MA, MaMaDroid, and Opcode-SVM. The average number of required computational operations belongs to the range [1..7]. Additionally, it is relevant to note that the proposed adversarial attack preserves its stealthiness against the virus detection core of three popular commercial antivirus softwares. The obtained evasion rate is 87%, which further proves the proposed model’s relevance for real-world use case scenarios.
"The Role of 5G/6G Cellular Network Technologies in Achieving the goals of Sustainable Development"
In order to achieve the global goals of sustainable development, it is necessary to use all available high-tech tools, which to one degree or another will bring the world community closer to the realization of the most ambitious ideas for global well-being. The ICT industry's contribution to achieving sustainable development goals should be noted separately. Cellular networks are one of the key drivers of the development of the ICT industry. They are developing at a very rapid pace and this is evidenced by several studies and the results of the analysis of the subscriber base. The latest generation of mobile radio communication networks today are 5G networks. However, the benefits of 5G are not limited to the ICT sector. The technology represents an open innovation platform that serves a multitude of sustainable use cases – from smart farms to smart factories – by improving automation, increasing productivity, increasing energy efficiency, conserving resources and enhancing resilience to climate change. 5G can also contribute to the decarbonization of the world's largest carbon-emitting sectors, namely energy, manufacturing and transport, by improving data sharing, optimizing systems and increasing operational efficiency, thereby accelerating global efforts to reduce carbon emissions. It can be argued that 5G and future 6G cellular network technologies have significant potential to promote sustainable development. Their high throughput, low latency and high scalability make them key tools for various initiatives to improve the quality of life and preserve the environment. With the help of 5G/6G technologies, it is possible to ensure the efficient use of resources, develop the "Internet of Things" and "smart" systems, increase the availability of education and health services, promote the development of remote work and mobility, and also increase the competitiveness of the economy. Therefore, the role of 5G/6G cellular network technologies in sustainable development cannot be overestimated. Their implementation and use open up new opportunities for creating more efficient, intelligent and ecologically clean cities and countries.
"METHODS FOR IDENTIFYING SUSPICIOUS PACKETS IN NETWORK TRAFFIC"
In this topic, algorithms for filtering web resources and identifying suspicious packets in network traffic are developed based on web request processing units. Moreover, as a result were achieved the protection of web resources from malicious bots, web page authenticity and domains from online threats and false phishing attacks.
"ML-based quality assessment of PRNG for cryptographic applications"
This study proposes the use of machine learning methods (in particular, hybrid and convolutional neural networks) to improve both accuracy and speed of assessing the quality of the PRNGs even with a limited amount of input data. This provides new opportunities for the use of generators in real-world conditions, where access to large amounts of data may be limited, and guarantees a high level of reliability and security of information systems. The results obtained will be useful for cryptography, LTE/5G/6G cellular networks, UAV-based technologies as well as critical information infrastructure protection.
"New technologies, new challenges on cybersecurity"
The talk will highlight the new technology environment that will be underlying the digital society. This new technology environment will pose increasing security threats, both inherent to those different technologies, and resulting from the overlying of these different areas in global systems, such as 5G and future 6G networks. The talk will then address security concerns at a societal level, and will details some examples of security risks in technologies such as AI and IoT.
"Intrusion Detection System Using Optimal Deep Learning Model"
DDoS threats have become prevalent globally in recent years. As a result, a robust Intrusion Detection System (IDS) is necessary. However, developing this system is challenging due to the lack of labeled DDoS flooding attacks for IPv6 in datasets. Therefore, this speech will introduce an IDS DDOS-IPV6 system and a new dataset based on an Optimal Deep Learning Convolution Neural Network model.
"Infiltrating Systems with Sonic Malware"
In this groundbreaking research, we explore the novel and alarming method of malware propagation through sound waves. This technique exploits the inherent vulnerabilities in modern computing systems' audio interfaces. The attacker device, potentially a smartphone, transmits specially crafted sound waves containing encoded malware. When within audible range, the victim device's microphone captures these sound waves. The malicious code is then decoded and executed in real-time, compromising the system's integrity. This method bypasses traditional security measures that focus on digital network traffic, making it a stealthy vector for cyberattacks. We delve into the technical mechanisms underlying this transmission method, including the encoding and decoding processes, the types of malware that can be transmitted, and potential mitigation strategies. Our findings underscore the need for heightened security measures to protect against audio-based attacks, expanding the horizon of cybersecurity to include the realm of acoustic signals. This research highlights the urgent need for developing new defenses against this emerging threat and proposes a framework for detecting and preventing soundwave-based malware transmission.
