ICSA Faculty Talk - 25/04/2019

Title: Towards Network Intelligence and the Pitfalls of Hyper-connected Things Abstract: Managing mobile networks is increasingly complex, because the applications they support continue to diversify and place unprecedented, often conflicting, performance demands, while the volume of traffic users consume is growing exponentially. At the same time, Internet-connected devices are more and more heterogeneous and their number is skyrocketing. Despite numerous benefits such devices bring, they present flaws that expose users to serious security and privacy risks. In this talk I will first make the case for deep learning driven algorithms for precision mobile traffic analytics and network control in this new settings, as alternatives to costly uninterrupted measurement campaigns, extensive data post-processing, and computationally intensive resource allocation mechanisms. Secondly, I will reveal that popular Internet of Things ecosystems ranging from wearables to home automation devices can leak private data, compromise the safety of their users, and enable attackers to infiltrating personal networks. I will close the talk by discussing future research directions my team is exploring towards overcoming the network performance and cyber security crisis facing today's hyper-connected landscape. Bio: Paul Patras is a Reader in Informatics at Edinburgh and leads the Internet of Things (IoT) Research Programme. He held visiting research positions at the University of Brescia, Northeastern University, TU Darmstadt, and Rice University. He has co-authored 35+ peer-reviewed publications and has served on the technical program committee of 40+ international conference, including IEEE MASS, IEEE GLOBECOM, and TMA. He sits on the steering committee of ACM WiNTECH, serves as an associate editor of IEEE Communications Letters, advises the ITU-T Focus Group on Machine Learning for Future Networks including 5G, and is a senior member of the IEEE. His research on the security of fitness trackers was featured in 40+ press articles and led to official firmware patches for 11 Fitbit products. His current interests include mobile intelligence and IoT security and privacy.