As cyber threats grow more sophisticated by the day, UC Riverside researchers are making computing safer thanks to research that targets some of the internet’s most pressing security challenges.

UCR computer science and engineering students and faculty in the Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering are developing tools to expose hidden vulnerabilities, protect private data, and strengthen the digital defenses that safeguard everything from personal communications to national infrastructure.

Their work is on the forefront of cybersecurity innovation—and underscores the critical role of federal investment in higher education research.

“Cybersecurity impacts every aspect of our lives, from personal privacy to national security. At UC Riverside, with support from federal grants, we’re training the next generation of computer scientists and engineers who are already making the internet and IT systems safer for everyone,” said Amit Roy-Chowdhury, a Bourns professor and co-director of the UC Riverside Artificial Intelligence Research and Education (RAISE) Institute.

Here are examples of computer security innovations published and presented at conferences this year:

Protecting data in AI learning

As artificial intelligence spreads into health care, finance, and government, privacy is paramount. But UCR graduate student Hasin Us Sami discovered that even methods designed to keep sensitive information safe can be compromised.

His paper, “Gradient Inversion Attacks on Parameter-Efficient Fine-Tuning”, posted to the arXiv preprint server, shows that adversaries can reconstruct private images from a training process called federated learning that was thought to be safer. Federated learning lets users train AI models on their own devices without sharing raw data.

For example, several hospitals may want to team up to develop AI models that detect diseases from patient tissue image scans. The research found that attackers could reverse-engineer data from the information that is shared and demonstrated how malicious servers could retrieve private images during training from state-of-the-art learning architectures, underscoring the urgent need for stronger defenses. The work was recognized at the 2025 IEEE/CVF Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, one of the top gatherings of AI researchers.

His paper was co-authored by graduate student Swapneel Sen, professors Amit K. Roy-Chowdhury and Srikanth V. Krishnamurthy, and assistant professor Basak Guler.

Unmasking firewall weaknesses

Research by graduate student Qing Deng focused on firewalls that millions rely on for protection. In the paper “Beyond the Horizon: Uncovering Hosts and Services Behind Misconfigured Firewalls,” published in the 2025 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (SP), Deng and colleagues revealed that small configuration mistakes could open the door to cyber intruders.

By scanning the internet for unusual access points, Deng uncovered more than 2 million hidden services exposed by misconfigured firewalls—ranging from outdated servers to vulnerable home routers. These flaws, though overlooked for years, create what the team calls an “expanded observable internet,” a larger attack surface than security experts previously realized. The paper was co-authored by graduate students Juefei Pu, Zhaoweo Tan, and professors Zhiyun Qian and Srikanth V. Krishnamurthy.

Detecting invisible network flaws

For doctoral student Keyu Man, the threat of invisible “side-channel” attacks is a high priority. These attacks exploit subtle quirks in network protocols to allow hackers to hijack connections in a commonly used kind of server.

Known as “domain name system” servers, these computers translate human-friendly domain names into machine-readable IP addresses, allowing devices to find and connect to the right server.

Man co-authored the paper “SCAD: Towards a Universal and Automated Network Side-Channel Vulnerability Detection,” also published in the 2025 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (SP), which introduces a tool called Side-ChAnnel Detector, or SCAD, to automatically uncover weaknesses in widely used operating systems like Linux and FreeBSD. Unlike previous methods that required weeks of painstaking manual work, SCAD can identify flaws in a single day of analysis.

Man’s research revealed 14 vulnerabilities—seven previously unknown—that could have been exploited for devastating cyberattacks. By automating the process, SCAD could change how industry protects critical online infrastructure.

The co-authors of this study include graduate students Zhongjie Wang, Yu Hao, Shenghan Zheng, Xin’an Zhou, Yue Cao, and professor Zhiyun Qian.

Phononic circuits are emerging devices that can manipulate sound waves (i.e., phonons) in ways that resemble how electronic circuits control the flow of electrons. Instead of relying on wires, transistors and other common electronic components, these circuits are based on waveguides, topological edge structures and other components that can guide phonons.

Phononic circuits are opening new possibilities for the development of high-speed communication systems, quantum information systems and various other technologies.

To be compatible with existing infrastructure, including current microwave communication systems, and to be used to develop highly performing quantum technologies, these circuits should ideally operate at gigahertz (GHz) frequencies. This essentially means that the sound waves they generate and manipulate oscillate billions of times per second.

Researchers at University of Science and Technology of China, Penn State University and other institutes recently developed new compact phononic circuits that can reliably guide sound waves at 1.5 GHz.

These new circuits, introduced in a paper published in Nature Electronics, could be used to create both quantum and classical devices that could advance communications, sensing and information processing.

“We were inspired by the success of integrated photonics and wanted to show that similar concepts could be applied to sound waves,” Mourad Oudich, co-first author of the paper, told Tech Xplore.

“Our goal was to build tiny, chip-scale phononic circuits operating at GHz frequencies that are compact, reconfigurable, and robust enough for real-world applications.”

The circuits introduced by these researchers are designed to confine acoustic waves at GHz frequencies, guiding them through tiny waveguides on a chip. Notably, these wavelengths sit directly on a substrate, which could facilitate the circuits’ large-scale fabrication.

“Our phononic circuits are made of microscopic ‘highways’ that guide sound instead of light,” explained Oudich.

