About
I am a Ph.D. student in the National Ph.D. Program in Cybersecurity, jointly enrolled at the IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca and the Università degli Studi di Milano. My work focuses on Trustworthy AI for IoT Security—with an emphasis on privacy-preserving federated intrusion detection and defenses against data poisoning (including backdoors) in distributed learning. Supervisors: Prof. V. Piuri; co-supervisors: Prof. A. Genovese, Prof. P. Samarati.
Education
- 2022–2025 Ph.D., National Ph.D. Program in Cybersecurity — IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca & Università degli Studi di Milano. Project: Trustworthy AI for IoT Security: Privacy-Preserving, Federated Intrusion Detection.
- Mar 2018 M.Sc. in Information Technology, University of Gondar — Thesis: A Collaborative Knowledge‑Based System with a Hybrid Machine Learning Approach.
- Jun 2013 B.Sc. in Information Technology, Adama Science and Technology University — Project: Web‑based Digital Library System with Multi‑User Access and Role Management.
Employment
- Dec 2022 – Nov 2025 Ph.D. Student (Scholarship), IMT & UNIMI.
- Feb 2018 – Oct 2022 Lecturer, University of Gondar (Information Systems).
- Dec 2014 – Jan 2018 Assistant Lecturer, University of Gondar.
- 2009 – 2010 Assistant Lecturer & Department Head, Gendawuha TVET College.
Awards & Scholarships
- PNRR Ph.D. Scholarship (MUR, Italy; EU NextGenerationEU), 2022–Present — focus on AI safety, security & data protection in emerging scenarios.
Research Focus
Data Poisoning in ML/AI Security
Availability, integrity, and backdoor poisoning across centralized & federated setups; non‑IID clients, partial participation, Sybil/collusion; stealthy update‑level attacks; detection & mitigation strategies for robust training.
Federated Learning for IoT Security
Metric‑driven client sampling (resources, data utility, trust), multi‑objective optimization under edge constraints (latency, bandwidth, memory, energy), communication‑efficient updates and robust aggregation.
Intrusion Detection Systems
AI‑based IDS across heterogeneous IoT datasets; adaptive model sizing & transfer learning; FL‑aware detection to strengthen distributed IDS robustness.
Teaching Activities
University of Gondar
- Fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence (InSy3102) — A.Y. 2021/2022 (UG, Info Systems). Search, knowledge representation, reasoning, ML. Role: lectures; hands‑on supervision; project guidance.
- Information System Security (InSy4081) — A.Y. 2021/2022 (UG). Cryptography, authentication, access control, malware, network security, risk management, emerging threats. Role: lectures; practicals; case studies.
- Data Mining & Machine Learning (InSy2103) — A.Y. 2019/2020 (UG). Preprocessing, classification, clustering, association rules, supervised/unsupervised ML. Role: lectures; labs; projects.
- Fundamentals & Advanced Database Systems (ComSc101) — A.Y. 2018–2020 (UG, CS). Relational design, SQL, normalization, optimization, distributed & NoSQL. Role: lectures; labs; project supervision.
- Fundamentals of Networking & System Administration (InSy3023) — A.Y. 2015–2017 (UG, Info Systems). Networking principles; sysadmin (install/configure/troubleshoot/security). Role: lectures; labs.
Other Teaching Activities
Support for teaching (BSc & MSc in Computer Science), Università degli Studi di Milano — Art. 45, Regolamento Generale di Ateneo
- A.Y. 2024/2025 Artificial Intelligence — 24 hours
- A.Y. 2024/2025 Database (Basi di Dati) — 24 hours
- A.Y. 2024/2025 Operating Systems (Sistemi Operativi) — 30 hours
- A.Y. 2023/2024 Artificial Intelligence — 24 hours
- A.Y. 2023/2024 Database (Basi di Dati) — 48 hours
- A.Y. 2023/2024 Operating Systems I (Sistemi Operativi) — 30 hours
International Schools & Research Visits
Participation in International Schools
- Aug 4–8, 2025 CISPA–ELLIS–ELSA Summer School 2025: Trustworthy AI, CISPA – Helmholtz Center, Saarbrücken, Germany.
Visits to International Research Centers
- Jul–Nov 2025 Visiting Researcher, NTNU (NORCICS), Gjøvik, Norway — Trustworthy AI, FL defenses, internal seminar, joint manuscript.
- Jul–Sep 2023; Jul–Oct 2024 Visiting Researcher, Addis Ababa University — AI‑driven IoT security; FL poisoning detection; conference paper preparation.
Projects (Collaborations)
- Digital Disaster Recovery & Rehabilitation — Coordinator (10/03/2021–28/04/2022): integrity checks, resilient backups, training, policy recommendations.
- Google Impact Amplifier: Online Safety — Contributor (2020–2021): digital‑literacy & cyber hygiene; phishing awareness; 2FA; privacy; train‑the‑trainer roll‑outs.
