CSAW’24 marks the 11th anniversary of CSAW MENA (Middle East North Africa) organized by NYU Abu Dhabi. CSAW NYU Abu Dhabi is managed by a team of undergraduate and graduate students, and researchers from the Engineering Department and the Center for Cyber Security.

CSAW 2024 MENA at NYUAD was a resounding success, bringing together cybersecurity researchers, students and professionals from across the region to share knowledge, engage in friendly competition, and contribute to the advancement of cybersecurity.

Total Participants in final rounds – 118 students and researchers, reflecting a 34% surge in participant numbers compared to previous years.

6 Competitions

• Capture the Flag – CTF
• Applied Research Competition – ARC
• Hack My Robot – HMR
• BioHack 3D 
• LLM CTF Attack Competition
• AI Hardware Attack Competition (New addition this Year)

CSAW’24 MENA featured an engaging keynote by Luca Di Bartolomeo, a seasoned CTF player turned PhD at EPFL. With extensive experience in global CTF finals, including DEFCON and XCTF, Luca’s talk, “The CTF Player Pipeline: From Noob to Addicted,” shared insights into the journey of becoming a dedicated CTF participant. His expertise inspired attendees to explore and excel in the dynamic world of cybersecurity challenges.

Capture the Flag

Congratulations to the CTF 2024 Winners!

0x1a4, TEK-UP University, Tunisia

Knani Alaaeddine
Chebbi Jasser
Badreddine Chamkhi
Knani Mohamed Aziz

2nd Place

Garidi, Higher National School of Computer Science, Algeria

Abderaouf Louggani
Abdelkhalek Beraoud
Abderahmane Oubahi
Abderraouf Dandani

3rd Place

DEADSEC, Applied Science Private University, Jordan

Jaleel Bolbol Abdalla
Hamza Abderrahim

Applied Research Competition 

This “Best Paper Award” assesses the top scholarly security research from the previous year. The focus of this competition is on research that has a practical impact.  With eligibility limited to already published papers or camera-ready papers, CSAW has a reputation for drawing some of the best security research worldwide. 

Congratulations to the ARC 2024 Winners!

1st Place

Marouene Boubakri, University of Carthage Tunis, Tunisia
for the paper “Architectural Security and Trust Foundation for RISC-V”

2nd Place

Robert Merget, Technology Innovation Institute (TII), UAE
for the paper “With Great Power Come Great Side Channels: Statistical Timing Side-Channel Analyses with Bounded Type-1 Errors”

Hack My Robot 

This year’s Hack My Robot competition pushed the boundaries with a focus on autonomous soil compactors, highlighting the critical safety and quality implications of potential compromises. Out of 9 stellar teams, 5 advanced to the intense finals, where students aimed to hack a construction environment robot, disrupting its functionalities and stealing data. The competition witnessed creative and technically complex attacks from all finalists, but ultimately, the 3 best teams emerged as the ultimate winners.
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• 19 participants from four different countries competed in the final round, with 5 teams emerging as finalists out of a total of 9 teams.

Congratulations to the HMR 2024 Winners!

1st Place

Mr. Robot
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Jordan

Badi AbuAlGhanam
Mohammad AlSarabi

2nd Place

Botics
Higher Institute of Computer Science Tunis Elmanar, Tunisia

Ichrak Eddor Mnijli
Foued Saidi

3rd Place

MakerSpace
American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Hassan Abouelela
Malik Hader
Abdulla Bin Saifudheen
Yousef Irshaid

BioHack 3D 

BioHack 3D at CSAW 2024 marked a groundbreaking event as the second workshop and hackathon solely dedicated to Biochip Security and its intersection with 3D printing technology. The one-day event focused on exploring vulnerabilities related to PCR biochips, shedding light on crucial aspects of security in this emerging field. With participation from across the UAE, a total of 21 teams engaged in the virtual qualifying round. However, the competition was fierce, allowing only 5 elite teams to advance to the final round. In the end, one exceptional team emerged victorious, claiming the top spot.

• 5 Teams qualified to the finals out of 21 teams

Congratulations to the BioHack 3D 2024 Winners!

Team AltF4
University of Wollongong in Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Hadiyya Mattummathodi
Mariah Khalifa
Riaz Mohammed
Muhammad Ansari

LLM Attack Competition 

With rapid advancements in large language models, LLMs have become integral to modern systems—introducing new and complex security challenges. The LLM CTF Attack Competition 2024 builds on prior successes, challenging participants to explore, exploit, and defend against vulnerabilities unique to language model–powered applications, pushing the boundaries of AI security research.

Congratulations to the LLM CTF Attack Competition 2024 Winners!

1st Place

Team PBD

Pearl Rwauya
Simon Grange
Safa Al Almeri

2nd Place

Team 原神 (Transliteration: Genshin Impact)

Qi Sun
Pavel Nikolaitchev
Yiyi Chen

3rd Place

Team Pokémon Master

Joonha Yu
Jun Lee
Yumi Omori

The 22nd International Conference on Applied Cryptography and Network Security (ACNS 2024) was held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, from March 5 to 8, 2024, at the New York University Abu Dhabi campus. The proceedings of ACNS 2024 were published by Springer in the Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) series.

