Key details
Dr Muhammad Taimoor Khan
Associate Professor in Cyber Security (Certified Sustainable Cyber Security)
Muhammad Taimoor Khan is an Associate Professor of Cyber Security and member of the Centre for Sustainable Cyber Security (CS2) at the School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, Faculty of Engineering and Science, University of Greenwich. He is Head of the Cyber Assurance Lab of the centre CS2. His research is focused on developing rigorous tools to ensure sustainable and explainable (design-time and run-time) cyber safety, security, privacy, and compliance of critical systems by employing inductive and deductive modelling and verification techniques.
He has published his research in top-tier journals including IEEE TII, IEEE TSE, Springer ESE, IEEE D&T, Proceedings of the IEEE and at premier international conferences such as ISSAC, CICM, IEEE IoT, and ICS-CSR. He has also won several best paper awards in the premier international conferences, e.g., CICM and ICS-CSR, to name a few.
Dr Taimoor Khan has received support for his research mainly from the European Commission. He has also been serving as technical foreign expert in various projects that are funded by Erasmus Lumpsum - EU, HFRI - Greece, and Karl Popper Kolleg – Austria, to name a few.
Before his current position at the University of Greenwich, he was Senior Lecturer at the University of Greenwich. He is a visiting scientist at MIT CSAIL and DARPA, USA, and also a member of (i) an interdisciplinary Law, Emerging Tech and Science (LETS) Lab, UK, (ii) Formal Methods Europe -- an association for bringing world leading researchers and academics together including teaching of formal methods, and (iii) EASST -- a European Association for the Study of Science and Technology.
He received a MSc in Advanced Distributed Systems from the University of Leicester, UK in 2008 and PhD (Dr. techn.) in 2014 focusing on Formal Verification of Computer Algebra Software from the Research Institute for Symbolic Computation (RISC), Johannes Kepler University, Austria, both with distinction as well as an MSc in Computer Science from the University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan in 2001. He later worked for several years as a software engineer and architect for various international software companies, e.g., SavaJe and IBM, to name a few. Before joining the University of Greenwich, he was a Lecturer in Cyber Security at Surrey Centre of Cyber Security, University of Surrey, UK during 2018 and 2019 and prior to that a Postdoc at the MIT CSAIL, USA jointly during 2014-2016 and in SERG Group at the Alpen-Adria University, Austria during 2016-2018.
Responsibilities within the university
- Module Leader for “Advanced Programming”
- Module Moderator for “Information Security”
- Placement Tutor for “Industrial Placement”
- Subject Group Leader for "Programming"
Awards
External Grants
Research Grants
| 2021–2024 | Co-I, Horizon Europe, RESCUER (Greenwich: €385k, total project value: €7M). |
| 2020–2022 | P.I. & WP Leader, Horizon Europe, ENSURESEC (Greenwich: €489K, total project value: €9M). |
Knowledge Exchange
| 2023–2027 | Foreign Expert, Erasmus, AI-powered Next Generation of VET. |
| 2022–2025 | Foreign Expert, HFRI, Automated Synthesis of Runtime Monitors for Safe & Secure Distributed Industrial Systems. |
| 2021-2024 | Foreign Expert, Karl Popper Kolleg, Responsible Safe and Secure Robotic Systems Engineering. |
Recognition
Selected advisory Groups & Memberships
Advisory Committee Member, Workshop on Formal Approaches for Advanced Computing Systems; Advisory board H2020 ENSURESEC; IEEE member (since 2016); Formal Methods Europe member (since 2021); Law, Emerging Tech and Science (LETS) Lab member (since 2021); European Association for the Study of Science and Technology member (since 2016).
Recent invited talks (academic & industry)
DARPA, USA “Resilient and Secure Systems” (2023) & MIT CSAIL, USA “Behavior-based Secure and Resilient System Development” (2022).
Recent invited talks (conferences)
FAACS, “Behavior-based Resilient System Development” (2023) & ICIT “Certified and Explainable Sustainable Cyber Security” (2023)
Selected advisory Groups & Memberships
Advisory Committee Member, Workshop on Formal Approaches for Advanced Computing Systems; Advisory board H2020 ENSURESEC; IEEE member (since 2016); Formal Methods Europe member (since 2021); Law, Emerging Tech and Science (LETS) Lab member (since 2021); European Association for the Study of Science and Technology member (since 2016).
Research / Scholarly interests
Research topics
- Rigorous sustainable cyber security
- Certified and explainable cyber security
Research supervision
Doctoral Students
- Muqaddas Naz (Univ. of Greenwich, since 2023) “Metamorphic Testing for Privacy Protection in Internet-based Messaging Applications”.
- Taofik Olajobi (Univ. of Greenwich, since 2023) “Explainable Protection of Conversational AI applications against Security and Privacy Threats”.
- Lal Majeed Akhter (Univ. of Greenwich, since 2021) “Model-based Software Security”.
