{"title":"Securing LLM agents: From prompt sanitization to autonomous red teaming and beyond","authors":"Mohamed Amine Ferrag , Abderrahmane Lakas , Norbert Tihanyi , Merouane Debbah","doi":"10.1016/j.iotcps.2026.03.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.iotcps.2026.03.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Large Language Models (LLMs) are rapidly transitioning from standalone conversational systems to autonomous agents that reason, plan, and interact with external tools. While this shift enables powerful applications in domains such as healthcare, finance, law, and software engineering, it also introduces new security and safety risks. Attacks such as prompt injection, jailbreak exploits, backdoor triggers, and multimodal adversarial inputs expose vulnerabilities not only at the model level but also across the broader agentic workflow. Existing defenses—ranging from input filtering and alignment reinforcement to runtime monitoring—remain fragmented and often fail to anticipate adaptive adversaries. Meanwhile, red teaming has emerged as a critical methodology for stress-testing these systems; however, current efforts lack standardization, comprehensive coverage across modalities, and integration with agent-specific contexts. This paper provides the first comprehensive survey of LLM agent security, synthesizing research on attack strategies, red teaming frameworks, evaluation suites, and defense mechanisms. We categorize automated and agentic red teaming approaches, highlight domain-specific vulnerabilities in code, web, and multimodal agents, and analyze defense strategies spanning prompt-level, decoding-time, runtime, backdoor, privacy-preserving, and multi-agent safeguards. Building on this synthesis, we outline key open challenges and future research directions, including the need for scalable defenses, standardized benchmarks, robustness against adaptive attacks, explainability, and secure integration of multi-agent workflows. Our findings aim to guide both researchers and practitioners in advancing robust, trustworthy, and resilient LLM-powered agents for safety-critical applications.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100724,"journal":{"name":"Internet of Things and Cyber-Physical Systems","volume":"5 ","pages":"Pages 185-209"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147537858","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Adaptive privacy-preserving federated learning for robust IoT systems: A defense against data poisoning attacks","authors":"Sajjad Khan , Davor Svetinovic","doi":"10.1016/j.iotcps.2026.03.006","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.iotcps.2026.03.006","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Federated Learning (FL) is a machine learning paradigm that enables collaborative model training across multiple devices, such as those found in the Internet of Things (IoT), while preserving data privacy. Despite its potential, FL is vulnerable to attacks, including data poisoning. This paper introduces an Adaptive Privacy-Preserving FL (APPFL) method that helps mitigate these risks. APPFL adjusts the influence of clients by adaptively weighting each update, ensuring that the contribution of each client is dynamically adjusted to improve accuracy. It incorporates local differential privacy to enhance individual data privacy further. The efficacy of APPFL is evaluated using simulated IoT devices and various datasets, including MNIST and CIFAR-10, demonstrating its robustness against poisoning attacks and its ability to maintain privacy. This research contributes to the ongoing efforts to secure FL, a critical technology in today's data-driven industries.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100724,"journal":{"name":"Internet of Things and Cyber-Physical Systems","volume":"5 ","pages":"Pages 232-240"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147538043","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Non-work conserving dynamic scheduling of moldable gang tasks on multicore systems","authors":"Tomoki Shimizu, Hiroki Nishikawa, Xiangbo Kong, Hiroyuki Tomiyama","doi":"10.1016/j.iotcps.2024.03.001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iotcps.2024.03.001","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":100724,"journal":{"name":"Internet of Things and Cyber-Physical Systems","volume":"5 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140270324","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Constructing immersive toy trial experience in mobile augmented reality","authors":"Lingxin Yu, Jiacheng Zhang, Xinyue Wang, Siru Chen, Xuehao Qin, Zhifei Ding, Jiahao Han","doi":"10.1016/j.iotcps.2024.02.001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iotcps.2024.02.001","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":100724,"journal":{"name":"Internet of Things and Cyber-Physical Systems","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139891880","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Multi-objective optimization algorithms for intrusion detection in IoT networks: A systematic review","authors":"Shubhkirti Sharma, Vijay