Hassan Khan

Education and Employment Background

Dr. Hassan Khan received his PhD from the University of Waterloo in 2016. He then held a postdoctoral position at the University of Waterloo in the School of Computer Science. Khan joined the University of Guelph’s School of Computer Science in 2018 where he is now an Assistant Professor. He is also a member of the U of G’s Centre for Advancing Responsible and Ethical Artificial Intelligence (CARE-AI).

Research Themes

Khan’s primary research interests lie at the intersection of computer security, systems, applied machine learning, and human-computer interaction. His research aims to improve the existing defense mechanisms for user behaviour analytics on personal devices through ecologically valid evaluations. He interested in using cross-domain tools and techniques to understand the security and usability aspects of existing security systems, often involving human subjects. Key areas of focus include:

1. Attacks on Artificial Intelligence-based security solutions. Several security solutions now employ Artificial Intelligence ("AI") to identify and flag abnormal situations. For instance, unauthorized usage of smartphones by non-owners is a threat that is addressed by AI-based continuous authentication solutions. Continuous authentication products rely on the device usage behaviour of smartphone owners (e.g., typing or swiping behaviour). Similarly, commercial products employ features that fingerprint (uniquely identify) a device to detect fraudulent transactions. As these solutions become more common place and garner support from security experts, it is critical that the limitations of these systems are well understood. Khan and his team bring human-in-the-loop to design interfaces which will ensure that end users are able to understand the protection offered by these solutions and are able to make right choices for a more secure mobile experience.

Highlights

• NSERC Early Career Researcher Award, 2019
• NSERC Discovery Grant, 2019

Media Coverage

Chaperone: Acoustic Sensing for Real-time Smartphone Loss Detection

• Technology.org: Scientists designed an app to help you not lose your phone
• The Record: New Waterloo app detects lost phone before you’ve lost it
• Kitchener Today: Locally developed app helps prevent users from losing their phones

Shoulder Surfing Attacks and Defenses

• Globe and Mail: Think you’re protecting your smartphone password? Think again
• The Wall Street Journal: Forget the Hackers, Watch Out for the Phone Snoopers Over Your Shoulder
• Mobile Syrup: University of Waterloo study finds phone PIN protection methods have high failure rate

Evading Disk Investigation and Forensics

• New Scientist: Covert hard drive fragmentation embeds a spy's secrets
• MSNBC: Researchers Hide Data in Plain Sight on Hard Drive
• Time Magazine: Hide Your Hard Drive’s Secrets in Plain Sight
• Schneier on Security Blog: Hard-Drive Steganography through Fragmentation
• Threat Post: Researchers Propose New Steganography System for Hiding Data