"The Evolving Role of International Law in Cyberspace"
As cyberspace becomes increasingly central to global interactions, international law faces new and complex challenges. This intervention will explore how existing legal frameworks are being applied to state actions in the digital realm and the emerging norms specific to cyberspace. Special attention will be given to issues such as digital sovereignty, the impact of cyber operations on state sovereignty, and the tension between security concerns and the protection of human rights online. By examining recent developments and key case studies, this presentation will highlight the urgent need for a more cohesive and adaptive international legal framework. The goal is to foster a deeper understanding of how international law can evolve to effectively govern cyberspace, ensuring it remains a secure, open, and stable domain.
"Implementation and deployment of post-quantum cryptography"
With the recent standardization by the US NIST of three quantum-resistant algorithms that could someday replace today's prevalent public-key algorithms like RSA and Diffie-Hellman, many security solutions will probably want or need to provide support for these new primitives. This talk aims to describe the lessons learned for a recent pedagogical "from scratch" implementation of the two new primitives (ML-KEM and ML-DSA) based on modular lattices as well as comparisions to the classical algorithms based on modular arithmetic and elliptic curves.
"State of Memory Safety in C++"
Memory safety is a key property of all code (applications and infrastructure). Recently, the National Security Agency (NSA) has expressed some concerns
regarding this issue. Bugs in memory management are common to software of all kinds. The presentation will give you some insights into the memory safety features of C++ and how they relate to other programming languages. The C++ standardisation committee is working on memory safety and other security features for a long time. Modern C++ differs greatly from any C++ techniques used before 2015. The presentation will put a few loose ends into perspective, will show how code can be improved by adopting the secure coding mindset, and what developers need to know about security features of programming languages. The presentaion also features references to programming languages enabling memory safe operations other than Rust.
"Hidden Dangers: Exploring Rare IoT Attacks"
The Internet of Things (IoT) has transformed connectivity by embedding smart devices into various environments, yet it also presents unique security challenges. Among these, rare IoT attacks targeting hardware vulnerabilities are particularly concerning. This abstract delves into such attacks, focusing on the exploitation of hardware components within IoT systems. IoT devices are frequently targeted through various hardware vulnerabilities, including debugging attacks, where attackers exploit debugging interfaces left enabled on IoT devices, allowing them to extract sensitive information or alter device functionality. These interfaces,
often intended for development purposes, can be misused if not properly secured. One-time programmable (OTP) chips, designed to prevent reprogramming after initial setup, can be bypassed by attackers, potentially altering device behaviour or extracting sensitive data. Bypassing read protection (RDP) levels is another tactic, where attackers employ sophisticated techniques to gain access to critical firmware and data, circumventing protections meant to prevent unauthorised access. Similarly, code read protection (CRP) attacks exploit vulnerabilities to disable or bypass
CRP, allowing attackers to extract and analyse the firmware.
Additional hardware attacks include fault injection attacks, which involve deliberately introducing faults into a device's operation, often by manipulating voltage or clock signals, to cause unintended behaviour or extract sensitive information. Physical layer attacks target the physical transmission medium of IoT devices, potentially intercepting or altering data as it is transmitted. Tamper resistance bypass involves physically manipulating devices to bypass
tamper-resistant features, gaining unauthorised access to the device's internals. Clock glitch attacks introduce glitches in the clock signal, disrupting normal device operations and potentially bypassing security checks. Power analysis attacks monitor the power consumption of a device to extract cryptographic keys or other sensitive information. Electromagnetic attacks use electromagnetic emissions from a device to infer sensitive information or disrupt device operations. Finally, hardware reverse engineering involves analyzing a device's hardware to understand its design and functionality, potentially revealing vulnerabilities that can be exploited. Although rare, hardware exploitation attacks on IoT systems pose significant threats due to their potential to cause widespread disruption and damage. Mitigating these vulnerabilities
necessitates a multi-layered security approach, encompassing robust hardware design and continuous monitoring for anomalies. As IoT technology continues to evolve, understanding and addressing these rare but severe attack vectors is crucial for maintaining secure and reliable IoT ecosystems.
"Cybersecurity in Azerbaijan: Legislative Measures to Protect Critical Information Infrastructure"
This speech highlights Azerbaijan's evolving cybersecurity landscape, with a focus on legislative efforts to protect critical information infrastructure (CII). Over the past three years, a series of legislative measures have been introduced, culminating in the adoption of a national cybersecurity strategy last year. Furthermore, separate regulations have been enacted to bolster CII protection. While these steps mark significant progress, further actions are crucial to ensure the effective implementation and safeguarding of Azerbaijan's critical infrastructure in the years ahead.
