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Ahmad B. Usman

Cybersecurity researcher building trustworthy systems through remote attestation, secure software updates and vulnerability analysis.

whoami Cybersecurity researcher

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01cat about.md

About me

I'm a PhD candidate in Computer Science at Linköping University, specialising in cybersecurity.

My research is about keeping computing systems in a trustworthy state: verifying what software a device is really running (remote attestation), changing that software safely (secure software updates) and learning from what goes wrong (vulnerability analysis) — with a focus on embedded and IoT systems.

I'm supervised by Mikael Asplund. I belong to the Cybersecurity division (CYBER) and the Trustworthy Systems Group (TSG) research lab. Before Linköping, I did my MSc in ICT for Internet and Multimedia at the University of Padua, supervised by Mauro Conti in the SPRITZ research lab. Alongside research I bring hands-on security practice (CEH, Security+, CCNA Security), teaching and thesis supervision, and web development.

Research interests

  • Trusted computing
  • Remote attestation
  • Secure software updates
  • Vulnerability analysis
  • IoT security
  • Embedded systems

Toolbox

  • C
  • C++
  • Python
  • Java
  • JavaScript
  • SQL
  • Linux
  • QEMU
  • ARM TrustZone
  • TPM
  • Docker
  • Wireshark
  • Git
  • LaTeX

Languages

  • EnglishFluent
  • ArabicFluent
  • SwedishIntermediate

02ls ~/research

Keeping systems in a trusted state

Devices change all the time — every patch, firmware image and app update moves them to a new software state. My work asks how we can keep verifying that state, and what happens when updates themselves become the weak spot.

Remote attestation

How can a verifier be sure that a remote device runs exactly the software it should? I study attestation for embedded systems and trusted execution environments — including how to argue that an attestation scheme deserves trust.

IJIS '26CNS '24Sat-CPS '23

Secure software updates

Updates fix vulnerabilities — and introduce new risk. I analyse how update mechanisms fail, and how devices can stay verifiable while their software changes.

C&S '26IJIS '26Lic. thesis '25

Vulnerability analysis

Systematic analysis of update-related vulnerabilities: what goes wrong, why it keeps happening, and recommendations for building safer update mechanisms.

IFIP SEC '25HAISA '25

IoT & embedded security

Studying the network traffic of real IoT devices during updates, and prototyping trusted-computing techniques with ARM TrustZone, TPMs and QEMU-based emulation.

SUIT '26CNS '24

03grep -r "Usman" ./papers

Publications

Papers and theses on remote attestation, secure software updates and vulnerability analysis.

  1. 2026

    SUIT: Security of Update-related IoT Traffic

    A. B. Usman, E. Süren, M. Asplund

    Manuscript · work in progress

    ManuscriptIoTUpdatesNetwork traffic

    Project
  2. 2026

    Understanding security risks in update mechanisms of computing systems

    A. B. Usman, M. Asplund

    Computers & Security · Elsevier · Jun 2026

    JournalUpdatesVulnerabilities

    DOI
  3. 2026

    Bridging remote attestation and secure software updates in embedded systems

    A. B. Usman, Z. Afzal, M. Asplund

    International Journal of Information Security · Springer · Feb 2026

    JournalAttestationUpdatesEmbedded

    DOI
  4. 2025

    Trustworthy Software States through Attestation and Secure Updates

    A. B. Usman

    Licentiate thesis · Linköping University · Oct 2025

    ThesisAttestationUpdates

    DOI
  5. 2025

    On the Inconsistency of Update-Related Vulnerabilities

    A. B. Usman

    International Symposium on Human Aspects of Information Security and Assurance (HAISA) · Springer · Jul 2025

    ConferenceVulnerabilitiesUpdates

    DOI
  6. 2025

    Update at Your Own Risk: Analysis and Recommendations for Update-related Vulnerabilities

    A. B. Usman, M. Asplund

    IFIP International Conference on ICT Systems Security and Privacy Protection (IFIP SEC) · Springer · May 2025

    ConferenceVulnerabilitiesUpdates

    DOI
  7. 2024

    Remote Attestation with Software Updates in Embedded Systems

    A. B. Usman, M. Asplund

    IEEE Conference on Communications and Network Security (CNS) — Cyber Resilience Workshop · IEEE · Oct 2024

