Research Focus

Expanding the transparency and control of IoT devices by examining the state of security and privacy within Internet-of-Things (IoT) ecosystems.

• Developing novel attack vectors for IoT
• Identifying systemic design failures in IoT
• Examining means for better transparency in IoT
• Leveraging IoT for security education

Publications

• TJ OConnor, Alex Schmith, Chris Stricklan, Marco Carvalho, Sneha Sudhakaran. Pwn Lessons Made Easy With Docker: Toward an Undergraduate Vulnerability Research Cybersecurity Class. Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE TS 24), Portland, OR, March 2024. [bib] [pdf]

• Curtice Gough, Carl Mann, Cherrise Ficke, Maureen Namukasa, Meredith Carroll, TJ OConnor. Remote Controlled Cyber: Toward Engaging and Educating a Diverse Cybersecurity Workforce. Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE TS 24), Portland, OR, March 2024. [bib] [pdf]

• Kourtnee Fernalld, TJ OConnor, Sneha Sudhakaran, Nasheen Nur. Lightweight Symphony: Towards Reducing Computer Science Student Anxiety with Standardized Docker Environments. Special Interest Group on Information Technology Education (SIGITE 23), Marietta, GA, October 2023. [bib] [pdf]

• TJ OConnor, Dylan Jessee and Daniel Campos. Towards Examining The Security Cost of Inexpensive Smart Home IoT Devices. IEEE International Workshop on Consumer Devices, Systems, and Services (CDS 2023), Torino, Italy, June 2023.

• Stian Olsen and TJ OConnor. Toward a Labeled Dataset of IoT Malware Features. IEEE Computers, Software, and Applications Conference (COMPSAC 2023), Torino, Italy, June 2023.

• TJ OConnor, Dane Brown, Jasmine Jackson, Suzaan Schmeelk, Bryson Payne. Compete to Learn: Toward Cybersecurity As A Sport. In The Journal of Cybersecurity Education Research and Practice (JCERP), Kennesaw, GA, June 2023 [bib] [pdf]
• Parth Ganeriwala, Anubhav Gupta, Daniel Campos, Siddhartha Bhattacharyya, TJ OConnor, Adolf Dcosta,  Modeling Internet-of-Things (IoT) Behavior for Enforcing Security and Privacy Policies. In Computing Conference 2023, London, UK, June 2023. [pdf]

• Ahmed Alhazm, Khulud Alawaji, and TJ OConnor. MPO: MQTT-Based Privacy Orchestrator for Smart Home Users. In Computers, Software, and Applications Conference (COMPSAC), Virtual Event, July 2022. IEEE. [bib] [pdf]

• TJ OConnor, Carl Mann, Tiffanie Petersen, Isaiah Thomas and Chris Stricklan. Toward an Automatic Exploit Generation Competition for an Undergraduate Binary Reverse Engineering Course.  In Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (ITiCSE), Dublin, Ireland, July 2022. ACM. [bib] [pdf]

• TJ OConnor. HELO DarkSide: Breaking free from katas and embracing the adversarial mindset in cybersecurity education. In Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE), Providence, RI, March 2022. ACM. [bib] [pdf]

• Ahmed Alhazmi, Ghassen Kilani, William Allen, and TJ OConnor. A replication Study for IoT Privacy Preferences. IEEE Conference on Omni-Layer Intelligent Systems (COINS). August 2021 [bib] [pdf]
• TJ OConnor, Dylan Jesse, and Daniel Camps. Through the Spyglass: Toward IoT Companion App Man-in-the-Middle Attacks. USENIX Cyber Security Experimentation and Test Workshop (CSET). August 2021.  [bib] [pdf]
• Daniel Campos, TJ OConnor. Towards Labeling On-Demand IoT Traffic. USENIX Cyber Security Experimentation and Test Workshop (CSET). August 2021. [bib] [pdf]
• TJ OConnor, Chris Stricklan. Teaching a Hands-On Mobile and Wireless Cybersecurity Course. ACM Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (ITiCSE). June 2021.  [bib] [pdf]
• Chris Stricklan, TJ OConnor. Towards Binary Diversified Challenges For A Hands-On Reverse Engineering Course. ACM Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (ITiCSE). June 2021. [bib] [pdf]
• Blake Janes, Heather Crawford, and TJ OConnor. Never Ending Story: Authentication and Access Control Design Flaws in Shared IoT Devices. IEEE Security and Privacy SafeThings Workshop. May, 2020. [bib] [pdf] (Also received Bug Bounty From Google)
• TJ OConnor, William Enck, and Bradley Reaves. Blinded and Confused: Uncovering Systemic Flaws in Device Telemetry for Smart-Home Internet of Things, Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Security and Privacy in Wireless and Mobile Networks (WiSec). May, 2019. [bib] [pdf](Best Paper WiSec, 2019)

