Research Paper Showcase 2026
The 22 research papers featured in the 2026 showcase highlight the impact and quality of CCI-funded cybersecurity research in the areas of AI, cryptography, privacy, data protection, cyber defense, extended reality, emerging platforms, and human-centered cybersecurity. Paper authors include researchers from the College of William & Mary, George Mason University, Old Dominion University, University of Virginia, Virginia Military Institute, and Virginia Tech.
Topics on this page:
AI & Autonomous Systems Security
Artificial intelligence is transforming cybersecurity—and creating new security challenges of its own. This research explores AI-powered cyber defense, secure AI deployment, machine learning resilience, AI evaluation, and the protection of increasingly autonomous systems.
BOCLOAK: Optimal Transport-Guided Adversarial Attacks on Graph Neural Network-Based Bot Detection
43rd International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML), 2026
Learn More Read the PaperA Comprehensive Assessment Tool for Prompt Injection Attacks in Large Language Models (LLMs)
IEEE 5th International Conference on AI in Cybersecurity (ICAIC), 2026
Learn More Read the PaperAn Empirical Study of LLM Serving in Confidential GPUs
IEEE International Symposium on Performance Analysis of Systems and Software (ISPASS), 2026
Learn More Read the PaperFedHusky: Accelerating Hybrid Federated Learning with Client Hopping
The 24th International Symposium on Modeling and Optimization in Mobile, Ad hoc, and Wireless Networks (WiOpt)
Learn More Read the PaperMoltGraph: A Longitudinal Temporal Graph Dataset of Moltbook for Coordinated-Agent Detection
1st ACM Conference on AI and Agentic Systems (ACM CAIS), 2026
Learn More Read the PaperOmniVul: A Holistic, Multi-Turn Conversational Benchmark for LLM-Based Vulnerability Assessment
32nd ACM SIGKDD Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDD '26)
Learn More Read the PaperStealthInk: A Multi-bit and Stealthy Watermark for Large Language Models
2025 International Conference on Machine Learning
Learn More Read the PaperTowards AI-Driven Human-Machine Co-Teaming for Adaptive and Agile Cyber Security Operation Centers
ACM Transactions on Internet Technology
Learn More Read the PaperCryptography, Privacy & Data Protection
From post-quantum cryptography to privacy-preserving computation, these projects advance the technologies that protect sensitive information, secure communications, and safeguard data in an increasingly connected world.
Auditing Fairness-Privacy Trade-offs: Subpopulation-Level Effects of Fairness-Enhancing Algorithms
IEEE European Symposium on Security and Privacy (EuroS&P 2026)
Learn More Read the PaperAXIOS: Energy-Efficient Acceleration of Hash-Based Post-Quantum Cryptographic Schemes on Embedded Spatial Architectures
2025 34th International Conference on Parallel Architectures and Compilation Techniques (PACT 2025)
Learn More Read the PaperExposing Privacy Risks in Anonymizing Clinical Data: Combinatorial Refinement Attacks on k-Anonymity Without Auxiliary Information
ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS 2025)
Learn More Read the PaperFROST: Efficient Single-Round Obfuscation of Search and Result Patterns in Searchable Encryption
33rd ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security 2026 (CCS 2026)
Learn More Read the PaperSHAFI: Securing Hash-Based Post-Quantum Cryptography from Hardware Fault Injection Attacks
2025 Asian Hardware Oriented Security and Trust Symposium (Asian-HOST 2025)
Learn More Read the PaperTHENA: Accelerating Torus Fully Homomorphic Encryption on Energy-Efficient Heterogeneous Architecture
2025 IEEE 43rd International Conference on Computer Design (ICCD 2025)
Learn More Read the PaperCyber Defense & Threat Detection
Effective cyber defense depends on detecting, understanding, and responding to sophisticated threats. These projects advance threat detection, attack investigation, cyber operations, and resilient defense strategies for modern digital systems.
Catch Me If You Can: Detector-Resistant Evasion via Semantics-Preserving Command Re-Realization
IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, 2026
Learn More Read the PaperLIPPEN: A Lightweight In-Place Pointer Encryption Architecture for Pointer Integrity
International Symposium on Computer Architecture (ISCA) 2026
Learn More Read the PaperNeurosymbolic Learning for Advanced Persistent Threat Detection under Extreme Class Imbalance
IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC 2026), Internet of Things
Learn More Read the PaperProvexa: Enabling Efficient Attack Investigation via Human-in-the-Loop Security Analysis
International Conference on Very Large Data Bases (VLDB)
Learn More Read the PaperExtended Reality & Emerging Platforms
Emerging technologies introduce new opportunities—and new risks. This research explores privacy, security, and trust in virtual reality, augmented reality, eye tracking, and next-generation computing platforms.
EyeSpy: Inferring Eye Gaze via Side-Channel Attacks Against Foveated Rendering
47th IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy
Learn More Read the PaperRethinking Privacy Indicators in Extended Reality: Multimodal Design for Situationally Impaired Bystanders
2025 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality Adjunct (ISMAR-Adjunct)
Learn More Read the PaperVisceral Notices and Privacy Mechanisms for Eye Tracking in Augmented Reality
IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR)
Learn More Read the PaperHuman-Centered Cybersecurity
Technology alone cannot solve cybersecurity challenges. These projects focus on people, behavior, education, and awareness to help individuals and communities make safer decisions in an increasingly digital world.
Interactive Theatre as an Andragogical Tool: Assessing a Cybersecurity Program Across Adult Age Groups
Social Sciences
Learn More Read the PaperInterested in participating? View the 2026 Research Paper Showcase Calls for Papers to learn more about the submission process and future opportunities.