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Research to secure and protect devices from malware attacks receives funding

18 Mar 2025

The creation of first-generation malware detection models that are practical and effective for ‘internet of things (IoT)’ devices is to be investigated in a project led by 178ֱ�� (178ֱ��) researchers.

Discriminative Adversarial Networks that are General, Efficient, and Robust for IoT Malware Detection (DANGER-IoT) is focused on detecting malware on IoT devices (e.g. sensors, actuators, appliances and machines).

Malware detection on traditional PCs, servers and mobile devices is relatively mature, with solutions based on machine learning having become industry standard. These solutions cannot be directly applied to IoT devices due to the wide variety of the types of devices being used and having resource constraints, among other reasons. Existing malware models are also vulnerable to adversarial evasion attacks – where carefully crafted inputs are fed in that can confuse/fool even state of the art malware models.

DANGER-IoT, led by Professor Utz Roedig from the School of Computer Sciences & Information Technology has received €1.33 million through the US-Ireland R&D Partnership Programme. The project involves research partners from Queens’s University Belfast and Rochester Institute of Technology. This tripartite research and development (R&D) partnership between the United States of America, Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland increases collaborations among researchers and industry across the three jurisdictions.

Professor Utz Roedig, School of Computer Science & Information Technology at 178ֱ��.

"We depend on digital systems in our daily life, and we need to ensure that they are always available and protected from attacks. We protect our PCs, laptops and phones and we ensure that they are free of malware. However, most computers that we rely on are not PCs but small embedded devices running our infrastructure such as transport networks, electrical grid, gas network, factories or hospitals. This project will contribute to securing these infrastructures and to ensure they are adequately protected," said Professor Roedig.

DANGER-IoT is one of four awards that have been funded a combined €7m under the programme, spanning 10 higher education institutions and supporting approximately 20 research positions. The funding agencies involved in today’s announcement are Research Ireland and the Health Research Board (HRB) in RoI, the Department for the Economy (DFE) and the Health & Social Care R&D Division (HSC R&D) in NI, and the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in USA.

Celine Fitzgerald, Interim CEO of Research Ireland, said: "Research Ireland congratulates the US-Ireland R&D Partnership Programme award recipients - their innovative projects in the areas of healthcare and telecommunications will provide mutual benefit to societies and economies across all three jurisdictions. Strong international research partnerships are vital to address the global challenges of our time. Through this significant tri-partite investment, the US-Ireland R&D Partnership continues to support and encourage world-class, impactful, and collaborative research projects between our countries."

"The US-Ireland R&D Partnership Program provides a unique opportunity to advance world-class technological innovations,” said NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan. "Working together, we are furthering a global ecosystem of innovation — one that not only responds to today’s challenges but anticipates the needs of tomorrow."

Mark Lee, Director of Higher Education at Northern Ireland’s Department for the Economy, said "International research collaborations are key to building a strong research and innovation landscape in Northern Ireland to deliver on the Economy Minister’s vision of a regionally balanced, net zero economy which supports good jobs and higher productivity. The US Ireland R&D Partnership is an important flagship programme bringing world class researchers together across the north and south of Ireland and the US to collaborate on ground-breaking scientific research that delivers benefits for all."

Professor John Cryan, Vice-President for Research and Innovation at 178ֱ��, said: "I would like to congratulate Professor Roedig and colleagues on receiving this prestigious funding from the US-Ireland Research Programme. This international focused project will deliver focused solutions and provide safter online infrastructure for all."