ACNS is an annual conference that focuses on current developments advancing the areas of applied cryptography, cybersecurity (including network and computer security), and privacy. The conference aims to represent both academic research and developments in industrial and technical frontiers.

Submissions typically address the modeling, design, analysis (including security proofs and attacks), development (e.g., implementations), deployment (e.g., system integration), and maintenance (e.g., performance measurements, usability studies) of algorithms, protocols, standards, implementations, technologies, devices, and systems related to applied cryptography, cybersecurity, and privacy—while contributing novel insights to the field.

ACNS 2024 Program Highlights

The conference program included:

• 54 technical presentations

• 3 keynote speeches

• 8 workshops

• 1 poster session

• 2 social events

Sessions consisted of peer-reviewed research presentations, invited talks, and discussions covering various topics in applied cryptography, cybersecurity, and privacy. Keynote speakers addressed topics in cryptography and cybersecurity. Workshops focused on specialized subjects. The poster session showcased early-stage research.

CSAW’23 marks the 10th anniversary of CSAW MENA (Middle East North Africa) organized by NYU Abu Dhabi. CSAW NYU Abu Dhabi is managed by a team of undergraduate and graduate students, and researchers from the Engineering Department and the Center for Cyber Security.

CSAW 2023 MENA at NYUAD was a resounding success, bringing together cybersecurity researchers, students and professionals from across the region to share knowledge, engage in friendly competition, and contribute to the advancement of cybersecurity.

Total Participants in final rounds – 88 students and researchers, reflecting a 90% surge in participant numbers compared to previous years, attributed also to the addition of two new competitions

5 Competitions

• Capture the Flag – CTF
• Applied Research Competition – ARC
• Hack My Robot – HMR
• BioHack 3D (New addition this Year)
• LLM Attack Challenge (New addition this Year)

Capture the Flag

Congratulations to the CTF 2023 Winners!

1st Place

TEAM_7EVEN, ESTIN, Algeria

Mohammed Reda Sbaihi
Chiheb Chahine Yaici
Yahia Hachemi
Mohamed El Amine

2nd Place

SHELLSEC, Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Informatique, Algeria

Allouche Imene
Abderahmane Oualili
Mohamed Amokrane Abdelmalek
Smail Djerrai

3rd Place

DEADSEC, Applied Science Private University, Jordan

Mahmoud Seif
Ghaidaa Alassaf
Jameel Abdalla
Hamza Abderrahim

Applied Research Competition 

This “Best Paper Award” assesses the top scholarly security research from the previous year. The focus of this competition is on research that has a practical impact.  With eligibility limited to already published papers or camera-ready papers, CSAW has a reputation for drawing some of the best security research worldwide. 

Congratulations to the ARC 2023 Winners!

1st Place

Priyanka Dodia, Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI)
for the paper “Exposing the Rat in the Tunnel: Using Traffic Analysis for Tor-based Malware Detection”

2nd Place

Saleh Hamad Al-Daajeh, UAE University
for the paper “The Role of National Cyber-security Strategies on the Improvement of Cybersecurity Education”

Hack My Robot 

The Hack My Robot Challenge aims to raise awareness about the cybersecurity aspects of increasingly digitalized construction environments with a particular focus on robotics. This year’s Hack my Robot competition pushed the boundaries with a focus on autonomous excavators, highlighting the critical safety risks of potential compromises. Out of 23 stellar teams, 5 advanced to the intense finals, where students aimed to hack a construction environment robot, disrupting its functionalities. The competition witnessed fierce battles of wit and skill, but in the end, 3 standout teams emerged as the ultimate champions.

• 19 participants from two countries competed in the final round, with 5 teams emerging as finalists out of a total of 23 teams.

Congratulations to the HMR 2023 Winners!

1st Place

BOTRAIDERS TEAM
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia

David Felipe Alvear Goyes
Nouf Farhoud
Luis Alberto Vazquez Limon
Erick Rodrigues e Silva

2nd Place

BIT SHIFTERS TEAM
American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Shahed Obaid
Ansah Siddiqui
Mahmoud Darwish
Muhammed Noshin

3rd Place

BIN10 Team
Abu Dhabi University, United Arab Emirates

Ahmad Al-Remawi
Ahmed Elsayed
Nayef Abusharia
Abdelrahman Tameem

BioHack 3D 

BioHack 3D at CSAW 2023 marked a groundbreaking event as the first workshop and hackathon solely dedicated to Biochip Security and its intersection with 3D printing technology. The one-day event focused on exploring vulnerabilities related to PCR biochips, shedding light on crucial aspects of security in this emerging field. With participation from across the UAE, a total of 20 teams engaged in the virtual qualifying round. However, the competition was fierce, allowing only 5 elite teams to advance to the final round. In the end, one exceptional team emerged victorious, claiming the top spot.

