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Dr Nick Pitropakis' Outputs (82)

Towards a Secure Manufacturing Framework for Single Malt Whisky in Industry 4.0 (2025)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Connell, J., Kasimatis, D., Papadopoulos, P., Buchanan, W. J., Sarigiannidis, P., & Pitropakis, N. (2024, June). Towards a Secure Manufacturing Framework for Single Malt Whisky in Industry 4.0. Presented at International Conference on Cybersecurity, Situational Awareness and Social Media (Cyber Science 2024), Edinburgh, UK

Recent instances have brought to light the inherent vulnerability of the manufacturing sector to cyber security threats, particularly within the food and beverage industries. With the rapid adoption of Industry 4.0, supply chains are exposed to an ex... Read More about Towards a Secure Manufacturing Framework for Single Malt Whisky in Industry 4.0.

Leveraging LLMs for Non-Security Experts in Threat Hunting: Detecting Living off the Land Techniques (2025)
Journal Article
Konstantinou, A., Kasimatis, D., Buchanan, W. J., Ullah Jan, S., Ahmad, J., Politis, I., & Pitropakis, N. (2025). Leveraging LLMs for Non-Security Experts in Threat Hunting: Detecting Living off the Land Techniques. Machine Learning and Knowledge Extraction, 7(2), Article 31. https://doi.org/10.3390/make7020031

This paper explores the potential use of Large Language Models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot, in threat hunting, specifically focusing on Living off the Land (LotL) techniques. LotL methods allow threat actors to blend... Read More about Leveraging LLMs for Non-Security Experts in Threat Hunting: Detecting Living off the Land Techniques.

Building a modern data platform based on the data lakehouse architecture and cloud-native ecosystem (2025)
Journal Article
AbouZaid, A., Barclay, P. J., Chrysoulas, C., & Pitropakis, N. (2025). Building a modern data platform based on the data lakehouse architecture and cloud-native ecosystem. Discover Applied Sciences, 7, Article 166. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-025-06545-w

In today’s Big Data world, organisations can gain a competitive edge by adopting data-driven decision-making. However, a modern data platform that is portable, resilient, and efficient is required to manage organisations’ data and support their growt... Read More about Building a modern data platform based on the data lakehouse architecture and cloud-native ecosystem.

ICT Systems Security and Privacy Protection: 39th IFIP International Conference, SEC 2024, Edinburgh, UK, June 12–14, 2024, Proceedings (2024)
Book
Pitropakis, N., Katsikas, S., Furnell, S., & Markantonakis, K. (Eds.). (2024). ICT Systems Security and Privacy Protection: 39th IFIP International Conference, SEC 2024, Edinburgh, UK, June 12–14, 2024, Proceedings. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-65175-5

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 39th IFIP International Conference on ICT Systems Security and Privacy Protection, SEC 2024, held in Edinburgh, UK, during June 12–14, 2024.

The 34 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and sel... Read More about ICT Systems Security and Privacy Protection: 39th IFIP International Conference, SEC 2024, Edinburgh, UK, June 12–14, 2024, Proceedings.

A Novel Cosine-Modulated-Polynomial Chaotic Map to Strengthen Image Encryption Algorithms in IoT Environments (2024)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Khan, M. S., Ahmad, J., Al-Dubai, A., Pitropakis, N., Driss, M., & Buchanan, W. J. (2024, September). A Novel Cosine-Modulated-Polynomial Chaotic Map to Strengthen Image Encryption Algorithms in IoT Environments. Presented at 28th International Conference on Knowledge Based and Intelligent information and Engineering Systems (KES 2024), Spain

With the widespread use of the Internet of Things (IoT), securing the storage and transmission of multimedia content across IoT devices is a critical concern. Chaos-based Pseudo-Random Number Generators (PRNGs) play an essential role in enhancing the... Read More about A Novel Cosine-Modulated-Polynomial Chaotic Map to Strengthen Image Encryption Algorithms in IoT Environments.

Evaluating Language Model Vulnerability to Poisoning Attacks in Low-Resource Settings (2024)
Journal Article
Plant, R., Giuffrida, M. V., Pitropakis, N., & Gkatzia, D. (2024). Evaluating Language Model Vulnerability to Poisoning Attacks in Low-Resource Settings. IEEE/ACM Transactions on Audio, Speech and Language Processing, 33, 54-67. https://doi.org/10.1109/taslp.2024.3507565

Pre-trained language models are a highly effective source of knowledge transfer for natural language processing tasks, as their development represents an investment of resources beyond the reach of most researchers and end users. The widespread avail... Read More about Evaluating Language Model Vulnerability to Poisoning Attacks in Low-Resource Settings.

