YU -AlKhobar

Mourad Benmalek, PhD

Director of Master's Program in Cybersecurity / Assistant Professor of Cybersecurity

Biography

Mourad Benmalek received the Engineering, Master and Ph.D. degrees in computer science from the Higher School of Computer Science (Ecole nationale Supérieure d’Informatique, Algiers, Algeria), in 2013 and 2018, respectively. He was an Assistant Professor at the Higher School of Computer Science and the Higher Institute of Science (Algiers, Algeria) from 2018 to 2022. He was member of the SURES (Secure Ubiquitous Resilient and Efficient Systems) research team at Systems’ design methods Lab (Algiers, Algeria) from 2013 to 2022.

He is currently working as Assistant Professor of Cybersecurity at Computer Engineering Department, College of Engineering and Architecture, Al Yamamah University, KSA.

His research interests are in the area of Security and Privacy in Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) and Internet of Things (IoT). He is particularly interested in the design of efficient, reliable and secure communication protocols. He participated in many national and international research projects.

Publications

  1. Mourad Benmalek, “Ransomware on cyber-physical systems: Taxonomies, case studies, security gaps, and open challenges,” in Internet of Things and Cyber-Physical Systems, vol. 4, pp. 186-202, 2024.
  2. Mourad Benmalek, Kamel Harkat, Kamel-Dine Haouam, and Zakaria Gheid, “SE-CDR: Enhancing security and efficiency of key management in internet of energy consumer demand-response communications,” in International Journal of Safety and Security Engineering, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 611-623, 2023.
  3. Mourad Benmalek, Mohamed Ali Benrekia, and Yacine Challal, “Security of Federated Learning: Attacks, Defensive Mechanisms, and Challenges,” in Revue d'Intelligence Artificielle, vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 49-59, Feb. 2022.
  4. Mohamed Anis Aguida, Samir Ouchani and Mourad Benmalek, “An IoT-based Framework for an Optimal Monitoring and Control of Cyber-Physical Systems: Application on Biogas Production System,” in Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on the Internet of Things, pp. 143-139, Nov. 2021.
  5. Mohamed Anis Aguida, Samir Ouchani and Mourad Benmalek, “A Review on Cyber-Physical Systems: Models and Architectures,” in Proceedings of the 2020 IEEE International Conference on Enabling Technologies: Infrastructure for Collaborative Enterprises, pp. 275-278, Sep. 2020.
  6. Mourad Benmalek, Yacine Challal, Abdelouahed Derhab and Zakaria Gheid, “An Efficient Key Management Scheme for Secure Demand-Response Communications in Smart Grid,” in Proceedings of the 2020 IEEE International Conference on Advances in the Emerging Computing Technologies (AECT), pp. 1-6, Feb. 2020.
  7. Mourad Benmalek, Yacine Challal, and Abdelouahed Derhab, “Authentication for Smart Grid AMI systems: Threat models, Solutions, and Challenges,” in Proceedings of the 28th IEEE International Conference on Enabling Technologies: Infrastructure for Collaborative Enterprises. Naples, Jun. 2019.
  8. Mourad Benmalek, Yacine Challal, and Abdelouahed Derhab, “An Improved Key Graph based Key Management Scheme for Smart Grid AMI systems,” in Proceedings of the 2019 IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference, pp. 1-6, Apr. 2019.
  9. Mourad Benmalek, Yacine Challal, Abdelouahed Derhab, and Abdelmadjid Bouabdallah, “VerSAMI: Versatile and Scalable key management for Smart Grid AMI networks,” in Computer Networks, vol. 132, pp. 161-179, Feb. 2018.
  10. Mourad Benmalek and Yacine Challal, “MK-AMI: Efficient multi-group key management scheme for secure communications in AMI systems,” in Proceedings of the 2016 IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference, pp. 1-6, Apr. 2016.
  11. Mourad Benmalek, Yacine Challal, and Abdelmadjid Bouabdallah, “Scalable Multi-group Key Management for Advanced Metering Infrastructure,” in Proceedings of the 2015 IEEE International Conference on Computer and Information Technology, pp. 183-190, Oct. 2015.
  12. Mourad Benmalek and Yacine Challal, “eSKAMI: Efficient and Scalable Multi-group Key Management for Advanced Metering Infrastructure in Smart Grid,” in Proceedings of the 2015 IEEE Trustcom/BigDataSE/ISPA, vol. 1, pp. 782-789, Aug. 2015.

