2023 – 2026
PhD in Information & Communication Technology
University of L'Aquila, Italy
Emerging computational models, software architectures, software engineering and intelligent systems.
About
I am a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of L'Aquila, Italy, where I also earned my PhD in Information & Communication Technology (2023–2026), working on emerging computational models, software architectures and intelligent systems.
My research sits at the intersection of cybersecurity and machine learning. I build intrusion detection systems based on transformer and deep transfer learning models, design lightweight detectors that run at the network edge, and integrate machine-learning analytics into SIEM pipelines for operational-technology and virtualized environments.
Alongside research, I have hands-on experience in authorized penetration testing, defensive security, software quality assurance and mobile application development, and I founded a legal-tech start-up in Pakistan.
Publications
Updated automatically from ORCID, Crossref and Google Scholar. Click a title or DOI to open the paper at the publisher.
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2026
A Systematic Review of Kernel-Level Security Mechanisms, Vulnerability Detection and Mitigation in Modern Operating Systems
Sensors, vol. 26, no. 8, art. 2452
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2026
Real-Time DDoS Detection by Integrated eBPF Telemetry and Machine Learning-enhanced SIEM
2026 International Conference on Intelligent Multimedia, Networking, and Security (IMNS), pp. 1–6
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2025
Deep Transfer Learning for Intrusion Detection in Edge Computing Scenarios
IEEE Internet of Things Journal
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2025
Enhancing IIoT Security: BERT-Driven Intrusion Detection with MLP in Industrial Networks
2025 IEEE 11th World Forum on Internet of Things (WF-IoT), pp. 1–7
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2025
A Lightweight Intrusion Detection System for IoT Based on Deep Transfer Learning at the Edge
2025 IEEE 9th Forum on Research and Technologies for Society and Industry (RTSI), pp. 1–6
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2025
Supervised Learning Approach for Intrusion Detection in Unbalanced Network Traffic
VFAST Transactions on Software Engineering, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 1–12
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2025
Improving 6G Network Performance with Linear Regression and Stacking GBM
2025 International Conference on Recent Advances in Mathematics and Informatics (ICRAMI), pp. 1–6
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2024
Empowering Network Security: BERT Transformer Learning Approach and MLP for Intrusion Detection in Imbalanced Network Traffic
IEEE Access, vol. 12, pp. 137618–137633
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2024
X-ray Image Analysis for Dental Disease: A Deep Learning Approach Using EfficientNets
VFAST Transactions on Software Engineering, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 147–165
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2024
IDD-Net: A Deep Learning Approach for Early Detection of Dental Diseases Using X-Ray Imaging
Journal of Computing & Biomedical Informatics 7 (02)
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2024
PDDNet: Deep Learning Based Dental Disease Classification through Panoramic Radiograph Images
VFAST Transactions on Software Engineering, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 180–198
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Research projects & funding
My research is carried out within, and funded by, the following European, national and regional projects, which are acknowledged in my publications.
Funded by the European Union — NextGenerationEU (Italian PNRR), Horizon Europe and the European Regional Development Fund, with the Italian Ministries of University and Research (MUR) and of Enterprises and Made in Italy (MIMIT) and the Abruzzo Region.
VITALITY
National innovation ecosystem
4 papers
Innovation, digitalisation and sustainability for the diffused economy in Central Italy
Hub-and-spoke innovation ecosystem of universities, research centres and companies across Abruzzo, Marche and Umbria, with the University of L'Aquila as a spoke.
National Innovation Ecosystem · PNRR Mission 4, Component 2, Investment 1.5
- European Union — NextGenerationEU
- Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR)
ECS00000041 · CUP E13C22001060006
Acknowledged in 4 papers
- A Systematic Review of Kernel-Level Security Mechanisms, Vulnerability Detection and Mitigation in Modern Operating Systems (2026)
- Deep Transfer Learning for Intrusion Detection in Edge Computing Scenarios (2025)
- Empowering Network Security: BERT Transformer Learning Approach and MLP for Intrusion Detection in Imbalanced Network Traffic (2024)
- Enhancing IIoT Security: BERT-Driven Intrusion Detection with MLP in Industrial Networks (2025)
RESTART
Extended partnership · 6G & networks
3 papers
RESearch and innovation on future Telecommunications systems and networks, to make Italy more smART
Italy's largest public research programme on telecommunications, covering future networks, 6G and their security.
