About Me
I am a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Mobile Intelligence Lab and a member of the Institute for Computing Systems Architecture at the University of Edinburgh. In addition to academia, I work as a Machine Learning Engineer at Net AI. With a funding from Arm, I recently completed my PhD in Computer Science under the supervision of Dr Paul Patras.
My research focuses on computational intelligence, including optimisation algorithms, knowledge representation, adversarial robustness, explainability of neural networks, and their applications to security and privacy in networked environments.
Prior to my PhD, I obtained a joint Computer Science and Electrical Engineering Degree from École Supérieure d'Ingénieurs en Électronique et Électrotechnique (ESIEE Paris) and Mundiapolis University.
Latest News
- October, 2024 – Delivered a seminar talk at the University of Glasgow's Networked Systems Research Lab on Edge Intelligence for Next-Generation Cybersecurity Systems.
- September, 2024 – Delivered an invited talk at Plexal's Technology Exploration event on Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Secure Communication Networks.
- July, 2024 – Received the SICSA 2024 Best Dissertation Award for my PhD thesis "Active Intelligence for Secure Systems".
- February, 2024 – Delivered an invited talk at the University of Cambridge's Machine Learning Systems Lab on the adversarial robustness of machine learning classifiers.
- December, 2023 – Our paper Cluster and Conquer: Malicious Traffic Classification at the Edge will appear in IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management.
- December, 2023 – Delivered an invited talk at Imperial College London's Networks and Systems Lab on the adversarial robustness of machine learning classifiers.
- October, 2023 – Our paper Amoeba: Circumventing ML-supported Network Censorship via Adversarial Reinforcement Learning will appear in the Proceedings of the ACM on Networking (CoNEXT).
- September, 2023 – Successfully defended my PhD dissertation entitled "Active Intelligence for Secure Systems".
- August, 2023 – Our paper Sabre: Cutting through Adversarial Noise with Adaptive Spectral Filtering and Input Reconstruction will appear at IEEE S&P Spring 2024.
- August, 2023 – Our paper Deciphering Clusters with a Deterministic Measure of Clustering Tendency is accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering.
- August, 2021 – Our paper Spider: Deep Learning-driven Sparse Mobile Traffic Measurement Collection and Reconstruction is accepted for publication in IEEE Global Communications Conference.
- July, 2021 – Won the Brendan Murphy Memorial Prize at the 33rd Next Generation Networking, Multi-Service Networks workshop (Coseners).
- December, 2020 – Our paper Adaptive Clustering-based Malicious Traffic Classification at the Network Edge is accepted for publication in IEEE International Conference on Computer Communications.
Recent Publications
2. Cluster and Conquer: Malicious Traffic Classification at the Edge
To appear in: IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management | 2023
3. Amoeba: Circumventing ML-supported Network Censorship via Adversarial Reinforcement Learning
To appear in: Proceedings of the ACM on Networking, CoNEXT | 2023
4. Sabre: Cutting through Adversarial Noise with Adaptive Spectral Filtering and Input Reconstruction
To appear in: IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy | 2024
5. Deciphering Clusters with a Deterministic Measure of Clustering Tendency
Published in: IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering | 2023
6. Spider: Deep Learning-driven Sparse Mobile Traffic Measurement Collection and Reconstruction
Published in: IEEE Global Communications Conference | 2021
7. Adaptive Clustering-based Malicious Traffic Classification at the Network Edge
Published in: IEEE Conference on Computer Communications | 2021
Scholarly Activities
- Invited seminar talk at the University of Glasgow on AI design and optimization for cybersecurity.
- Invited talk at Plexal on using AI to secure telecommunications networks.
- Reviewer for Springer Nature and SECAI 2024.
- Program Committee Member for the IEEE S&P 2024 Poster Session
- Invited talk at the University of Cambridge on Adversarial Robustness.
- Invited talk at Imperial College London on Adversarial Robustness.
- Reviewer for AISTATS, Computer Communications, and Communication Letters.
- Member of the EuroSys 2021 organisation committee.
- Member of the 2021 SICSA Conference Advisory Board.
- Association member of ESIEE *NIX and ESIEE Space.
- Student volunteer for the organisation of the ACM ICPC 2015 World Finals.
- Chair of the Mundiapolis ACM chapter 2014-2015.
Contact
alec.frenn [at] ed.ac.uk
Address
Informatics Forum, 10 Crichton Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9AB, UK