Web Science and Digital Libraries Research Group

I am delighted to receive the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative Grant for $100,000 to support our collaborative proposal, “Adaptive Intrusion Detection in IoT Networks Using LLM-Driven Behavioral Analysis and Deep Reinforcement Learning” beginning in January 2025. This is a collaborative work with Dr. Neda Moghim and Virginia Tech.   Figure 1: Project Plan and Tasks This research project explores the integration of Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL), Large Language Models (LLMs), neuro-symbolic AI, and wireless networking to create adaptive intrusion detection systems for Internet of Things (IoT) networks. The central research question focuses on developing resilient IoT systems capable of recovering swiftly from cyberattacks without degrading the user experience. To address this, the project introduces several key innovations. First, an adaptive prompt-generation system is proposed using DRL to optimize LLM queries in real-time by tracking the evolving nature of cy...

  Members of the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative and invited guests gathered at the second annual CCI Symposium April 17 to 18, 2023, in Richmond, VA. Dr. Luiz DaSilva , executive director of the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative, presented the State of CCI speech at the 2022 CCI Symposium. In his speech, Dr. Silva mentioned the selected proposals for the “Securing Interactions between Humans and Machines” call this year. In a later workshop, funded projects from Virginia universities presented a short briefing on their projects . As the PI of one of the projects, I presented our research work on counter human smuggling. This is a collaborative work between  Dr. Faryaneh Poursardar ,  Dr. Vikas Ashok   from ODU CS, and  Dr. Erika Frydenlund   from  VMASC . Intentional misinformation and/or disinformation can play a large part in humanitarian crises involving human smuggling and trafficking. Human smugglers (also known as coyotes on the U.S. southern border)...

We are delighted to receive funding to work on a research project to develop new ways to counter human smuggling by identifying deceptive posts on social media sites. This is a joint work collaboration between Dr. Faryaneh Poursardar , Dr. Vikas Ashok from ODU CS, and  Dr. Erika Frydenlund from  VMASC   and will support one graduate student for one year Faryaneh Poursardar, Vikas Ashok, and Erika Frydenlund, From Gap to Gain: Counter Human Smuggling by Identifying Deceptive Advertisements in Social Media, Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI) - Securing Interaction between Humans and Machines, 12/2022 – 12/2023, $60,000 Human smuggling across borders is one of the major global concerns affecting many countries across the world, including the United States. Research shows that smugglers are heavily relying on social media to solicit migrants attempting to cross into the US through deceptive advertisements promising safe and guaranteed means of crossing the border. Deceptiv...

The 2022 CCI Symposium , hosted by the Virginia Commonwealth Cyber Initiative, was held at the Omni Hotel, Richmond, VA on April 4, 2022, and April 5, 2022. As an awardee of the CCI seed grant on misinformation and disinformation, I presented our project in a speed briefing and a poster, with my student Saad Khan. In this trip report, I outline the symposium, highlight selected talks and posters, and list old and new friends. I also believe networking is an important purpose of coming to a face-to-face meeting.  State of the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative by   Luiz DaSilva In this presentation, Dr. Luiz DaSilva, executive director of CCI, systematically summarized the state of the CCI program in four aspects: research, innovation, workforce development, and impact. Since its inauguration, the CCI program has had more than 300 researchers from at least 40 higher education institutions in Virginia. It has four nodes, Northern Virginia Node ( NOVA , directed by Dr.  Liza Wil...

Earlier in 2021,  the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI) announced a call for proposals  themed Role of Cybersecurity on Curbing the Spread of Disinformation and Misinformation and Disinformation . The theme was the role of cybersecurity on curbing the spread of disinformation and misinformation. Traditionally, cybersecurity was about solutions of protecting computers and information systems from information disclosure, damage of hardware, software, and electronic data. Recently,  many researchers realized that combating misinformation and disinformation (MIDIS) should be incorporated into the scope because MIDIS is also the delivery package of malicious attackers, whether intentional or unintentional. Such information can cause subsequent damage to hardware and software, people's health, and even the society.  Figure 1 : LexisNexis appearances of “fake news” in newspaper coverage in the United States and globally. Courtesy: Scheufele & Krause (2018) S...