Datasets

• Labeled Dataset of IoT Traffic from Towards Labeling On-Demand IoT Traffic is available now. [Github Link]. Please cite the dataset using: [bib] [pdf]
• Attacks presented in Through the Spyglass: Toward IoT Companion App MiTM Attacks  [Github Link]. Please cite the dataset using: [bib] [pdf]
• Labeled Dataset of IoT Malware from Toward a Labeled Dataset of IoT Malware Features  [Github Link]

Awards

• National Security Agency GenCyber Cyber Camp $149,724.
• Office of Naval Research: Educational Approaches and Curriculum to Engage and Educate a More Diverse Cybersecurity Workforce $746,929.
• Office of Naval Research: Multidisciplinary Approach to Internet-of-Things (IoT) Cybersecurity Research $249,946.

Media & Interviews

• Jim Waymer from Florida Today quoted Dr. OConnor and shared his insight in his story: Are Iran and China trying to foul our water? White House warns governors to be alert. [Link]
• Hillary Grigonis from Pocket-Lint spoke with Dr. OConnor in their story: Is your security camera spying on you? How to protect your footage and privacy. [Link]
• CSO published a story about Reducing the Risk of DNS Tunneling and quoted Dr. OConnor [Link]
• Florida Weekly published a story about the impact of security on IoT devices in the future [Link]
• Space Coast Daily published a story about the FITSEC first place finish at the 2022 Fall NCL Game. [Link]
• Space Coast Daily published a story about Chandler Hake, who is in the Cyber Ops Concentration. [Link]
• Space Coast Daily published a story about the FITSEC second place finish at the 2022 Spring NCL Game. [Link]
• Brevard Business News Story about Dr. OConnor's leadership of the US Cyber Games [Link]
• Florida Tech Article about our work bringing cybersecurity education to K-12 [Link]
• Congressional Record Congratulating FITSEC's win at National Cyber League Team Tournament [Link]
• Florida Tech Article about FITSEC Win at National Cyber League Team Tournament [Link]
• Scythe Post about Risk of Supply Chain From IoT Devices (Dr. OConnor) [Link]
• Florida Tech Article about IoT Companion App Vulnerabilities [Link]
• Washington Post Article about US Cyber Games (Dr. OConnor) [Link]
• Capitol.Com Article about Cybersecurity Summit (Dr. OConnor) [Link]
• Dr. OConnor named as US Cyber Games Head Coach [Link]
• WESH Interview about the cyber attack on Carnival Cruise (Dr. OConnor) [Link]
• CybserScoop Interview about Amazon Sidewalk [Link]
• Fox35 Interview about the DarkSide Ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline (Dr. OConnor) [Link]
• Fox35 Interview about Water Treatment Plant Compromise (Dr. OConnor) [Link]
• Fox35 (Second) Interview about Water Treatment Plant Compromise (Dr. OConnor) [Link]
• Washington Post Story about IoT S&P Lab [Link]
• Florida Today Story about IoT S&P Lab [Link]
• Interview with REFirm Labs about Camera Backdoor Discovery (Dr. OConnor) [Link]
• ITSP Magazine Podcast about our IoT S&P Lab (Dr. OConnor & Dan Campos) [Link]
• DeviceSecurityIO Interview about the state of IoT Security (Dr. OConnor) [Link]
• Florida Tech Story about IoT S&P Lab and FITSec Team (Josh Connolly & Dr. OConnor) [Link]