Conferences

Conference talks

  1. “eSKAMI: Efficient and Scalable Multi-group Key Management for Advanced Metering Infrastructure in Smart Grid”, IEEE Trustcom, Aug. 2015, Helsinki, Finland.
  2. “Scalable Multi-group Key Management for Advanced Metering Infrastructure”, IEEE CIT, Oct. 2015, Liverpool, UK.
  3. “MK-AMI: Efficient multi-group key management scheme for secure communications in AMI systems”, IEEE WCNC, Apr. 2016, Doha, Qatar.
  4. “An Improved Key Graph based Key Management Scheme for Smart Grid AMI systems”, IEEE WCNC, Apr. 2019, Marrakech, Morocco.
  5. “An Efficient Key Management Scheme for Secure Demand-Response Communications in Smart Grid”, IEEE AECT, Feb. 2020, Madinah, KSA.

Invited talks

  1. “Smart Grid Cybersecurity: Motivations and Challenges”, Heudiasyc laboratory. University of Technology of Compiègne (Compiègne - France). Dec. 2015.
  2. “Key management for secure communications in Smart Grid systems”, Center of Excellence in Information Security CoEIA. King Saud University (Riyadh - KSA). Feb. 2017.
  3. “Smart Grid: Motivations and Challenges”, Systems’ design methods Laboratory. Higher National School of Computer Science (Algiers -Algeria). Apr. 2018.

Organizing/Scientific committees

  1. Scientific Committee, IEEE International Conference on Communications (IEEE ICC). 2017, 2020 and 2022.
  2. Scientific Committee, Internet of Things Conference (IoT). 2021 and 2022.
  3. Scientific Committee, IEEE Symposium of Intelligent and Autonomous Systems (IEEE SIAS), 2021.
  4. Scientific Committee, IEEE International Conference on the Sciences of Electronics, Technologies of Information and Telecommunications (IEEE SETIT), 2018 and 2022.
  5. Scientific Committee, ACS/IEEE International Conference on Computer Systems and Applications (ACS/IEEE AICCSA). 2015 and 2016.
  6. Scientific Committee, IEEE International Conferences on High Performance Computing and Communications (IEEE HPCC), 2014.
  7. Organizing Committee, Prix de thèse de l’ESI. 2015.

Teaching

Current teaching

  • Ethical Hacking
  • Cybersecurity and Cryptography
  • Penetration Testing and Ethical Hacking
  • Internet of Things: Architectures, Protocols and Security
  • Forensics and Incident Response
  • Security Policies and Procedures
  • Comprehensive Cybersecurity: Foundations and Threats

PG teaching

  • Comprehensive Cybersecurity: Foundations and Threats
  • Penetration Testing and Ethical Hacking
  • Engineering of Secure Software and Protocols
  • Research Methodology
  • Mobile Networks and Simulation.

UG teaching

  • Ethical Hacking
  • Cybersecurity and Cryptography
  • Internet of Things: Architectures, Protocols and Security
  • Forensics and Incident Response
  • Security Policies and Procedures
  • Algorithms and Static Data Structures
  • Algorithms and Dynamic Data Structures
  • Programming I
  • Programming II
  • Introduction to Web Development

Services:

  • Director of Master's Program in Cybersecurity, Al Yamamah University
  • Chair of Industry Liaison Committee, Computer Engineering Department, Al Yamamah University.
  • Member of the Transfer Committee, Al Yamamah University.
  • Member of the CNEPRU project: “Security and Robustness of IoT”. Higher School of Computer Science, Algiers, Algeria: Jan. 2015 - Dec. 2018.
  • Member of INS2I STFOC project: “Security and Fault Tolerance for Distributed Communicating Objects”. Heudiasyc laboratory, University of Technology of Compiègne, France: Jan. 2019 - Dec. 2019.
  • Member of the PRFU project “Robustness of Smart Cyber-Physical Systems”. Higher School of Computer Science, Algiers, Algeria: Jan. 2019 - Aug. 2022.
  • Member of the SURES (Secure Ubiquitous Resilient and Efficient Systems) research team at Systems’ design methods Lab, Algiers, Algeria : Dec. 2013 – Aug. 2022.
  • Member of the organizing committee of “Prix de thèse de l’ESI 2015”: Jun. 2015.
  • Member of the organizing committee of “ESI PhDays”, Higher School of Computer Science, Algiers, Algeria: Sep. 2019 – Aug. 2022.
  • A referee for a number of peer-reviewed journals such as IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, Elsevier Internet of Things, Elsevier Ad Hoc Networks, MDPI Electronics, Springer International Journal of Information Security, and Elsevier Journal of King Saud University - Computer and Information Sciences.
  • A referee for several research conferences such as IEEE ICC and IEEE/ACS AICCSA.
  • IEEE member.
  • IEEE Communications Society member.

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