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ISEAI Researchers Receive Grant to Advance Cyber Security Workforce Development

The Center for Infrastructure Security in the Era of AI (ISEAI) has received a $100,000 award from the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI) Experiential Learning Program for the project “Building the Healthcare Cybersecurity Workforce.” The effort is led by Dr. Sanchari Das, Principal Investigator, with Massimiliano (Max) Albanese serving as Co-Principal Investigator.

Healthcare organizations face an urgent and growing need for cybersecurity professionals who understand both the technical dimensions of cyber defense and the operational realities of healthcare environments. This project addresses that need by creating hands-on experiential learning opportunities that prepare students and emerging professionals to protect critical healthcare systems, sensitive patient data, and essential services.

Supported by the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative, the project will run from June 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027. Through applied learning, interdisciplinary collaboration, and engagement with real-world cyber security challenges, the team will help build a workforce pipeline equipped to meet one of the most pressing security needs in the Commonwealth and beyond.

The project will be conducted in collaboration with Adeen Ayub, Co-Principal Investigator at James Madison University, further strengthening ISEAI’s partnership with JMU on cybersecurity education and workforce development. NewPush will serve as an industry partner, helping connect the project’s educational goals with practical healthcare cybersecurity needs and industry perspectives.

This award reflects ISEAI’s continued commitment to advancing cyber innovation, workforce readiness, and cross-sector collaboration. By bringing together academic expertise, industry engagement, and experiential learning, the project will contribute to a stronger, more resilient healthcare cybersecurity ecosystem.

ISEAI Faculty to Speak at European AI-Cybersecurity Workshop in Istanbul

Dr. Massimiliano (Max) Albanese, Director of the Center for Infrastructure Security in the Era of AI (ISEAI), and Dr. Ali K. Raz, an ISEAI faculty affiliate, will speak at the European AI-Cybersecurity Workshop, taking place June 9–10, 2026, at MEF University in Istanbul, Turkey. The two-day workshop, co-organized by the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI), will feature keynote talks, expert panels, interactive break-out sessions, and a student poster session focused on the intersection of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.

Dr. Raz will serve as a panelist on Panel 1: Defensive AI Cybersecurity, while Dr. Albanese will serve as a panelist on Panel 3: AI Cybersecurity in Higher Education.

The workshop is designed to strengthen international research relationships among leading universities and selected industry partners, advance strategic research themes that benefit from international and interdisciplinary collaboration, and explore joint funding and researcher mobility opportunities.

ISEAI to Host the 40^th Edition of DBSec

The Center for Infrastructure Security in the Era of AI (ISEAI) at George Mason University will host the 40^th edition of the Annual IFIP WG 11.3 Conference on Data and Applications Security and Privacy (DBSec 2026), one of the longest-running and most respected conferences in the field of data and application security.

Organized under the auspices of the International Federation for Information Processing, DBSec brings together leading researchers and practitioners working on data security, privacy protection, and trustworthy data management systems. Since its inception in 1987, DBSec has served as a premier forum for presenting advances in database security, access control, privacy-preserving technologies, secure data analytics, and emerging challenges related to data protection.

The 2026 conference marks the 40^th anniversary of the DBSec series, an important milestone highlighting four decades of research progress in protecting sensitive information and securing data-driven systems. Hosting this landmark edition reflects the growing role of ISEAI and George Mason University in advancing research at the intersection of artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and critical infrastructure protection. ISEAI’s Director, Dr. Albanese, will serve as the conference’s General Chair.

The conference will bring an international community of scholars, industry experts, and government researchers to the Washington, D.C. region. Participants will present cutting-edge research results, exchange ideas on emerging challenges in data security and privacy, and explore how advances in artificial intelligence and data-driven technologies are reshaping the security landscape.

ISEAI’s mission focuses on strengthening the security and resilience of critical infrastructure in the era of AI. Hosting DBSec 2026 aligns naturally with this mission by fostering collaboration across disciplines and communities working on secure data systems, trustworthy AI, and privacy-preserving technologies.

Additional information about the conference, including submission deadlines, program updates, and registration details, will be available on the official conference website: https://dbsec2026.gmu.edu/.

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Collaboration with JMU Leverages Explainable AI to Strengthen Cybersecurity of Hospital Infrastructure

George Mason University’s Center for Infrastructure Security in the Era of AI (ISEAI)’s Sanchari Das, Assistant Professor in the Department of Information Sciences and Technology, has received funding through the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI) to lead a collaborative research project with Adeen Ayub, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at James Madison University (JMU). The project focuses on strengthening the cybersecurity of hospital operating rooms and intensive care units using explainable and privacy-preserving artificial intelligence.

Many hospital control systems were designed without modern cybersecurity protections, relying on weak authentication, unencrypted telemetry, and vulnerable control logic. As a result, they are increasingly exposed to cyberattacks that could disrupt airflow, disable emergency generators, or compromise patient safety during critical moments.

The research focuses on developing an AI-driven anomaly detection framework tailored to hospital environments. By learning normal operational behavior in HVAC and power systems, the approach can identify deviations that may indicate cyber intrusions or malicious manipulation. To enable collaboration across hospitals while respecting healthcare privacy requirements, the framework incorporates privacy-preserving training techniques that allow models to be developed collectively without sharing sensitive operational data.