Vulnerability Disclosures

• CVE-2023-49199 : Embargoed.
• CVE-2023-49200 : Embargoed. 
• CVE-2021-33559 : Kangaroo Privacy Camera (Unauthenticated remote access)
• CVE-2021-31793 : NightOwl Doorbell Camera Vulnerability (WDB-20-V2 WDB-20-V2_20190314)
• CVE-2020-28713 : NightOwl Smart Doorbell Vulnerability (Firmware Version 20190505)
• CVE-2020-28998 : Geeni Doorbell Camera Vulnerability (GNC-CW013 Firmware 1.8.1)
• CVE-2020-28999 : Geeni Doorbell Camera Vulnerability (GNC-CW013 Firmware 1.8.1)
• CVE-2020-29000 : Geeni Doorbell Camera Vulnerability (GNC-CW013 Firmware 1.8.1)
• CVE-2020-29001 : Geeni (Multiple Devices, Firmware versions 2.7.2, 2.9.5, 2.96)

News

2024

• Led by Chris Fischer, our team hosted the 2024 Southeast Collegiate Cyber Defense Regional Tournament at the Kennedy Space Center.
• Dr. OConnor at SANS Orlando on the Featured Keynote Panel Discussion: Ask the Experts: How to Grow Your Success in Cybersecurity.
• Our team was excited to contribute to Maureen Namukasa's International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction paper Evaluation of an Internet of Things Device-Based Educational Approach to Engage a More Diverse Cybersecurity Workforce.
• Dr OConnor had the privilege of discussing our IoT Security and Privacy lab's work with Hillary Grigonis in their story: Is your security camera spying on you? How to protect your footage and privacy.
• Led by Chris Fischer, our team hosted the 2024 Southeast Collegiate Cyber Defense Regional Qualifiers. The top 8 teams will head to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in March to compete.

2023

• Our team was excited to disclose vulnerabilities in two drone platforms and received CVEs CVE-2023-49199 and  CVE-2023-49200.
• We are excited to announce that Florida Tech has been chosen as the host site for the 2024 Southeast Regional Qualifiers for the Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition. 
• We are excited to have received a GenCyber Grant from the NSA/NSF for $149,724.55 to host a camp in Summer 25 for the next generation of Cybersecurity professionals
• Excited to have our students place 6th (standard division) and 7th (expert division) in the National Cyber League team tournament.
• Excited to have our student Dylan Jessee place 16th (out of 6272) at the National Cyber League individual tournament.
• Excited to have our students (Dylan Jessee and Dan Campos) get their paper accepted at IEEE CDS 2023 and Stian Olsen get his paper accepted at IEEE COMPSAC 2023 (27% acceptance rate.)
• Excited for our students (Dylan Jessee, Curtice Gough, Louie Orcinolo, and Alex Schmith) that took 5th place at the CyberSEED tournament.
• Our https://research.fit.edu/fitsec/ held our internal Big Brother Capture the Flag Competition hosted on https://fitsec.ctfd.io Excited this year to build a custom docker container to provide the competitors with the challenges and all the tools to succeed. You can ``docker pull tjoconnor/bb-ctf`` to see the challenges and try them out!
• Dr. OConnor presented at the Controlled Unclassified Information Conference in Melbourne, FL.
• Excited for our students (Stephen Brustowicz, Dylan Jessee, Alexander Schmith, Curtice Gough, and Blake Janes) won the Saint Leo University Capture the Flag cybersecurity tournament this weekend, including a $3,500 cash prize sponsored by Imperium Data. 
• Dr. OConnor was asked/accepted to serve on the Organizing Committee for the ACM Special Interest Group in Computer Science Education (SIGCSE) 2024 Conference in Portland, Oregon.