DID:RING: Ring Signatures Using Decentralised Identifiers For Privacy-Aware Identity Proof (2024)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Kasimatis, D., Grierson, S., Buchanan, W. J., Eckl, C., Papadopoulos, P., Pitropakis, N., Chrysoulas, C., Thomson, C., & Ghaleb, B. (2024, September). DID:RING: Ring Signatures Using Decentralised Identifiers For Privacy-Aware Identity Proof. Presented at 2024 IEEE International Conference on Cyber Security and Resilience (CSR), London, UK

Decentralised identifiers have become a standardised element of digital identity architecture, with supra-national organisations such as the European Union adopting them as a key component for a unified European digital identity ledger. This paper de... Read More about DID:RING: Ring Signatures Using Decentralised Identifiers For Privacy-Aware Identity Proof.

VisCrypt: Image Encryption Featuring Novel Chaotic Key Generation and Block Permutation Techniques with Visual Cryptography (2024)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Khan, M. S., Ahmad, J., Ali, M., Al Dubai, A., Pitropakis, N., & Buchanan, W. J. (2024, July). VisCrypt: Image Encryption Featuring Novel Chaotic Key Generation and Block Permutation Techniques with Visual Cryptography. Presented at 2024 IEEE 7th International Conference on Advanced Technologies, Signal and Image Processing (ATSIP), Sousse, Tunisia

In this digital era, ensuring the security of data transmission is critically important. Digital data, especially image data, needs to be secured against unauthorized access. In this regards, this paper presents a robust image encryption scheme named... Read More about VisCrypt: Image Encryption Featuring Novel Chaotic Key Generation and Block Permutation Techniques with Visual Cryptography.

Advancements in Federated Learning for Health Applications: A Concise Survey (2024)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Stamatis, V., Radoglou-Grammatikis, P., Sarigiannidis, A., Pitropakis, N., Lagkas, T., Argyriou, V., Markakis, E., & Sarigiannidis, P. (2024, April). Advancements in Federated Learning for Health Applications: A Concise Survey. Presented at 2024 20th International Conference on Distributed Computing in Smart Systems and the Internet of Things (DCOSS-IoT), Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Smart solutions in the healthcare domain have garnered considerable attention due to their potential to enhance standard treatment methods and improve overall health. However, privacy concerns often prevent the sharing of healthcare data, which can l... Read More about Advancements in Federated Learning for Health Applications: A Concise Survey.

Transforming EU Governance: The Digital Integration Through EBSI and GLASS (2024)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Kasimatis, D., Buchanan, W. J., Abubakar, M., Lo, O., Chrysoulas, C., Pitropakis, N., Papadopoulos, P., Sayeed, S., & Sel, M. (2024, June). Transforming EU Governance: The Digital Integration Through EBSI and GLASS. Presented at 39th IFIP International Conference, Edinburgh, UK

Traditionally, government systems managed citizen identities through disconnected data systems, using simple identifiers and paper-based processes, limiting digital trust and requiring citizens to request identity verification documents. The digital... Read More about Transforming EU Governance: The Digital Integration Through EBSI and GLASS.

Malicious Insider Threat Detection Using Sentiment Analysis of Social Media Topics (2024)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Kenny, M., Pitropakis, N., Sayeed, S., Chrysoulas, C., & Mylonas, A. (2024, June). Malicious Insider Threat Detection Using Sentiment Analysis of Social Media Topics. Presented at 39th IFIP International Conference, SEC 2024, Edinburgh

Malicious insiders often pose a danger to information security systems, which can be a crucial challenge to tackle. Existing technological solutions attempt to identify potential threats via their anomalous system interactions, however, fully fail to... Read More about Malicious Insider Threat Detection Using Sentiment Analysis of Social Media Topics.

Examining the Strength of Three Word Passwords (2024)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Fraser, W., Broadbent, M., Pitropakis, N., & Chrysoulas, C. (2024, June). Examining the Strength of Three Word Passwords. Presented at ICT Systems Security and Privacy Protection (SEC 2024), Edinburgh

Passwords make up the most common method of authentication. With ever increasing computing power, password complexity has had to keep pace. This creates a challenge for remembering all complex passwords which some password policies attempt to resolve... Read More about Examining the Strength of Three Word Passwords.

Chaotic Quantum Encryption to Secure Image Data in Post Quantum Consumer Technology (2024)
Journal Article
Khan, M. S., Ahmad, J., Al-Dubai, A., Pitropakis, N., Ghaleb, B., Ullah, A., Khan, M. A., & Buchanan, W. J. (2024). Chaotic Quantum Encryption to Secure Image Data in Post Quantum Consumer Technology. IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, 70(4), 7087 - 7101. https://doi.org/10.1109/tce.2024.3415411

The rapid advancement in consumer technology has led to an exponential increase in the connected devices, resulting in an enormous and continuous flow of data, particularly the image data. This data needs to be processed, managed, and secured efficie... Read More about Chaotic Quantum Encryption to Secure Image Data in Post Quantum Consumer Technology.

