Navigating Cybersecurity in the AI Era: Strategies and Defense Mechanisms

Name: Jiacen Xu

Chair: Prof. Zhou Li

Date: February 24, 2025

Time:  10:00 AM

Location: Zoom

Committee: Prof. Mohammad Al Faruque, Prof. Yanning Shen

Title: Navigating Cybersecurity in the AI Era: Strategies and Defense Mechanisms

Abstract: The rise of AI has dramatically reshaped the cybersecurity landscape, introducing both advanced cyber threats and innovative defense mechanisms. My research delves into the evolving nature of cyber attacks and AI-driven defenses, with a particular focus on how AI both exacerbates and addresses cybersecurity risks.

I examine the progression of AI-powered cyber-attacks, highlighting how these technologies enable more precise, autonomous, and scalable breaches across a range of digital infrastructures, including enterprise network systems and IoT systems like autonomous vehicles. The research explores AI-driven attack vectors such as automated malicious command generation and adversarial machine learning techniques targeting autonomous systems.

In response, my research evaluates AI-powered defense strategies, such as graph neural networks for threat detection and AI-augmented forensic analyses, using datasets from DARPA DC and Los Alamos National Lab. These defense mechanisms are assessed for their ability to detect and mitigate threats.

The goal of my research is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the dual role of AI in cybersecurity and propose strategic measures to strengthen security practices in response to the rapid pace of technological advancement.

Short Bio: Jiacen Xu is a Ph.D. candidate in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California, Irvine, under the supervision of Professor Zhou Li. He holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Information Security and Cyberspace Security from Shanghai Jiao Tong University. His research focuses on Artifact Intelligence for cybersecurity applications such as cyber attack automation and detection. During his Ph.D., he interned at Microsoft Research and IBM Research.