Extended Partnership “Telecommunications of the Future” · PNRR Mission 4, Component 2, Investment 1.3
- European Union — NextGenerationEU
- Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR)
PE00000001 · CUP E83C22004640001
Acknowledged in 3 papers
SERICS · ISP5G+
Extended partnership · cybersecurity
1 paper
SEcurity and RIghts in the CyberSpace — ISP5G+ project
National cybersecurity research partnership; the ISP5G+ project studies security paradigms for 5G and beyond networks.
Extended Partnership SERICS (PE00000014) · PNRR Mission 4, Component 2, Investment 1.3
- European Union — NextGenerationEU
- Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR)
PE00000014 · CUP D33C22001300002
Acknowledged in 1 paper
EXARCH
Horizon Europe · MSCA
2 papers
sErvitization of Industry X.0 Assets powered by secure, Resilient and immersive digital twin teCHnologies
International staff-exchange project building a secure, modular digital-twin platform for Asset-as-a-Service in Industry X.0, including cybersecurity for remote monitoring and control.
Horizon Europe · Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Staff Exchanges (HORIZON-MSCA-SE)
- European Commission
GA 101236244
Acknowledged in 2 papers
- Confidential Model Sharing Protocol for Distributed Transfer Learning and Blockchain-Governed Access IEEE RTSI 2026 · In proceedings
- Structure-Aware Merkle Trees for Tamper-Localizable Dataset and Model Integrity on Blockchain and Distributed Storage IEEE/ACM UCC 2026 · Accepted
EDIHAMO
EU Digital Innovation Hub
1 paper
European Digital Innovation Hub Abruzzo Molise
Digital innovation hub supporting SMEs and public administrations in Abruzzo and Molise with artificial intelligence and high-performance computing services.
European Digital Innovation Hubs network
- Italian Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy (MIMIT)
CUP B17H22004170001
Acknowledged in 1 paper
POR FESR Abruzzo
Regional ERDF programme
1 paper
Regional Programme ERDF Abruzzo 2021–2027 — Measure 1.1.1.1
European Regional Development Fund programme of the Abruzzo Region supporting research and innovation.
European Regional Development Fund · Regional Programme 2021–2027
- Abruzzo Region
- European Union — ERDF
CUP C79J24000060007
Acknowledged in 1 paper
Peer review
Verified on ORCID17 verified peer reviews for 10 journals, including Springer Nature, IEEE, Wiley and Elsevier titles.
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Transactions on Emerging Telecommunications Technologies
Wiley
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Wireless Networks
Springer Nature
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IEEE Internet of Things Journal
IEEE
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Scientific Reports
Springer Nature
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IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security
IEEE
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Discover Artificial Intelligence
Springer Nature
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IEEE Networking Letters
IEEE
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IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management
IEEE
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Iranian Journal of Science and Technology Transactions of Electrical Engineering
Springer Nature
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Nonlinear Analysis Hybrid Systems
Elsevier
Research & professional experience
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Apr 2026 – present
Postdoctoral Researcher
University of L'Aquila, Italy
Monitoring and cyber-threat detection architectures for virtualized infrastructures. Analysed security challenges in virtual-machine and container platforms, designed a lightweight monitoring framework combining host- and network-based data sources, and applied anomaly detection for real-time identification of suspicious behaviour — improving detection accuracy and response time over traditional approaches in simulated virtualized environments.
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May 2025 – Oct 2025
Research Fellow — SIEM for Operational Technology
University of L'Aquila, in collaboration with Selmec, Chieti, Italy
Built a Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) system for OT environments: software modules integrating Splunk, Suricata and Elastic Stack, data-collection interfaces for OT devices, and machine-learning algorithms for anomaly detection and classification of critical events.
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Apr 2023 – Mar 2026
PhD Researcher
University of L'Aquila, Italy
Doctoral research on AI-based intrusion detection: BERT-based detectors for imbalanced network traffic, deep transfer learning for edge and IoT scenarios, and ML-enhanced SIEM with eBPF telemetry.
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Pakistan's first online legal-consultation platform (web, Android and iOS), letting clients book and pay for virtual meetings with lawyers. Incubated with support from the Punjab Information Technology Board.
Education
2021 – 2022
MS in Computer Science
National College of Business Administration & Economics, Multan, Pakistan
CGPA 3.73 / 4.0
2019 – 2021
BS (Hons) in Computer Science
National College of Business Administration & Economics, Multan, Pakistan
CGPA 3.92 / 4.0 · Software development, databases and network design
Doctoral schools
Jun 2024 · Castiglione della Pescaia, Tuscany
ACDL 2024 8 ECTS
7th Advanced Course on Data Science & Machine Learning — from deep learning to foundation models. Directors: G. Nicosia, P. Pardalos.
