Abbas Ali
Biography and Education
Abbas Ali is a PhD student and Graduate Student Research Assistant in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, working in the Information Systems, Security, and Forensics (ISSF) Laboratory under Prof. Hafiz Malik. His National Science Foundation-funded research focuses on securing cyber-physical systems at the hardware level, including FPGA-based intrusion detection, device fingerprinting, and electromagnetic and power side-channel analysis for IoT and automotive systems.
Before joining UM-Dearborn, he worked for two years as an FPGA engineer, developing high-performance digital systems. He received his BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Engineering and Technology, Peshawar, where he graduated as a gold medalist.
His work has been published at USENIX VehicleSec, IEEE CSR, EAI SmartSP, Alexandria Engineering Journal, and PLOS ONE.
Information Systems, Security, and Forensics (ISSF) Laboratory
Advisor: Prof. Hafiz Malik
Education
PhD, Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Michigan-Dearborn (anticipated December 2029)
BS, Electrical Engineering
University of Engineering and Technology, Peshawar, Pakistan — CGPA 3.83/4.00, Gold Medalist
Teaching and Research
Research
- Hardware security and trust
- FPGA-based intrusion detection systems
- Device and hardware fingerprinting
- Electromagnetic and power side-channel analysis
- Cyber-physical and automotive system security
- Machine learning on FPGAs
- Real-time signal processing
- Hardware/software co-design
Selected Publications
A. Ali and H. Malik, “Short: Is Your ECU Really Yours?”
4th USENIX Symposium on Vehicle Security and Privacy (VehicleSec ’26), Baltimore, MD, August 2026, pp. 359–370. Artifact Evaluated: Available, Functional, Reproduced.
https://www.usenix.org/conference/vehiclesec26/presentation/ali
H. Arif, A. Ali, S. Kiyani and H. Malik, “Real-Time Authentication of Embedded Hardware.”
4th EAI International Conference on Security and Privacy in Cyber-Physical Systems and Smart Vehicles (SmartSP ’26), Detroit, MI, 2026. Accepted.
A. W. Mohammed, A. Ali, H. Arif, F. R. P. Mohammed and H. Malik, “A Lightweight IDS Framework Using FPGA-Based Hardware Fingerprinting on Zynq SoC.”
IEEE International Conference on Cyber Security and Resilience (CSR), Chania, Greece, 2025, pp. 544–549.
https://doi.org/10.1109/CSR64739.2025.11130113
A. Ali, A. Shah, A. H. Khan et al., “Speed vs. Efficiency: A Framework for High-Frequency Trading Algorithms on FPGA using Zynq SoC.”
Alexandria Engineering Journal, vol. 96, pp. 1–14, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aej.2024.03.064
A. H. Khan, A. Shah, A. Ali et al., “A Performance Comparison of Machine Learning Models for Stock Market Prediction with a Novel Investment Strategy.”
PLOS ONE, vol. 18, no. 9, e0286362, 2023.
Awards and Recognition
First Place, Graduate Division, Student Poster Competition
2026 CCAT Global Symposium on Mobility Innovation, Ann Arbor, MI — 17 April 2026
“A Lightweight IDS Framework Using FPGA-Based Hardware Fingerprinting on Zynq SoC”, with S. Teja Jarabala and S. Kumbham
Gold Medal, Electrical Engineering
University of Engineering and Technology, Peshawar