"In Plain Sight: The Future of Cryptographic Authentication Without Compromise"
Governments, email vendors, social media websites, and even your favorite food recipes forum require account registrations where you pass your secret, often the same, password over insecure channels, riddled with sniffing agents while subjecting your online identity to theft, data breaches, and a whole bag of privacy concerns.
This doesn't need to be the case. With the massive explosion of fast, secure, and privacy-preserving cryptographic protocols, your credentials need never leave your device and websites don't need to store your passwords for authentication to complete
In this talk, I'll introduce a privacy-preserving password protocol that allows clients to authenticate with proofs of their secrets without ever sharing their private data with anyone outside their device
"Development and study of post-quantum cryptography algorithms based on hash functions"
The distinguishing feature of hash-based algorithms is their high confidence in security. When designing electronic signature schemes, proofs of security reduction to certain properties of cryptographic hash functions are used. This means that if the scheme is compromised, then one of these properties will be violated. It is important to note that the properties of cryptographic hash functions have been studied for many years, but if a specific hash function used in a proto-col turns out to be insecure, it can simply be replaced with another one while keeping the over-all construction unchanged. This article describes new post-quantum signature algorithms, SYRGA-1, and its modify version SYRGA-2 based on a hash functions. These algorithms are designed to sign r messages with a single secret key. One of the key primitives of the signature algorithm is a cryptographic hash function. The Syrga-2 scheme provides for the definition of different security levels determined by the parameter τ. The proposed algorithms use the HAS01 and HBC-256 hashing algorithm developed by researchers from the Information Security Laboratory of the Institute of Information and Computational Technologies. The security and efficiency of the specified hash algorithm have been demonstrated in other articles by its authors. Hash-based signature schemes are attractive as post-quantum signature schemes because their security can be quantified, and their security has been proven.
"Internet Fragmentation as a new challenge for the Unified, Security and Stability of Internet"
The positive process of rapid development of the Internet and Internet technologies is accompanied by certain risks that pose a threat to the unity and security of the global Internet network, its stability and sustainable growth.
Title: Overview of Research Trends and Challenges in 6G Mobile Networks and the Computing Continuum
The rapid proliferation of IoT devices, coupled with the generated exponential growth of data, has necessitated
the development of advanced network architectures to support. 5G networks began to face challenges such as
network congestion, latency, and scalability limitations. Therefore, the need for a robust and future-proof solution becomes increasingly evident.
The primary objective is to address the shortcomings of existing network infrastructures by integrating advanced
AI capabilities with the emerging concept of the Computing Continuum. The Computing Continuum encompasses
the seamless integration of edge, fog, and cloud computing resources to provide a unified and distributed
computing environment, and it aims to enable real-time data processing, low-latency response, and intelligent
decision-making at the network edge.
To achieve these goals, several key aspects should be considered. First, it will investigate the integration of AI
algorithms and techniques into the Computing Continuum, allowing for intelligent data analysis and inference
closer to the data source. Second, the novel approaches would be explored to optimize application scheduling,
deployment and adaptation within the Computing Continuum, ensuring efficient utilization of computing
resources across edge, fog, and cloud nodes. Third, the novel network overlay approaches for efficient utilization
of the next generation 6G networks should be explored.
The findings of this research will contribute to academia, industry, and standardization bodies by providing
valuable insights into the development of future-proof 6G network architecture capable of supporting the ever-
increasing demands of AI-driven IoT applications.
"Hidden Dangers: Exploring Rare IoT Attacks"
The Internet of Things (IoT) has transformed connectivity by embedding smart devices into various environments, yet it also presents unique security challenges. Among these, rare IoT attacks targeting hardware vulnerabilities are particularly concerning. This abstract delves into such attacks, focusing on the exploitation of hardware components within IoT systems. IoT devices are frequently targeted through various hardware vulnerabilities, including debugging attacks, where attackers exploit debugging interfaces left enabled on IoT devices, allowing them to extract sensitive information or alter device functionality. These interfaces,
often intended for development purposes, can be misused if not properly secured. One-time programmable (OTP) chips, designed to prevent reprogramming after initial setup, can be bypassed by attackers, potentially altering device behaviour or extracting sensitive data. Bypassing read protection (RDP) levels is another tactic, where attackers employ sophisticated techniques to gain access to critical firmware and data, circumventing protections meant to prevent unauthorised access. Similarly, code read protection (CRP) attacks exploit vulnerabilities to disable or bypass
CRP, allowing attackers to extract and analyse the firmware.