Jul 2023 · Brixen, Italy
SSIE 2023 5 ECTS
PhD Summer School of Information Engineering (University of Padova) — “The road toward 6G Mobile Networks”. 30 hours; scientific report on intrusion detection in unbalanced network traffic evaluated “good”.
Certifications & training
45 certificates · plus 13 ECTS from doctoral schools
Professional training from Cisco Networking Academy, FIRST, Splunk, Coursera (University of Minnesota), LinkedIn Learning, MathWorks and Google, alongside national skills programmes.
Cybersecurity & SIEM11
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) v3.1
Introduction to Cybersecurity
Mastering Cloud-Native Security: GitOps, DevSecOps and more
Splunk Fundamentals learning path
- What is Splunk?
- Intro to Splunk
- Using Fields (labs)
- Scheduling Reports & Alerts (labs)
- Visualizations (labs)
- Working with Time (labs)
Cloud Security Basics Verify
Cloud, networking & IoT7
Getting Started with Cisco Packet Tracer
MATLAB Onramp
Kubernetes: Microservices
Kubernetes: Essential Tools
Learning Kubernetes
Introduction to Internet of Things
Introduction to Cloud Computing
Programming & software6
e-Rozgaar Technical course track
WordPress
Dreamweaver CC — Responsive Web Design
C++ Tutorial
SQL Fundamentals
Certificate in Computer Applications
Digital business & entrepreneurship16
Fundamentals of Digital Marketing
Creative Writing
AutoCAD
Search Engine Optimization
Graphic Design
E-Commerce Management
QuickBooks
Digital Literacy
Freelancing
Digital Marketing
Ultimate Facebook Marketing
Online marketing certifications (5 exams)
- Online Marketing Fundamentals
- Search Engine Optimization
- Search Engine Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- Web Analytics
Health & safety5
Health & safety training for office workers (D.Lgs. 81/2008)
Specific training for workers — low-risk sector (D.Lgs. 81/2008)
General training of workers (D.Lgs. 81/2008)
Infection Control and Prevention 101
Health & Safety Manager (A+ grade)
Conferences, funding & service
Conferences & events
- Dec 2026 · Florianópolis, Brazil Upcoming19th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Utility and Cloud Computing (UCC 2026)Paper “Structure-Aware Merkle Trees for Tamper-Localizable Dataset and Model Integrity on Blockchain and Distributed Storage”
- Aug 2026 · Espoo, Finland SpeakerIEEE 10th Forum on Research & Technologies for Society and Industry (RTSI 2026)Presented “Confidential Model Sharing Protocol for Distributed Transfer Learning and Blockchain-Governed Access”, Aalto University
- Jan 2026 · Rome, Italy AttendeeRESTART Final Plenary Dissemination Event“Shaping Horizons in Future Telecommunications”
- Nov 2025 · Sousse, Tunisia Co-authorIEEE ICRAMI 2025 — Int. Conf. on Recent Advances in Mathematics & InformaticsPaper on 6G network performance presented
- Oct 2025 · Chengdu, China AttendeeIEEE 11th World Forum on Internet of Things (WF-IoT 2025)
- Aug 2025 · Gammarth, Tunisia SpeakerIEEE 9th Forum on Research & Technologies for Society and Industry (RTSI 2025)Presented “A Lightweight Intrusion Detection System for IoT Based on Deep Transfer Learning at the Edge”
- Nov 2023 · L'Aquila, ItalyVITALITY Project Workshop
Funding & awards
- 2022Invited judge for start-up induction, PITB Incubation Wing
- 2021Startup funding & incubation — Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB)
- 2020Final-year project funding — National Grassroots ICT Research Initiative (NGIRI)
Memberships
- 2023 – presentIEEE Graduate Student Member, Italy Section
- 2024 – presentPakistan Freelancers Association (PAFLA)
- 2021 – 2023Multan Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Associate Member
Languages
- Urdu (native) · English (C1) · Italian (B1)
Around the world
10 countries visited · hover the map for names
Italy Home
Pakistan
Turkey
Dubai, UAE
Saudi Arabia
China
Tunisia
Finland
Estonia
Brazil
Get in touch
I welcome collaborations on intrusion detection, AI for security, and IoT/edge security research.