Machine learning and AI for security

As the world of “big data” gradually becomes a world of “bigger data,” Carnegie Mellon University CyLab researchers are focused on advancing research in machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), in which computers can “learn” trends from massive collections of data. This research is being conducted and tested in various applications ranging from facial recognition to systems that can autonomously find and fix software bugs before they are exploited.

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Learn who at CyLab is working in machine learning and AI.

Subtopics

We have researchers working in the following subtopics of applications of security and privacy. Check out each of their research:

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One student, two continents Opens in new window

CMU-Africa student Farida Eleshin (MSIT ’24) is concluding her master’s program with a final semester in Pittsburgh, where she’s working on several research projects in the CHIMPS Lab that focus on privacy and security.

Scaling in-situ process monitoring to qualify AM parts Opens in new window

Mechanical Engineering alumnus Luke Scime uses artificial intelligence in the development of Peregrine, a process monitoring software stack to qualify additive manufactured parts at the U.S. national laboratories.

PennDOT Secretary meets Carnegie Mellon transportation experts Opens in new window

PennDOT Secretary Michael Carroll visited CMU facilities at Mill 19 to meet transportation researchers and learn about collaboration opportunities.

Researchers develop adversarial training methods to improve machine learning-based malware detection software

Professor Lujo Bauer and a team of researchers investigate the effectiveness of using adversarial training methods to create malware detection models that are more robust to some of the state-of-the-art attacks.

Researchers discover new vulnerability in large language models

Researchers at the Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science, the CyLab Security and Privacy Institute, and the Center for AI Safety in San Francisco have developed an attack that can bypass security measures of large language models. Their method enables chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, and Google Bard, to generate objectionable content at high success rates.

U.S. Chamber AI Commission releases final report Opens in new window

Conrad Tucker served as a commissioner on the US Chamber AI Commission aimed to position the US as a leader in responsible AI development and deployment. The commission’s final report has been released.

CyLab researchers awarded AI security funding

CyLab’s Giulia Fanti, Corina Pasareanu, and Vyas Sekar have been awarded research funding from the C3.ai Digital Transformation Institute.

Engineering meets extreme reality Opens in new window

"Extreme reality engineering” is all about creating technology that can operate under some of the worst conditions imaginable.

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CyLab’s Giulia Fanti named a 2021 Intel “Rising Star”

The prestigious award recognizes 10 promising early-career academic researchers who lead some of the most important technology research of our time.

Resetting travelers’ circadian clocks Opens in new window

Carnegie Mellon researchers are working with DARPA, Northwestern University, and Rice University to develop a system for regulating the body’s circadian clock.

CyLab researchers awarded MURI grant to study human-bot teams

Lujo Bauer, Matt Fredrikson, and Cleotilde Gonzalez are part of a team of researchers that was named a winner of a prestigious US Department of Defense (DoD) Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) Award.

CMU-Africa and CyLab aim to improve financial inclusion in emerging economies

Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) CyLab and CMU-Africa have established the CyLab-Africa initiative, which aims to improve the cybersecurity of financial systems in Africa and other emerging economies.

Phishing, fairness, and more: CyLab’s 2021 seed funding awardees

Over $350K in seed funding has been awarded to 14 different faculty and staff in seven different departments across three colleges at CMU.

Cyber defense is an art in human deception

CyLab's Coty Gonzalez and her research group presented two studies on cyber deception at this week’s Human Factors and Ergonomics Society annual meeting. CyLab director Lorrie Cranor gave the meeting’s keynote talk.

Recognizing AI’s misinformation Opens in new window

What does cybersecurity have to do with human recognition of false data? A lot, says Conrad Tucker, who teamed up with Challenger Center and RAND to study the link between the two.

What if you could better control what mobile apps do with your data?

Researchers in CyLab are working to create digital “privacy assistants” that can recommend phone app privacy settings to users based on their preferences.

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CyLab names 2020 Presidential Fellows

Seven Ph.D. students pursuing security and/or privacy research will receive 2020 CyLab Presidential Fellowships.

Remote fever-scanning technologies Opens in new window

Researchers are developing affordable fever-screening technologies for buildings and first responders to detect fevers, using an algorithm to detect faces and measure temperature on the forehead.

Managing necessary bias in AI Opens in new window

Some biases in AI might be necessary to satisfy critical business requirements, but how do we know if an AI recommendation is biased strictly for business necessities and not other reasons?

Q&A with Kathleen Carley

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, disinformation about the virus is spreading at lightning speeds. CyLab's Kathleen Carley has been monitoring the situation.

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Project Amelia provides a visit to the not-so-distant future

Project Amelia had its final production earlier this month in Pittsburgh’s South Side, where it had been running since early September. A whole cast of CyLab researchers were involved in the production.

Six things you should know about AI from experts in the field Opens in new window

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University’s College of Engineering share what they have learned about artificial intelligence while working in the field.

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CyLab’s Corina Pasareanu and colleagues receive $1.2 million grant to develop automated bug-finding techniques

The National Science Foundation has awarded a $1.2 million grant to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, UC-Berkeley, and UC-Santa Barbara to develop automated bug-detection and repair techniques that work at large scales.

CyLab team uses AI to find and disrupt malware distribution networks

According to a new study authored by researchers in CyLab, network analysts have a new ally in detecting malware distribution networks: artificial intelligence.

When privacy and the arts collide

Sophie Calle is a French artist who often blurs the lines between life and her art. What if Calle knew how to code, and take advantage of our personal data to create an even more personalized, privacy-intrusive form of art? That’s something CyLab’s Maggie Oates has been exploring.

$5M Knight Foundation Investment creates center to fight online disinformation

Carnegie Mellon University today announced the creation of a new research center dedicated to the study of online disinformation and its effects on democracy, funded by a $5 million investment from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The new center will bring together researchers from within the institution and across the country.

Social media bots interfere in Asia-Pacific elections, too

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University wondered: are bots also influencing elections in the Asia-Pacific? Of course they are, says a new study being presented this week at the 2019 SBP-BRiMS conference in Washington, D.C.

Malicious social media bots tried, but failed, to diminish NATO during its 2018 exercise

A new study by Carnegie Mellon University researchers illustrates how fake news was spread on Twitter by bots during NATO’s 2018 Trident Juncture Exercise. The study is being presented this week at the 2019 SBP-BRiMS conference in Washington, D.C.

Improving cybersecurity with machine learning Opens in new window

Mahmood Sharif has been named a 2018 Symantec Research Lab Graduate Fellow and will continue his research in machine learning and cybersecurity in collaboration with Symantec.

Carnegie Mellon researchers create an AI to help us make sense of privacy policies

If you’re anything like the average Internet user, you probably didn’t spend the estimated 244 hours it would take to read every privacy policy for every website you visited last year. That’s exactly why a team led by Carnegie Mellon University just launched an interactive website aimed at helping users make sense of their privacy on the web.

Computers vs. computers: Cyber Grand Challenge Opens in new window

ForAllSecure, a Carnegie Mellon University spinoff startup, took home $2 million in prize money as the winners of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Cyber Grand Challenge (CGC).

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