A key component of the work is explainability. Rather than producing opaque alerts, the system provides interpretable insights that connect detected anomalies to specific operational conditions, such as abnormal airflow patterns in operating rooms or delays in generator startup in intensive care units. These explanations are designed to help clinical engineers and hospital operators quickly understand risks and take informed action.

The project team will evaluate the framework using a hospital testbed that replicates real-world operating room HVAC and ICU power systems under realistic cyberattack scenarios. By combining expertise in human-centered cybersecurity and industrial control system security, the project advances CCI’s mission to strengthen the resilience of Virginia’s critical infrastructure, particularly in the healthcare sector where reliable and trustworthy system behavior is essential for patient safety.

Marcos Zampieri Partners with Redshred to Advance AI-Driven Data Integration for Navy Systems

George Mason University’s Center for Infrastructure Security in the Era of AI (ISEAI)’s Marcos Zampieri, Assistant Professor in the Department of Information Sciences and Technology, has received a subaward from Redshred for BRIDGE, a Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) SBIR Phase I project to address critical data fragmentation within naval operations. Naval systems contain critical technical information scattered across multiple documentation types, databases, and in varying formats. This fragmentation results in data redundancies, governance challenges, and delays in accessing accurate information when operational readiness depends on it. BRIDGE (Bridging Redundant Information for Data Governance and Efficiency) will modernize the Navy’s data ecosystem with artificial intelligence and machine learning to identify these redundancies, create structured data, and sync technical information across multiple databases.

Built on Redshred’s document intelligence platform, BRIDGE provides real-time integration of heterogeneous data sources, semantic redundancy detection, automated defect reporting, and support for multi-format inputs, including handwritten reports. These capabilities have been successfully demonstrated on actual Navy artifacts, proving the technology’s readiness for operational deployment. Zampieri will lead GMU’s team in the development of natural language and data translation components essential to BRIDGE’s ability to transform unstructured and semi-structured technical content into machine-readable formats, enabling more accurate alignment and interpretation of complex technical documentation.

By improving how the Navy consolidates and governs critical information, BRIDGE directly supports the resilience and security of defense infrastructure, where timely access to accurate data is essential for operational readiness.

Project activities started in June 2025.

Dr. Albanese Named Executive Director of the Institute for Digital Innovation

ISEAI Director, Dr. Massimiliano Albanese, has been named the new Executive Director of George Mason University’s Institute for Digital Innovation (IDIA).

In this role, Dr. Albanese will guide Mason’s efforts to advance digital innovation through interdisciplinary research, industry partnerships, and initiatives that translate emerging technologies into societal impact. His appointment reflects Mason’s commitment to shaping the future of digital innovation while deepening connections across academia, government, and industry.

At ISEAI, Dr. Albanese will continue to lead our mission of securing critical infrastructure in the era of AI, while his new leadership role at IDIA opens additional opportunities for collaboration, engagement, and impact.

Joint Work by ISEAI Researchers to be Presented at NAPS 2025

The paper “Physical and Cyber Security Vulnerabilities in Substation Infrastructure” has been accepted for presentation at the 57^th North American Power Symposium (NAPS 2025), to be held in Hartford, CT, on October 26–28, 2025.

This work, co-authored by ISEAI researchers from the University of North Dakota, the University of Arkansas, and George Mason University, provides a comprehensive review of vulnerabilities in modern electrical substations. The study analyzes both physical and cyber threat vectors, identifies critical assets at risk, and proposes strategies for real-time intrusion detection and countermeasure deployment.

Dr. Massimiliano Albanese, Professor of Information Sciences and Technology at Mason and ISEAI Director, contributed to this collaborative effort, led by the University of North Dakota and involving all three ISEAI university partners.

Acceptance of this paper underscores ISEAI’s role in advancing interdisciplinary research at the intersection of infrastructure security, cyber defense, and applied AI.

Dr. Albanese Partners with OneTier and Receives Funding from CCI

George Mason University has been awarded a $75,000 grant from the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI) to advance innovation on adaptive, AI-driven cyber defense. The project, led by Dr. Massimiliano Albanese, Professor in the Department of Information Sciences and Technology and ISEAI Director, will develop the Zero Trust Command Center (ZTCC) in partnership with OneTier, a Virginia-based cybersecurity startup.

The ZTCC integrates AI-powered threat detection with a modular Zero Trust framework to proactively identify, contain, and remediate cyber threats while reducing the burden on human analysts. This project is one of ten cybersecurity research efforts across Virginia to receive funding through the 2025 Commonwealth Cyber Incubator + Accelerator (CCI+A) program.

“This award recognizes Mason’s leadership in applied cyber research and strengthens our collaboration with industry to address pressing national security challenges,” said Dr. Albanese. “By combining academic expertise with OneTier’s innovation, we aim to deliver a scalable solution that helps public agencies, critical infrastructure operators, and mid-market companies defend against sophisticated cyberattacks.”

The CCI investment supports Virginia’s mission to accelerate translational research and workforce development in cybersecurity, ensuring the Commonwealth remains at the forefront of protecting critical systems and infrastructure.