Workshop on Security and Privacy in Standardized IoT (SDIoTSec) 2025 Program

IoT devices are increasingly popular and ubiquitous in numerous everyday settings. They sense and actuate the environment using a wide range of analog peripherals. They are often deployed in large numbers and perform critical tasks. It is no surprise that they represent attractive targets for various attacks. Recent history shows that few lessons were learned from well-known attacks and IoT devices are still commonly compromised via both known attacks and zero-day exploits. Alas, the worst is yet to come. This talk will consider several reasons for the current state of affairs in IoT (in)security and motivate research on actively secure and formally assured operation of IoT devices. This direction is both important and timely since common sense dictates that it is better to be prepared for a disaster that never comes than to be unprepared for the one that does.

Speaker's Biography: Gene Tsudik is a Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). He obtained his Ph.D. in Computer Science from USC. Before coming to UCI in 2000, he was at the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory (1991-1996) and USC/ISI (1996-2000). His research interests include many topics in security, privacy, and applied cryptography. Gene Tsudik was a Fulbright Scholar and a Fulbright Specialist. He is a fellow of ACM, IEEE, AAAS, IFIP, and a foreign member of Academia Europaea. From 2009 to 2015, he served as the Editor-in-Chief of ACM TOPS. He received the 2017 ACM SIGSAC Outstanding Contribution Award, the 2020 IFIP Jean-Claude Laprie Award, the 2023 ACM SIGSAC Outstanding Innovation Award, the 2024 Guggenheim Fellowship and the 2024 NDSS Test-of-Time Award. He has no social media presence.

The AI-Cybersecurity Nexus - Opportunities, Challenges, and Solutions Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing cybersecurity, offering enhanced threat detection, proactive prevention, and streamlined response mechanisms. In this keynote, we will explore how AI is reshaping the cybersecurity landscape, especially IoT security, enabling faster incident resolution, more intuitive security tools, and greater overall efficiency. We will share key insights into what works, what doesn’t, and lessons learned from real-world implementations. However, while AI strengthens cybersecurity, it also introduces new vulnerabilities—adversarial AI, automated cyberattacks, and novel threat vectors that traditional defenses struggle to address. We will examine these emerging risks and the evolving tactics of malicious actors who leverage AI against security systems. Finally, this session will present actionable solutions to mitigate AI-driven threats, including fighting AI with AI, platformization, precision AI, adaptive defense strategies, responsible AI deployment, and the integration of AI with human intelligence to create more resilient security frameworks. Join us as we navigate the AI-cybersecurity nexus and chart a course toward a safer digital future.

Speaker's Biography: Dr. May Wang is the Chief Technology Officer for IoT Security at Palo Alto Networks, where she leads innovation in AI-driven cybersecurity solutions. She is the co-founder of Zingbox, the industry’s first AI-powered IoT security company, which was acquired by Palo Alto Networks in 2019. Before founding Zingbox, Dr. Wang served as a Principal Architect in the Cisco CTO Office. Dr. Wang holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and has received numerous accolades, including being recognized as the 2023 AI Entrepreneur of the Year by VentureBeat.