Politecnico di Milano · DEIB

Stefano Longari

Junior Researcher (RTDa) at Politecnico di Milano. My research focuses on the security of cyber-physical systems and critical infrastructures — from automotive and satellite systems to industrial environments. I work on identifying novel threat scenarios and developing detection methods, including ML-based approaches. I also investigate social engineering and the evolving impact of AI on it.

9 Journal Papers (7 Q1)
24 Conference Papers (3 A*)
2 Patents
Stefano Longari speaking at the Redder Level Up 2025 Conference

Research Interests

Automotive Security

Vulnerability analysis, intrusion detection on CAN/CAN FD, adversarial robustness of vehicle IDSs, and data-link layer attacks on in-vehicle networks.

Satellite & Space Security

Intrusion detection for intra-satellite networks, cyber range simulation for satellite operations, and threat modeling for New Space architectures.

Cyber-Physical Systems Security

Attack detection and threat modeling for industrial robots, smart water infrastructure, e-vehicle charging systems, railway networks, dams, and critical infrastructure resilience.

AI & Social Engineering

AI-driven social engineering, covert communication via LLMs, privacy leakage in federated learning, and the evolving impact of AI on human-targeted attacks.

Threat Modeling & Detection

Novel threat scenarios for emerging CPS, ML-based intrusion detection frameworks, and evaluation of detection robustness against evasion attacks.

NECSTLab — System Security Group

System Security @ NECSTLab

necst.it →

The System Security group at NECSTLab, Politecnico di Milano, tackles all aspects of cybersecurity engineering — both offensively and defensively. Our research places a strong emphasis on real systems, with a focus on data-driven and machine learning approaches to build tools and concepts that aid security analysts and end users.

1 Full Professor
1 Adjunct Professor
2 Full-Time Researchers
10 Ph.D. Students
30+ Master's Students
Security of Cyber-Physical Systems ML for Cybersecurity & Security of ML Software Vulnerability Discovery & Reverse Engineering Malware & Threat Analysis Cyber Threat & Vulnerability Intelligence

Selected Publications

Selected Conference Papers
2025
TimberStrike: Dataset Reconstruction Attack Revealing Privacy Leakage in Federated Tree-Based Systems
Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium (PETS 2025)
2025
Linux hurt itself in its confusion! Exploiting Out-of-Memory Killer for Confusion Attacks via Heuristic Manipulation
22nd Conference on Detection of Intrusions and Malware & Vulnerability Assessment (DIMVA 2025)
2024
Securing LiDAR Communication through Watermark-based Tampering Detection AWARD
VehicleSec 2024 — Best Paper Runner Up
2022
CANflict: Exploiting Peripheral Conflicts for Data-Link Layer Attacks on Automotive Networks A* AWARD
ACM CCS 2022 — Best Paper Honorable Mention
Journal Papers
2025
Swarm: A Distributed Ledger-based Framework to Enhance Air Traffic Control Security Using ADS-B Protocol Q1
ACM Transactions on Privacy and Security
2024
Janus: A Trusted Execution Environment Approach for Attack Detection in Industrial Robot Controllers Q1
IEEE Transactions on Emerging Topics in Computing
2023
CyFence: Securing Cyber-physical Controllers Via Trusted Execution Environment Q1
IEEE Transactions on Emerging Topics in Computing
2023
Canova: A Hybrid Intrusion Detection Framework Based on Automatic Signal Classification for CAN Q1
Computers & Security
2020
CANnolo: An Anomaly Detection System Based on LSTM Autoencoders for Controller Area Network Q1
IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management

Full list available on Google Scholar.

Research Projects

AHEAD

Task Leader
2024 — 2028 · EU

AI-informed Holistic EVs integration Approaches for Distribution grids.

SOCRATE

Local PI
2023 — 2025 · ASI

Satellite Operations Cyber Range Evaluation.

Satellite Cybersecurity

PI
2024 — 2025 · D-Orbit

Development of intrusion detection solutions for intra-satellite networks.

SARIL

Participant
2023 — 2026 · EU

Sustainability And Resilience for Infrastructure and Logistics networks.

KEEPER

Participant
2024 — 2027 · EU

Key Code based on Nanomaterials to Protect Services and Products.

MICS (PNRR)

Participant
2023 — 2025 · PNRR

Made in Italy Circolare e Sostenibile.

Teaching Activities

Human and Physical Aspects of Security

Politecnico di Milano & Bocconi · ~60 students · 50 hrs/yr
Instructor

Emerging Topics in Cybersecurity

Bocconi, Cyber Risk Strategy and Governance Master · ~30 students · 16 hrs/yr
Instructor

Advanced Research Topics in Cyber Security

Politecnico & Bocconi, Ph.D. course · ~10 students · 30 hrs/yr
Instructor

Selected Invited Talks

Get in Touch