Additional hardware attacks include fault injection attacks, which involve deliberately introducing faults into a device's operation, often by manipulating voltage or clock signals, to cause unintended behaviour or extract sensitive information. Physical layer attacks target the physical transmission medium of IoT devices, potentially intercepting or altering data as it is transmitted. Tamper resistance bypass involves physically manipulating devices to bypass
tamper-resistant features, gaining unauthorised access to the device's internals. Clock glitch attacks introduce glitches in the clock signal, disrupting normal device operations and potentially bypassing security checks. Power analysis attacks monitor the power consumption of a device to extract cryptographic keys or other sensitive information. Electromagnetic attacks use electromagnetic emissions from a device to infer sensitive information or disrupt device operations. Finally, hardware reverse engineering involves analyzing a device's hardware to understand its design and functionality, potentially revealing vulnerabilities that can be exploited. Although rare, hardware exploitation attacks on IoT systems pose significant threats due to their potential to cause widespread disruption and damage. Mitigating these vulnerabilities
necessitates a multi-layered security approach, encompassing robust hardware design and continuous monitoring for anomalies. As IoT technology continues to evolve, understanding and addressing these rare but severe attack vectors is crucial for maintaining secure and reliable IoT ecosystems.
"Enhancing the Cybersecurity of Mobile Telecommunication Systems Using Neural Cryptography Techniques"
In the rapidly evolving landscape of mobile telecommunication systems, the need for robust cybersecurity measures has become paramount, especially with the advent of 5G and beyond. This paper explores the application of neural cryptography techniques to enhance the security of mobile networks.
IDPs, such as the ones provided by Google and Facebook, are becoming popular for
authenticating people and proving a minimum of information about a person (email, photo, etc.).
In many cases, this minimum of information is all that a network access provider needs from a
user, because it can log enough information for accounting.
Furthermore, the network access provider does not need to maintain user accounts and
credentials, and users do not to memorize more credentials.
However, the use of IDPs was initially designed for HTTP-based interactions, for instance, using
SAML or OAuth 2.0, and not for low-level network access.
We managed to use OAuth 2.0 for the authentication of users accessing Wi-Fi networks, using
a novel EAP protocol, named EAP-OAUTH.
Cyber Weapons and Nation-States: Threats and Risks
As the digital landscape evolves, cyber weapons have become pivotal tools for nation-states to assert dominance, engage in espionage, and conduct warfare. This presentation will explore the growing role of cyber weapons in state-sponsored operations, focusing on how these digital tools are used to disrupt critical infrastructure, compromise national security, and manipulate political landscapes. By examining recent case studies and analyzing the evolving tactics of nation-states in cyberspace, the presentation will highlight the key threats posed by cyber warfare. It will also address the different levels of nation-state attackers, the dual-use nature of cyber weapons, the role of cyber-arms manufacturers, and the challenges of attribution.
the global trends in international digital connectivity and the opportunities for the South Caucasus region to play a more important role in international connectivity an data flow networks
A brief online presentation covering the NIS2 directive and its implementation in the EU
he NIS2 Directive will repeal and replace the first NIS framework from 17 October 2024.
The principal objective of the NIS2 is to increase the level of cyber resilience across the
EU. It does so by requiring all entities in the EU which provide critical services to the
economy and society as a whole to take appropriate cybersecurity measures.
The presentation will offer an overview of the rationale behind the establishment of the
NIS2 Directive, which emerged in response to the increasing cyber threats across the
EU and the limitations of the first NIS framework.
It will also cover key aspects from the directive, including its broadened scope,
enhanced requirements for risk management, in particular on supply chain security,
incident reporting obligations, and stricter enforcement mechanisms aimed at
strengthening the cybersecurity resilience of both public and private sectors across the
EU.
Lastly, the presentation will address the current status of the directive's implementation
across the EU.
Cyber Weapons and Nation-States: Threats and Risks
As the digital landscape evolves, cyber weapons have become pivotal tools for nation-states to assert dominance, engage in espionage, and conduct warfare. This presentation will explore the growing role of cyber weapons in state-sponsored operations, focusing on how these digital tools are used to disrupt critical infrastructure, compromise national security, and manipulate political landscapes. By examining recent case studies and analyzing the evolving tactics of nation-states in cyberspace, the presentation will highlight the key threats posed by cyber warfare. It will also address the different levels of nation-state attackers, the dual-use nature of cyber weapons, the role of cyber-arms manufacturers, and the challenges of attribution.
English 
Georgian