- Amharic Chatbot Decision Support for Farmers — Researcher/Developer (09/11/2018–18/07/2019): agronomic guidance for seasonal planning & crop choice.
Professional Service
Workshops Organizer
- Research data stewardship & e‑infrastructures with University of Vienna Library & Archive Service (03/08/2018–17/08/2018, Gondar).
- Data Cleaning in OpenRefine; Data Analysis & Visualization in R/RStudio (11/03/2019–13/03/2019, Gondar).
Reviewer (Journals)
- Computers & Security (Elsevier)
- Information Security Journal (Web of Science)
- Concurrency and Computation: Practice and Experience
Reviewer (Conferences)
- IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (IEEE‑SMC 2025)
- ICT4DA 2023
- Deep Learning IndabaX 2022
Technical Program Committee
- National conference on digital transformation for holistic & inclusive development (2022)
- Open Internet standards for web servers (Internet Society), Apr 12–23, 2021
Memberships
- IEEE Graduate Student Member; IEEE Young Professionals
- IEEE ComSoc; IEEE CIS
- Association for Information Systems (AIS) — Doctoral Student Member
- Ethiopian Cybersecurity Association (ECySA)
Publications
Journal Articles
- M. B. Anley, P. Coscia, A. Genovese, V. Piuri, “FELACS: Federated Learning with Adaptive Client Selection for IoT DDoS Attack Detection”, Computers & Security, 2025. accepted
- M. B. Anley, A. Genovese, D. Agostinello, V. Piuri, “Robust DDoS attack detection with adaptive transfer learning”, Computers & Security 144, Sept 2024.
International Conferences
- M. B. Anley, A. Genovese, T. B. Tesema, V. Piuri, “FLIFRA: Hybrid data poisoning attack detection in federated learning for IoT security”, IEEE SMC 2025, Vienna, Oct 5–8, 2025. accepted
- M. B. Anley, A. Genovese, V. Piuri, “TransferEdge: Transfer learning approach to detect evolving DDoS threats in Edge‑IIoT”, RTSI 2025, Gammarth, Tunisia, Aug 24–26, 2025. accepted
- M. B. Anley, O. Ekpo, T. M. H. Gedara, “Cybersecurity Assessment of Digital Twin in Smart Grids”, ITASEC 2024.
- M. B. Anley, G. S. Negashe, A. Y. Ayalew, “Opinion Mining of Tourists’ Sentiments…”, IEEE CIVEMSA 2023, pp. 3312–3319.
- M. B. Anley, R. B. Awgichew, “Machine Learning Approach for Green Usage of Computing Devices”, Indaba‑X Ethiopia 2021.
- M. B. Anley, A. A. Zegeye, “Accessibility of AI Technologies for Persons with Disabilities…”, NeurIPS 2021 Black in AI Workshop (Poster).
- M. B. Anley, T. B. Tesema, “A collaborative approach to build a KBS for crop selection…”, ICT4DA 2019, CCIS vol. 1026, Springer.
Book Chapters / Submissions
- M. B. Anley, A. Genovese, D. Agostinello, V. Piuri, “Deep Learning for DDoS Attack Detection in IoT: A Survey”, submitted.
Presentations & Seminars
- Oct 2025 Cybersecurity Assessment of Digital Twin in Smart Grids, ITASEC 2024, Salerno (Apr 8–12, 2024).
- Jun 2023 Opinion Mining of Tourists’ Sentiments…, IEEE CIVEMSA 2023 (Virtual), Jun 12, 2023.
- Jan 2022 Machine Learning for Green Usage of Computing Devices, Indaba‑X 2021, Adama.
- Dec 2021 Accessibility of AI Technologies for Persons with Disabilities, NeurIPS 2021 (Black in AI) — Poster.
- May 2019 A Collaborative KBS for Crop Selection, ICT4DA 2019, Bahir Dar.
Seminars & Posters
- Sep 2025 Seminar: Data Poisoning Attacks in Federated Learning, NTNU, Norway.
- Aug 2025 Poster: Cross‑Domain Adaptation Learning for IoT Security, Saarbrücken, Germany.
- Sep 2023 Seminar: Opinion Mining for Tourism, Addis Ababa University.
Skills, Certifications & Languages
Skills
- Programming: Python, C++, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, MySQL
- Frameworks/Tools: TensorFlow, Keras, Flower, SQL, Wireshark, Nmap, Kali Linux, Pilar Risk Analysis
- Domains: Machine Learning, Federated Learning, Cybersecurity, Data Poisoning Detection, Intrusion Detection
Certifications
- Hands‑on Penetration Testing with Netcat – EC‑Council (Nov 7, 2023)
- Deep Web and Cybersecurity – EC‑Council (Nov 10, 2023)
- CISCO Certified Network Associate (CCNA)
- Machine Learning for Data Science, Columbia University (Online), 2022
- Big Data Analytics, IIOE (UNESCO)
Languages
- Amharic — Native
- English — Proficient
- Italian — Basic