Welcome to the Security, Emerging Tech, AI, and Learning (SEAL) Lab at the
University of Central Florida, directed by
Professor David Mohaisen.
The SEAL Lab conducts cutting-edge research spanning
security and privacy,
machine learning and artificial intelligence,
software and networked systems,
Internet of Things (IoT) and wearables, and
blockchain and decentralized technologies. Founded in 2015 at the
University at Buffalo (SUNY)
and relocated to UCF in 2017, the SEAL Lab has been instrumental in
training, advising, and graduating more than two dozen PhD students, alongside numerous
master’s and undergraduate researchers. A notable achievement of the lab is the creation of the
INHA University –
UCF Dual Doctoral Degree Program,
a unique international initiative that produced three jointly trained PhD graduates and established a long-term global research partnership.
Our mission is to develop foundational principles, build practical and deployable systems, and promote responsible, trustworthy technologies—all while mentoring the next generation of researchers, engineers, and innovators.
The SEAL Lab is continually seeking motivated and talented researchers. While we are not currently recruiting new PhD students, we welcome inquiries from M.Sc. students interested in pursuing the thesis option, as well as undergraduate students eager to explore hands-on research opportunities. If you are interested in joining the lab, feel free to contact us.
Our mission is to develop foundational principles, build practical and deployable systems, and promote responsible, trustworthy technologies—all while mentoring the next generation of researchers, engineers, and innovators.
The SEAL Lab is continually seeking motivated and talented researchers. While we are not currently recruiting new PhD students, we welcome inquiries from M.Sc. students interested in pursuing the thesis option, as well as undergraduate students eager to explore hands-on research opportunities. If you are interested in joining the lab, feel free to contact us.
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The SEAL Lab advances research across multiple areas including cybersecurity analytics, adversarial machine learning, trustworthy AI, distributed systems, blockchain security, privacy-preserving computation, and emerging computing platforms.
- Networks security: Security 2024, NDSS 2023, CCS 2022, DSN 2022, INFOCOM 2020, DSN 2019
- Blockchain security: IEEE S&P 2023, CCS 2021, CCS 2021, ICDCS 2021, ICDCS 2019
- Wearables & IoT security: IEEE VR 2022, CHI 2022, ICDCS 2020, NDSS 2018, NDSS 2016
- ML/LLM & software security: NDSS 2026, NDSS 2025, RAID 2022, ICCV 2021, PETS 2020, CCS 2018
News
Paper 11/2025: Paper on Measuring the Computational Universality of Fully Homomorphic Encryption is accepted at PoPETs.Honor 10/2025: David was selected to serve as a Fulbright Specialist for the 2025–2027 cycle.
Paper 10/2025: Paper on blockchain security is accepted at ACM DLT.
Talk 9/2025: David delivered a keynote at Simpósio Brasileiro de Cibersegurança 2025 (SBSeg 2025) in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil.
Award 09/2025: Pelumi won a Graduate Fellowship from UCF’s Office of Commercialization and Research.
Award 08/2025: Steffen won an NSF Graduate Fellowship (CSGrad4US).
Paper 08/2025: Paper on android malware analysis was accepted to IEEE AICCSA 2025.
Graduation 07/2025: Congratulations to Ilkin for successfully defending her dissertation -> Universal as an AI Engineer.
Graduation 07/2025: Congratulations to Ali for successfully defending his dissertation. Ali will join UCF as a Lecturer.
Graduation 06/2024: Congratulations to Jie for successfully defending his dissertation. Jie will join UCF as a Lecturer.
Graduation 03/2025: Congratulations to Aziz for defending his dissertation. -> Jazan University as an Assistant Professor.
Graduation 03/2025: Congratulations to Ahod for successfully defending her dissertation -> PSAU as an Assistant Professor.
Graduation 03/2025: Congratulations to Soohyeon for successfully defending his dissertation -> SMU as a Scientist.
Paper 03/2025: Paper on authorship attribution defenses was accepted to IEEE TDSC.
Paper 03/2025: Paper on ChatGPT-generated code authorship attribution was accepted to IEEE ICDCS.
Milestone 03/2025: Congratulations to Ilkin for passing her proposal presentation.
Milestone 03/2025: Congratulations to Jie for passing his proposal presentation.
Paper 02/2025: Paper on ChatGPT-generated code attribution was accepted to IEEE TDSC.
Milestone 01/2025: Congratulations to Ali for passing his proposal presentation.
Paper 10/2024: Paper accepted to NDSS 2025. Congratulations to Jie.
Milestone 10/2024: Congratulations to Jie for passing his candidacy.
Milestone 09/2024: Congratulations to Aziz for passing his proposal presentation.
Paper 02/2025: Paper on VR security was accepted to IEEE TDSC.
Milestone 08/2024: Congratulations to Ayo for successfully defending his dissertation.
Milestone 08/2024: Congratulations to Ilkin for passing her candidacy.
Milestone 07/2024: Congratulations to Ahod for passing her candidacy.
Milestone 07/2024: Congratulations to Ali for passing his candidacy.
Paper 02/2025: Paper on ML-based malware detection security was accepted to IEEE TDSC.
Milestone 05/2024: Congratulations to Aziz for passing his candidacy.
Milestone 03/2024: Congratulations to Ayo for passing his proposal presentation.
Graduation 02/2024: M. Alqadhi and M. Alkinoon have defended their dissertations and graduated with Ph.D. degrees.
Milestone 02/2024: A. Adeniran has passed his proposal milestone.
Our work is supported by NSF, NRF, AFRL, AFOSR, CyberFlorida, CECS@UCF, ORC@UCF, and SACM, among others.