Kumar, K. Dutta","doi":"10.1016/j.iotcps.2024.01.003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iotcps.2024.01.003","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":100724,"journal":{"name":"Internet of Things and Cyber-Physical Systems","volume":"27 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139871865","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"MalAware: A tabletop exercise for malware security awareness education and incident response training","authors":"Giddeon Angafor , Iryna Yevseyeva , Leandros Maglaras","doi":"10.1016/j.iotcps.2024.02.003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iotcps.2024.02.003","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Advancements in technology, including the Internet of Things (IoT) revolution, have enabled individuals and businesses to use systems and devices that connect, exchange data, and provide real-time information from far and near. Despite that, this interconnectivity and data sharing between systems and devices over the internet poses security and privacy risks as threat actors can intercept, steal, and use owners’ data for nefarious purposes. This paper discusses ’MalAware’, a ‘Malware Awareness Education’ and incident response (IR) scenario-based tabletop exercise and card game for malware threat mitigation training. It introduces the importance of incident management, highlights the dangers posed by malware for connected systems, and outlines the role of tabletop games and exercises in helping businesses mature their malware incident response capabilities. The study discusses the design of MalAware and summarises the results of 2 pilots undertaken to assess the concept, maintaining that the results highlighted the value of ‘MalAware’ as an essential tool to help students and staff master how to mitigate security threats caused by malware. It argues that MalAware can assist businesses in their IR preparedness endeavors, enabling incident management teams to review plans and processes to ensure they are fit for purpose. It enables staff to leverage scenario-based and simulated security breach examples, including role-play, to establish appropriate malware defences. MalAware’s practical hands-on exercises can assist trainees in gaining essential malware and other threat mitigation skills, helping to protect the security and privacy of IoTs.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100724,"journal":{"name":"Internet of Things and Cyber-Physical Systems","volume":"4 ","pages":"Pages 280-292"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667345224000063/pdfft?md5=61feca14037fa00f21581df14b5c4571&pid=1-s2.0-S2667345224000063-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140180017","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"DBSCAN inspired task scheduling algorithm for cloud infrastructure","authors":"S.M.F D Syed Mustapha , Punit Gupta","doi":"10.1016/j.iotcps.2023.07.001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iotcps.2023.07.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Cloud computing in today's computing environment plays a vital role, by providing efficient and scalable computation based on pay per use model. To make computing more reliable and efficient, it must be efficient, and high resources utilized. To improve resource utilization and efficiency in cloud, task scheduling and resource allocation plays a critical role. Many researchers have proposed algorithms to maximize the throughput and resource utilization taking into consideration heterogeneous cloud environments. This work proposes an algorithm using DBSCAN (Density-based spatial clustering) for task scheduling to achieve high efficiency. The proposed DBScan-based task scheduling algorithm aims to improve user task quality of service and improve performance in terms of execution time, average start time and finish time. The experiment result shows proposed model outperforms existing ACO and PSO with 13% improvement in execution time, 49% improvement in average start time and average finish time. The experimental results are compared with existing ACO and PSO algorithms for task scheduling.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100724,"journal":{"name":"Internet of Things and Cyber-Physical Systems","volume":"4 ","pages":"Pages 32-39"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49884562","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Transformative effects of ChatGPT on modern education: Emerging Era of AI Chatbots","authors":"Sukhpal Singh Gill , Minxian Xu , Panos Patros , Huaming Wu , Rupinder Kaur , Kamalpreet Kaur , Stephanie Fuller , Manmeet Singh , Priyansh Arora , Ajith Kumar Parlikad , Vlado Stankovski , Ajith Abraham , Soumya K. Ghosh , Hanan Lutfiyya , Salil S. Kanhere , Rami Bahsoon , Omer Rana , Schahram Dustdar , Rizos Sakellariou , Steve Uhlig , Rajkumar Buyya","doi":"10.1016/j.iotcps.2023.06.002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iotcps.2023.06.