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PhD student wins best demonstration award at EWSN 2024
19 December 2024
PhD student Mohammad Alhussan has won the Best Demonstration Award at EWSN 2024 for his innovative research on wearable medical devices.
The 21st International Conference on Embedded Wireless Systems and Networks (EWSN 2024) took place from 10th to 13th December at the St. Regis Abu Dhabi, UAE. This prestigious event brought together leading researchers and practitioners from around the world to showcase advancements in embedded wireless systems and networks.
Mohammad’s award-winning demonstration focused on highlighting the potential vulnerabilities in wearable medical devices that utilise Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) for communication. The live demonstration explored risks such as Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attacks, data manipulation, and sabotage. It provided critical insights into how these threats could compromise the confidentiality and integrity of sensitive medical data, potentially endangering patient privacy, safety, and the reliability of sensors.
The demonstration featured several wearable medical devices, including Electrocardiograms (ECGs), Oximeters, and Blood Pressure Monitors (BPMs). The work was co-authored by Mohammad together with Dr Anna Maria Mandalari, Dr Sara Ghoreishizadeh, and Dr Francesca Boem.
In addition to Mohammad’s success, PhD student Andrew Losty presented a poster at the conference titled "An Investigation of Matter Smart Home Mechanisms to Mitigate Denial-of-Service (DoS) Attacks". Andrew’s research examined the relatively new open-source Smart Home automation protocol, Matter. This protocol aims to unify the Smart Home ecosystem, eliminating the need for multiple apps and competing architectures, and is supported by over 270 manufacturers, including major tech leaders such as Amazon, Google, Apple, and Samsung.
Andrew’s paper evaluated the effectiveness of Matter’s protective mechanisms against DoS flooding and packet manipulation attacks over Wi-Fi (802.11). Using three technology platforms and devices from three vendors, the research revealed that devices could be incapacitated when subjected to crafted DoS attacks, emphasising the need for further advancements in security measures.
Furthermore, Dr Mandalari helped to organise the PhD School & Community Event, held as part of EWSN 2024 - a supportive platform designed for PhD students and junior faculty to navigate the challenges of academia.
Congratulations to Mohammad and Andrew for their contributions to this year’s EWSN conference, showcasing the impactful research conducted within the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at UCL.