“By arranging these waveguides in special patterns, we create topological pathways where sound travels smoothly even around corners or defects. This makes the circuits more reliable and much smaller than traditional acoustic devices.”

To evaluate their phononic circuits, the researchers monitored the propagation of phonons inside them using a high-resolution scanning optical vibrometer. This is a device that can measure subtle vibrations on a surface, such as those produced by the movement of phonons through the waveguides.

Oudich and his colleagues injected phonons into their circuits’ edge channels and showed that they successfully traveled through the system without scattering. They also performed a so-called Mach-Zehnder Interferometer test, which confirmed the reconfigurability of their phononic devices (i.e., their ability to rapidly alter the paths of phonons).

“We demonstrated, for the first time, topological sound transport and a phononic Mach–Zehnder interferometer directly on a chip at gigahertz frequencies,” said Oudich.

“These advances could lead to new acoustic filters for communications and even help in developing phonon-based components for future quantum technologies.”

The reconfigurable devices developed by this team of researchers could soon be used to fabricate a wide range of technologies, including quantum processors, high-precision sensors and new hybrid communication systems. Oudich and his colleagues are currently planning further research aimed at combining their circuits with existing electronics and components.

“We now aim to integrate the phononic circuits with electronic and photonic systems, making them useful for hybrid technologies,” added Oudich.

“In the long run, we want to build a full ‘phononic toolbox’ for advanced information processing and sensing.”

© 2025 Science X Network

Coats Digital is pleased to announce that leading global apparel manufacturer, GG International Manufacturing Co. Ltd, has adopted Coats Digital’s GSDCost solution to drive stronger collaboration with international brand partners. The move is part of the company’s wider digital transformation strategy aimed at boosting manufacturing competitiveness and expanding global partnerships.

GG International Manufacturing Co Ltd has adopted Coats Digital’s GSDCost solution to enhance global collaboration, boost competitiveness, and accelerate digital transformation.
With facilities in Indonesia and Vietnam, the company aims to integrate advanced costing and motion analysis tools to drive productivity, standardisation, and sustainable growth.

GG International Manufacturing Co. Ltd is a trusted production partner to many of the world’s top fashion brands, including Target, Kohl’s, Macy’s, Knitwell Group, Inditex (Zara), Victoria’s Secret, JCP, Nordstrom, AEO and Walmart, and produces a wide range of garments from blouses and suits to intimate apparel. With production facilities across Indonesia (Semarang and Boyolali) and Vietnam (Hung Yen, Hai Phong, and Hai Duong), the company specialises in woven garments and is actively investing in digitalization, research and development, and sustainable growth.

Since introducing the GSD programme in 2017, GG International Manufacturing Co. Ltd. has taken business evolution to the next level by establishing its own Product Analysis Center (PAC). Leveraging innovative cost-modelling methodologies, the company has consistently measured production costs with precision to preserve price competitiveness. This proprietary system has earned positive feedback from all its trading partners. In pursuit of greater innovation, GG International Manufacturing Co. Ltd has adopted Coats Digital’s advanced GSDCost solution to optimise its whole digital infrastructure.

Phil Kim, Director, GG International Manufacturing Co. Ltd, said: “Building on the know-how we have accumulated through our PAC Center operations, we aim to fully integrate Coats Digital’s GSDCost solution as a strategic enhancement. By doing so, we hope to further boost our manufacturing competitiveness and accelerate our digital transformation journey.

“We regard Coats Digital’s GSDCost solution as the core engine for our sustainable growth and digital transformation programmes and we are confident that this initiative will give us the competitive edge we need to grow rapidly in the years ahead.”

Duck Baik, Associate Manager, GG International Manufacturing Co. Ltd added: “We’re excited to be integrating GSDCost’s motion code methodology and its international standard time data with our legacy in–house system to create powerful synergies.”

“Through systematic field training, we have established the optimal standard for applying robust motion codes. By expanding an analytical perspective to observe each movement in detail, we now expect to significantly improve our SMV precision and productivity. We are now continuing to optimise our planning and costing processes across all factories by setting strong benchmarks to build our own standardised SMV library.”

Mela, Lean Team, GG International Manufacturing Co. Ltd, said: “Coats Digital’s 6-week GSDCost training has been a game-changer for our industrial engineering department. Delivered through a structured and engaging online format, the programme offers the world’s most reliable PMTS methodology, providing our team with a solid foundation to perform accurate motion analysis and data-driven improvements.

“Throughout the training program, Coats Digital’s trainers demonstrated exceptional clarity, support, and consistency—enabling us to complete the program on schedule and confidently move toward practical implementation. Coats Digital’s training certainly sets a new standard for productivity and performance excellence.”

Linda Seo, Sales Manager, Korea, Coats Digital, commented: “We are delighted to welcome GG International Manufacturing Co. Ltd to our growing GSDCost community. Its decision to adopt our solution reflects a clear commitment to transparent collaboration, performance excellence, and future-ready manufacturing. GG International Manufacturing Co. Ltd ’s investment in GSDCost is a strategic response to rising labour costs, global buyer demands, and the urgent need for operational efficiency. By digitising its costing and efficiency measurement processes, the company is laying the foundation for smarter, more connected operations that deliver value across the supply chain.”

Note: The headline, insights, and image of this press release may have been refined by the Fibre2Fashion staff; the rest of the content remains unchanged.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (HU)