- Liva Giovanni (external PhD co-supervisor Univ. of Klagenfurt, 2016-2019) “Formal Analysis & Verification of Timed Programs”.
Postdoctoral Researchers
- Dr Ijaz Ahmed (Univ. of Greenwich, 2020-2021). Moved to Lectureship position at Cardiff Met. University.
- Dr Xing Liang (Univ. of Greenwich, 2021–2022). Moved to Lectureship position at Kingston University.
Research Interns
- Anouar EL GAZRI (Univ. of Greenwich, 2022-23). Continued to study at Uni. of Orleans, France.
- Zakaria Sawadogo (Univ. of Greenwich, 2022-23). Continued to study at Gaston Berger, Senegal.
- Suranjan Poudel (Univ. of Greenwich, 2022-2023). Continued to study at Uni. of Greenwich.
- Vikalp Jaiswal (Univ. of Greenwich, 2021-2022). Moved to IT Audit Manager at RSA.
- Aditya Rajput (Univ. of Greenwich, 2021-2022). Moved to Data Analyst 2 at Abbott.
- William E. Philips, (Univ. of Greenwich, 2020-2022). Continued to study at Uni. of Greenwich.
- Harsh Patel (Univ. of Greenwich, 2020-2021). Moved to IoT AI Engineer at Thingtrax.
Recent publications
Article
Aurangzeb, Sana , Aleem, Muhammad, Khan, Muhammad Taimoor, Loukas, George , Sakellari, Georgia (2024), AndroDex: Android Dex images of obfuscated malware. Nature Research. In: , , , . Nature Research, Scientific Data, 11 (212) . pp. 1-10 2052-4463 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03027-3).
Aurangzeb, Sana , Aleem, Muhammad, Khan, Muhammad Taimoor, Anwar, Haris , Siddique, Muhammad Shaoor (2023), Cybersecurity for autonomous vehicles against malware attacks in smart-cities. Springer. In: , , , . Springer, Cluster Computing ISSN: 1386-7857 (Print), 1573-7543 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10586-023-04114-7).
Khan, Taimoor and , Tomic, Ivana (2020), Securing industrial cyber-physical systems: A run-time multi-layer monitoring. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). In: , , , . Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, 17 (9) . pp. 6251-6259 ISSN: 1551-3203 (Print), 1941-0050 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/TII.2020.3032968).
Giovanni, Liva , Khan, Muhammad Taimoor, Pinzger, Martin, Spegni, Francesco , Spalazzi, Luca (2019), Automatic repair of timestamp comparisons. IEEE. In: , , , . IEEE, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 47 (11) . pp. 2369-2381 ISSN: 0098-5589 (Print), (doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/TSE.2019.2948351).
Khan, Muhammad Taimoor and , Shrobe, Howard (2019), Security of cyberphysical systems: Chaining induction and deduction. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). In: , , , . Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Computer, 52 . pp. 72-75 ISSN: 0018-9162 (Print), 1558-0814 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/MC.2019.2913138).
Liva, Giovanni , Khan, Muhammad Taimoor, Pinzger, Martin (2019), Semantics-driven extraction of timed automata from Java programs. Springer. In: , , , . Springer, Empirical Software Engineering, 24 (5) . pp. 3114-3150 ISSN: 1382-3256 (Print), 1573-7616 (Online) (doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10664-019-09699-5).
Serpanos, Dimitrios , Khan, Muhammad Taimoor, Shrobe, Howard (2018), Designing safe and secure industrial control systems: A tutorial review. IEEE. In: , , , . IEEE, IEEE Design & Test, 35 (3) . pp. 73-88 ISSN: 2168-2356 (Print), 2168-2364 (Online) (doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1109/MDAT.2018.2816943).
Khan, Muhammad Taimoor , Serpanos, Dimitrios, Shrobe, Howard (2017), ARMET: behavior-based secure and resilient industrial control systems. IEEE. In: , , , . IEEE, Proceedings of the IEEE, 106 (1) . pp. 129-143 ISSN: 0018-9219 (Print), 1558-2256 (Online) (doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1109/JPROC.2017.2725642).
Conference proceedings
Raptis, George E. , Khan, Muhammad Taimoor, Koulamas, Christos, Serpanos, Dimitrios (2025), Applying inline monitoring to detect run-time security incidents in water distribution systems. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). In: , , , IECON 2024 - 50th Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Piscataway, New Jersey . ISBN: 9781665464550 (doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/IECON55916.2024.10905306).
Raptis, George E. , Khan, Muhammad Taimoor, Koulamas, Christos, Sepanos, Dimitrios (2024), Towards integration of EPANET and ASM2S to enhance security in water distribution systems. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). In: , , In: ETFA Conference Committeee (ed.), 2024 IEEE 29th International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA), Padova, Italy, 10th - 13th September 2024. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Piscataway, New Jersey (1st) . pp. 1-8 . ISBN: 979835031230; 9798350361247ISSN: 1946-0759 (Print), 1946-0740 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/ETFA61755.2024.10710978).