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>ChatGPT, an AI-based chatbot, offers coherent and useful replies based on analysis of large volumes of data. In this article, leading academics, scientists, distinguish researchers and engineers discuss the transformative effects of ChatGPT on modern education. This research discusses ChatGPT capabilities and its use in the education sector, identifies potential concerns and challenges. Our preliminary evaluation shows that ChatGPT perform differently in different subject areas including finance, coding, maths, and general public queries. While ChatGPT has the ability to help educators by creating instructional content, offering suggestions and acting as an online educator to learners by answering questions, transforming education through smartphones and IoT gadgets, and promoting group work, there are clear drawbacks in its use, such as the possibility of producing inaccurate or false data and circumventing duplicate content (plagiarism) detectors where originality is essential. The often reported “hallucinations” within GenerativeAI in general, and also relevant for ChatGPT, can render its use of limited benefit where accuracy is essential. What ChatGPT lacks is a stochastic measure to help provide sincere and sensitive communication with its users. Academic regulations and evaluation practices used in educational institutions need to be updated, should ChatGPT be used as a tool in education. To address the transformative effects of ChatGPT on the learning environment, educating teachers and students alike about its capabilities and limitations will be crucial.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100724,"journal":{"name":"Internet of Things and Cyber-Physical Systems","volume":"4 ","pages":"Pages 19-23"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49884566","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Zhoujing Ye , Ya Wei , Songli Yang , Pengpeng Li , Fei Yang , Biyu Yang , Linbing Wang
{"title":"IoT-enhanced smart road infrastructure systems for comprehensive real-time monitoring","authors":"Zhoujing Ye , Ya Wei , Songli Yang , Pengpeng Li , Fei Yang , Biyu Yang , Linbing Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.iotcps.2024.01.002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iotcps.2024.01.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>With the rapid advancement of Internet of Things (IoT) technology, its applications in road infrastructure have garnered attention. However, challenges persist when applying IoT to road infrastructure monitoring, including insufficient durability of front-end sensors, pavement damage due to sensor embedding, and the redundancy of a vast amount of real-time data, hindering the long-term real-time monitoring of pavements. To address these challenges, this study developed a self-powered distributed intelligent pavement monitoring system based on IoT, encompassing a sensor network, cloud platform, communication network, and power supply system. Considering the specific characteristics of slipform paving for cement concrete pavements, an integrated paving process was proposed, merging embedded sensors with pavement material structures. Through on-site engineering monitoring, the system actively collects and analyzes various data types such as system energy consumption, temperature and humidity, environmental noise, wind speed and direction, and pavement structural vibrations, providing data support for pavement design, maintenance, and vehicle-road synergy applications. Future efforts will continue to promote the application of IoT technology in digital road maintenance, traffic safety, and optimized pavement material structure design.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100724,"journal":{"name":"Internet of Things and Cyber-Physical Systems","volume":"4 ","pages":"Pages 235-249"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667345224000026/pdfft?md5=e2593131eb914f50ce726004b9037d6b&pid=1-s2.0-S2667345224000026-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139718721","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Advancing civil infrastructure assessment through robotic fleets","authors":"Kay Smarsly, Kosmas Dragos","doi":"10.1016/j.iotcps.2023.10.003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iotcps.2023.10.003","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Modern civil engineering structures, instrumented with Internet-of-Things-enabled smart sensors and actuators, are considered cyber-physical systems that integrate physical processes with computational and communication elements. This short communication aims to portray a milestone in the field of monitoring and inspection of civil infrastructure, collaboratively conducted by autonomous, robotic devices orchestrated in robotic fleets. It is expected that robot-based civil infrastructure assessment will revolutionize structural maintenance of the deteriorating building stock, which is increasingly exacerbated by the effects of climate change and develops into a major societal challenge.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100724,"journal":{"name":"Internet of Things and Cyber-Physical Systems","volume":"4 ","pages":"Pages 138-140"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667345223000548/pdfft?md5=1c9808bce0d09672bcd1b526ae436534&pid=1-s2.0-S2667345223000548-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"92101213","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}