    WorkshopAttestationUpdatesEmbedded

    DOI
  8. 2023

    Remote Attestation Assurance Arguments for Trusted Execution Environments

    A. B. Usman, N. Cole, M. Asplund, F. Boeira, C. Vestlund

    3rd ACM Workshop on Secure and Trustworthy Cyber-physical Systems (Sat-CPS@CODASPY) · ACM · Apr 2023

    WorkshopAttestationTEE

    DOI
  9. 2021

    Industrial Control Systems: Security and Privacy Analysis in Industry 4.0

    A. B. Usman

    Master's thesis · University of Padua · 2021 · supervised by Prof. Mauro Conti

    ThesisICSIndustry 4.0Privacy

    UNIPD ResearchGate

Full, always-current lists: Google Scholar · ORCID · Scopus

04cat career.log

Experience & education

Experience

  1. Dec 2021 — Present

    PhD Researcher, Cybersecurity

    Linköping University · Linköping, Sweden

    • Research on trusted computing, remote attestation, secure software updates and vulnerability analysis, published at IEEE, ACM, Springer and Elsevier venues.
    • Design and build research prototypes for embedded and IoT systems — attestation protocols, firmware update mechanisms and vulnerability analysis.
    • Work across the embedded-security stack — ARM TrustZone, TPM and QEMU-based emulation — to prototype and evaluate trusted-computing and secure-update techniques.

  2. Sep 2021 — Nov 2021

    Cyber Security Specialist

    HWG s.r.l · Verona, Italy

    • Security monitoring and threat analysis for enterprise IT environments.
    • Supported security management operations, including standards implementation and risk identification.

  3. Sep 2020 — Jul 2021

    Research Assistant

    SPRITZ Security & Privacy Research Group · Padua, Italy

    • Investigated security of industrial control systems (ICS/SCADA), focusing on IT/OT convergence risks and network-level attack surfaces.
    • Applied machine learning to anomaly detection and intrusion monitoring in OT environments; contributed to experimental design and evaluation.

Education

  1. Dec 2021 — Present · expected 2026

    PhD in Computer Science

    Linköping University · Sweden

    Thesis (working title): A Trustworthy Approach to Securing System States through Remote Attestation, Secure Updates, and Vulnerability Analysis

  2. Dec 2021 — Oct 2025

    Licentiate in Computer Science

    Linköping University · Sweden

    Thesis: Trustworthy Software States through Attestation and Secure Updates

  3. Oct 2019 — Jul 2021

    MSc in ICT for Internet and Multimedia

    University of Padua · Italy

    CyberSystems track · 110/110 · Thesis: Industrial Control Systems: Security and Privacy analysis in Industry 4.0, supervised by Prof. Mauro Conti

  4. Oct 2013 — Sep 2017

    BSc in Information Technology

    University of Science and Technology · Sudan

    GPA 3.78 / 4

Certifications

  • CEHCertified Ethical HackerEC-Council · Dec 2017
  • Sec+CompTIA Security+CompTIA · Sep 2017
  • CCNACCNA SecurityCisco · Aug 2017
  • CCNACCNA Routing & SwitchingCisco · Sep 2015

05./teach --list

Teaching & supervision

Teaching assistant

  • TDDE68 Concurrent Programming and Operating Systems Linköping University · 2021–2024
  • TDDD83 Computer Engineering — Bachelor Project Linköping University · 2022–2026
  • TDDE16 Text Mining Linköping University · 2025–2026
  • LFCS Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science (Java) University of Padua · 2019–2021

Thesis supervision · Linköping University

Master's theses

  • From Past to Present – A Historical Analysis of Vulnerability Trends in Microsoft SoftwareDiVA
  • Automated Static Code Analysis with Large Language Models as part of the Continuous Integration Pipeline for Core Keeper bug detectionDiVA
  • Geometry-Aware & Lightweight UWB Positioning for Vehicle ApplicationsDiVA
  • Cyberattack Evaluation of Cloud-controlled Energy StorageDiVA
  • Telemetry for Debugging Software Issues in Privacy-sensitive SystemsDiVA

Bachelor's theses

  • Perceived versus Actual Security in Web Applications: A Comparative Analysis of Human-Developed and Large Language Model (LLM)-Generated ApplicationsDiVA
  • KaffeKuriren: A Peer-to-Peer Delivery System for Campus Valla at Linköping UniversityDiVA
  • LiU Marketplace – A Digital Marketplace For Students, By StudentsDiVA
  • ShareWheels: Private car rentingDiVA
  • Early Automated Risk Assessment of CVE DescriptionsDiVA
  • Qit – A Web-Based Sign-Up ApplicationDiVA

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