2022

• We are excited our paper, "Modeling Internet-of-Things (IoT) Behavior for Enforcing Security and Privacy Policies" by Parth Ganeriwala, Anubhav Gupta, Daniel Campos, Siddhartha Bhattacharyya, TJ OConnor, Adolf Dcosta was accepted in the Computing Conference 2023.
• Florida Tech's Cybersecurity Team, advised by Dr. OConnor and Dr. Sudhakaran, took first at the Fall 2022 National Cyber League Team Tournament [News Story]
• Dr. OConnor gave the keynote address at the Central Florida Cybersecurity Summit, discussing the labs research in IoT Security and Privacy.
• Dr. OConnor presented to the Tampa Armed Forces Communications Association (Tampa, FL), discussing the labs research in IoT Security and Privacy.
• Florida Tech's Cybersecurity Team, advised by Dr. OConnor, took second at the Spring 2022 National Cyber League Team Tournament [News Story] [NCL Power Rankings]
• We are excited our paper, "MPO: MQTT-Based Privacy Orchestrator for Smart Home Users" was accepted  in Computers, Software, and Applications Conference (COMPSAC 2022). [bib] [pdf]
• Ahmed Alhazmi successfully defended his dissertation, titled: Preserving Users' Privacy in IoT Systems Through Network-based Access Control. Ahmed will serve as an Assistant Professor at Umm Al-Qura University in Saudi Arabia.
• Stian Olsen successfully defended his thesis, titled: Toward a Labeled Dataset of IoT Malware Features.
• We are excited our paper, "Toward an Automatic Exploit Generation Competition for an Undergraduate Binary Reverse Engineering Course" was accepted by ITiCSE 2022. [bib]
• We recently presented our paper, "HELO DarkSide: Breaking free from katas and embracing the adversarial mindset in cybersecurity education" at ACM SIGCSE. [bib] [pdf]
• Brevard Business News published a story about Dr. OConnor's leadership of the US Cyber Games

2021

• Florida Tech's Cybersecurity Team, advised by Dr. OConnor, won the Fall 2021 National Cyber League Team Tournament [News Story] [NCL Power Rankings]
• Florida Tech published a press release about our work discovering vulnerabilities in IoT Companion Applications [Press Release] [cset2021oconnor]
• Dr. OConnor was recently named to lead the US Cyber Games to compete in the International Cyber Competition in Athens, Greece. 
• The Florida Tech IoT S&P Lab was featured in the Florida Tech Spring 2021 magazine. [FloridaTech-Spr21.pdf]
• The Office of Naval Researched has awarded funding Florida Tech and the IoT Security and Privacy Lab to investigate Educational Approaches and Curriculum to Engage and Educate a More Diverse Cybersecurity Workforce for $746,929.
• Dr. OConnor was recently interviewed on Fox35 about the DarkSide Ransomware that attack Colonial Pipeline. 
• We recently reported and were assigned two new CVEs (CVE-2021-31793, CVE-2020-28713) in The Night OWL Doorbell sold at Walmart. 
• Excited our students placed #3 in the university team division at the National Cyber League and were ranked the #4 program in the National Cyber League Spring 21 Power Rankings.
• Florida Tech recently published a news story about the success of our FITSec Cybersecurity Team and our IoT S&P Lab.
• Our recent vulnerability disclosures were reported in the Washington Post and Florida Today. Read the technical details at our blog post on REFirm Labs. 
• We recently reported and were assigned 4 CVEs in security cameras and doorbells. See our Geeni Vulnerability Disclosures for more information. The assigned vulnerabilities including   

2020

• Congratulations to Josh Connolly and Blake Janes, who lead our FITSec Team to be ranked #21/300 for the Fall 2020 National Cyber League Tournament. 
• The Office of Naval Research has awarded funding for the Florida Tech and the IoT Security and Privacy Lab for Multidisciplinary Approach to Internet-of-Things (IoT) Cybersecurity Research for $249,946.
• Congratulations to Josh Connolly, who lead our FITSec Team, to a 7th Place Finish at the Spring 2020 National Cyber League Tournament. 
• Congratulations to Blake Janes for being awarded a $3,133.70 bug bounty from Google! 
• We are happy to that we partnered with the ReFirm Labs CyberSecurity Education Program, which granted access to the ReFirms Binwalk Enterprise Platform to our students. 
• We are happy to announce that we partnered with the CloudShark Education Program, which granted access to the CloudShark Platform to our students.