PermutEx: Feature-Extraction-Based Permutation — A New Diffusion Scheme for Image Encryption Algorithms (2024)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Khan, M. S., Ahmad, J., Al-Dubai, A., Jaroucheh, Z., Pitropakis, N., & Buchanan, W. J. (2023, November). PermutEx: Feature-Extraction-Based Permutation — A New Diffusion Scheme for Image Encryption Algorithms. Presented at 2023 IEEE 28th International Workshop on Computer Aided Modeling and Design of Communication Links and Networks (CAMAD), Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Traditional permutation schemes mostly focus on random scrambling of pixels, often neglecting the intrinsic image information that could enhance diffusion in image encryption algorithms. This paper introduces PermutEx, a feature-extractionbased permu... Read More about PermutEx: Feature-Extraction-Based Permutation — A New Diffusion Scheme for Image Encryption Algorithms.

SRSS: A New Chaos-Based Single-Round Single S-Box Image Encryption Scheme for Highly Auto-Correlated Data (2023)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Shahbaz Khan, M., Ahmad, J., Ali, H., Pitropakis, N., Al-Dubai, A., Ghaleb, B., & Buchanan, W. J. (2023, October). SRSS: A New Chaos-Based Single-Round Single S-Box Image Encryption Scheme for Highly Auto-Correlated Data. Presented at 9th International Conference on Engineering and Emerging Technologies (IEEE ICEET 2023), Istanbul, Turkey

With the advent of digital communication, securing digital images during transmission and storage has become a critical concern. The traditional s-box substitution methods often fail to effectively conceal the information within highly auto-correlate... Read More about SRSS: A New Chaos-Based Single-Round Single S-Box Image Encryption Scheme for Highly Auto-Correlated Data.

OPSEC VS Leaked Credentials: Password reuse in Large-Scale Data Leaks (2023)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Uzonyi, D. G., Pitropakis, N., McKeown, S., & Politis, I. (2023, November). OPSEC VS Leaked Credentials: Password reuse in Large-Scale Data Leaks. Presented at 2023 IEEE 28th International Workshop on Computer Aided Modeling and Design of Communication Links and Networks (CAMAD), Edinburgh, UK

Security and authentication are ubiquitous problems that impact all modern networked systems. Password-based authentication systems are still prevalent, and information leaked via other channels may be used to attack networked systems. Researchers ha... Read More about OPSEC VS Leaked Credentials: Password reuse in Large-Scale Data Leaks.

AALLA: Attack-Aware Logical Link Assignment Cost-Minimization Model for Protecting Software-Defined Networks against DDoS Attacks (2023)
Journal Article
Ali, S., Tan, S. C., Lee, C. K., Yusoff, Z., Haque, M. R., Mylonas, A., & Pitropakis, N. (2023). AALLA: Attack-Aware Logical Link Assignment Cost-Minimization Model for Protecting Software-Defined Networks against DDoS Attacks. Sensors, 23(21), Article 8922. https://doi.org/10.3390/s23218922

Software-Defined Networking (SDN), which is used in Industrial Internet of Things, uses a controller as its “network brain” located at the control plane. This uniquely distinguishes it from the traditional networking paradigms because it provides a g... Read More about AALLA: Attack-Aware Logical Link Assignment Cost-Minimization Model for Protecting Software-Defined Networks against DDoS Attacks.

CellSecure: Securing Image Data in Industrial Internet-of-Things via Cellular Automata and Chaos-Based Encryption (2023)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Ali, H., Khan, M. S., Driss, M., Ahmad, J., Buchanan, W. J., & Pitropakis, N. (2023, October). CellSecure: Securing Image Data in Industrial Internet-of-Things via Cellular Automata and Chaos-Based Encryption. Presented at 2023 IEEE 98th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC2023-Fall), Hong Kong, Hong Kong

In the era of Industrial IoT (IIoT) and Industry 4.0, ensuring secure data transmission has become a critical concern. Among other data types, images are widely transmitted and utilized across various IIoT applications, ranging from sensor-generated... Read More about CellSecure: Securing Image Data in Industrial Internet-of-Things via Cellular Automata and Chaos-Based Encryption.

Rapidrift: Elementary Techniques to Improve Machine Learning-Based Malware Detection (2023)
Journal Article
Manikandaraja, A., Aaby, P., & Pitropakis, N. (2023). Rapidrift: Elementary Techniques to Improve Machine Learning-Based Malware Detection. Computers, 12(10), Article 195. https://doi.org/10.3390/computers12100195

Artificial intelligence and machine learning have become a necessary part of modern living along with the increased adoption of new computational devices. Because machine learning and artificial intelligence can detect malware better than traditional... Read More about Rapidrift: Elementary Techniques to Improve Machine Learning-Based Malware Detection.