• 5 Teams qualified to the finals out of 20 teams – 23 Participants

Congratulations to the BioHack 3D 2023 Winners!

1st Place

Team Korea
New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD), United Arab Emirates

Sunghyeon Kim
Seung-Jean Kang
Haram Jeong

LLM Attack Challenge 

With the burgeoning popularity of large language models (LLM), the capabilities of new models are rising, including the ability to pinpoint the vulnerabilities in software and generate code to attack it. The success of the LLM Attack Challenge in CSAW 2023 sets the stage for future editions, inspiring anticipation for continued advancements and innovation in the field of language model manipulation within the cybersecurity domain.

Congratulations to the LLM Attack Challenge 2023 Winners!

1st Place

Ahmad Fraij & Omar El Herraoui
New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD), United Arab Emirates

2nd Place

Ulan Kundizbay
New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD), United Arab Emirates

CSAW’22 marks the 9th anniversary of CSAW MENA (Middle East North Africa) organized by NYU Abu Dhabi. CSAW NYU Abu Dhabi is managed by a team of undergraduate and graduate students, and researchers from the Engineering Department and the Center for Cyber Security.

Competitions

Capture the Flag

Congratulations to the CTF 2022 Winners!

1st Place

ShellSec (ESI Algiers)

Oussama Abdallah Merouan
Hithem Lamri
Mohamed Laid Malik Mabrouki
Mohamed Amokrane Abdelmalek

2nd Place

SOter14 (INSAT)

Oussama Abdallah Merouan
Hithem Lamri
Mohamed Laid Malik Mabrouki
Mohamed Amokrane Abdelmalek

3rd Place

MISC (ESTIN Bejaia)

Boukerfa Muhammad El Amin

Applied Research Competition 

This “Best Paper Award” assesses the top scholarly security research from the previous year. The focus of this competition is on research that has a practical impact.  With eligibility limited to already published papers or camera-ready papers, CSAW has a reputation for drawing some of the best security research worldwide. 

Congratulations to the ARC 2022 Winners!

1st Place

Naif Mehanna
for the paper “DRAWNAPART : A Device Identification Technique based on Remote GPU Fingerprinting”

2nd Place

Lilas Alrahis
for the paper “MuxLink : Circumventing learning-Resilient MUX-Locking Using Graph Neural-based Link Prediction”

3rd Place

Mahnoor Zaheer
for the paper “Lure for Money: A First Look into YouTube Videos Promoting Money-Making Apps”

Hack My Robot 

The Hack My Robot Challenge aims to raise awareness about the cybersecurity aspects of increasingly digitalized construction environments with a particular focus on robotics. 2022 marks the first year of this challenge, and the students who want to learn more about operational technology security, robotics, and construction technologies are invited to attend. This year’s focus is on autonomous site monitoring systems. The participants will be challenged to come up with ideas to compromise the data and operations of the given robotic system considering the characteristics of construction sites.

This challenge is organized by the S.M.A.R.T. Construction Research Group with the support and collaboration from the Center for Cybersecurity (CCS) at NYUAD and the Center for AI and Robotics (CAIR) at NYUAD. The competition is open to undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in any university in the MENA region.

Congratulations to the HMR 2022 Winners!

1st Place

Team SENTRY
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia

Ioannis Zografopoulos
Alyah Alfageh
Li Zhou
Shijie Pan

2nd Place

Team YASTA
New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD), United Arab Emirates

Abdullah Alhasni
Salman Elgamal
Youssab William
Omar Mostafa

The NYUAD Center for Cyber Security and Engineering, together hosted a first-ever microfluidic workshop and hackathon with the help of NYUAD iGEM team. The workshop included hands-on practice on a commercial microfluidic biochip, which were used for RT-PCR COVID-19 detection at NYUAD. These biochips use microfluidic technologies and integrated fluidic circuits for their operation. They present a potent future keeping in view the era of global pandemics and personalized medicines. In total, 40 participants from different universities and high schools of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah participated to gain insights on the cyber-physical security aspects of the biochips. Before the start of the workshop, the participants listened to the talks given by Dr. Navajit Singh Baban (Postdoctoral Associate) and Mr. Ajymurat Orozaliev (Research Engineer), who are involved in the project of Biochip Cyber-physical security. Post-lunch, the participants took part in a 24 hour hackathon where the central theme was to explore and suggest possible attack ideas that can compromise the biochips in a stealthy manner. The event was kindly supported by Prof. Ramesh Karri (Co-chair Center for Cyber Security NYU), Prof. Rafael (Yong-Ak) Song (NYUAD Program Head of Bioengineering) and Prof. Ozgur Sinanoglu (Director CCS NYUAD).

The Cybersecurity Regional Day Event that brings together the cybersecurity experts in the region, both in the UAE and MENA at large. The purpose of this roundtable was to discuss cyber security research, with a focus on regional issues. Aimed to create meaningful and significant research relationships with the MENA region. This was a networking event where all of the experts gathered to hear about each other’s newest cybersecurity work and identify collaboration opportunities.