Akhter, Lal , Khan, Muhammad Taimoor, Loukas, George, Sakellari, Georgia (2024), Towards integration of syntactic and semantic vulnerability patterns. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). In: , , In: ICSA-C 2024 Conference Committeee (ed.), 2024 IEEE 21st International Conference on Software Architecture Companion (ICSA-C) DOI: 10.1109/ICSA-C63560.2024, 4th - 8th June 2024. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Piscataway, New Jersey (1st) . pp. 260-264 . ISBN: 9798350366259; 979850366266ISSN: 2768-4288 (Print), 2768-427X (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSA-C63560.2024.00054).
Sawadogo, Zakaria , Mendy, Gervais, Khan, Muhammad Taimoor, Ouya, Samuel , Dembelle, Jean Marie (2023), Towards a DeepMalOb improvement in the use of formal security risk analysis methods. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). In: 2023 IEEE 6th International Conference on Cloud Computing and Artificial Intelligence: Technologies and Applications (CloudTech), , In: CloudTech Conference Committeee (ed.), 2023 IEEE 6th International Conference on Cloud Computing and Artificial Intelligence: Technologies and Applications (CloudTech), 21st - 23rd November 2023, Marrakesh, Morocco. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Piscataway, New Jersey (1st) . pp. 118-122 . ISBN: 9798350303070; 9798350303063 (doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/CloudTech58737.2023.10366167).
Khan, Muhammad Taimoor and , (2023), Challenges in modelling applications for safe and resilient digital twins. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). In: 2022 IEEE International Smart Cities Conference (ISC2), , In: IEEE Conference organizers (ed.), 2022 IEEE International Smart Cities Conference (ISC2), Pafos, Cyprus. 26-29 Sept 2022. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Piscataway, New Jersey (1st) . pp. 1-6 . ISBN: 9781665485616; 9781665485623ISSN: 2687-8860 (Print), 2687-8852 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/ISC255366.2022.9921921) NB Item availability restricted.
Khan, Muhammad Taimoor and , (2022), Towards practical and formal security risk analysis of IoT (Internet of Things) applications. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). In: 2022 IEEE 27th International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA), , In: IEEE & ETFA Conference Organizers (ed.), 2022 IEEE 27th International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Piscataway, New Jersey (1st) . pp. 1-4 . ISBN: 9781665499965; 9781665499972 (doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/ETFA52439.2022.9921511) NB Item availability restricted.
Mohsin, Ali , Aurangzeb, Sana, Aleem, Muhammad, Khan, Muhammad Taimoor (2022), On the performance and scalability of simulators for improving security and safety of smart cities. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). In: 2022 IEEE 27th International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA), , In: IEEE & ETFA Conference Organizers (ed.), 2022 IEEE 27th International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Piscataway, New Jersey (1st) . pp. 1-8 . ISBN: 9781665499965; 9781665499972 (doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/ETFA52439.2022.9921600) NB Item availability restricted.
Khan, Muhammad Taimoor , Serpanos, Dimitrios, Shrobe, Howard (2021), Towards scalable security of real-time applications: a formally certified approach. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). In: 2021 26th IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA), , In: IEEE Conference organizers (ed.), 2021 26th IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA ). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Piscataway, New Jersey (1st) . pp. 01-04 . ISBN: 9781728129907; 9781728129891 (doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/ETFA45728.2021.9613489) NB Item availability restricted.
Khan, Muhammad Taimoor , Serpanos, Dimitrios, Shrobe, Howard (2018), Highly assured safety and security of e-health applications. IEEE. In: 14th International Conference on Wireless and Mobile Computing, Networking and Communications (WiMob), , , 2018 14th International Conference on Wireless and Mobile Computing, Networking and Communications (WiMob). IEEE, . pp. 137-144 . ISBN: 9781538668764ISSN: 2160-4886 (Print), (doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1109/WiMOB.2018.8589095).
Liva, Giovanni , Khan, Muhammad Taimoor, Spegni, Francesco, Spalazzi, Luca , Bollin, Andreas , Pinzger, Martin (2018), Modeling time in Java programs for automatic error detection. ACM. In: 40th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE) collocated FormlalSE, , , Proceedings of the 6th Conference on Formal Methods in Software Engineering - FormaliSE '18. ACM, New York, USA . pp. 50-59 . ISBN: 9781450357180 (doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3193992.3193997).
Khan, Muhammad Taimoor , Serpanos, Dimitrios, Shrobe, Howard (2017), A rigorous and efficient run-time security monitor for real-time critical embedded system applications. IEEE. In: IEEE 3rd World Forum on Internet of Things (WF-IoT), , , 2016 IEEE 3rd World Forum on Internet of Things (WF-IoT). IEEE, . pp. 100-105 . ISBN: 9781509041305 (doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/WF-IoT.2016.7845510).