Abdul Serwadda

Texas Tech University, Syracuse University

Papers

Total Citations

H-Index

About

Abdul Serwadda is a leading researcher in mobile security and human-computer interaction, best known for pioneering work on adversarial attacks against touch-based authentication systems. His research critically examines the vulnerabilities of continuous authentication on smartphones—systems that use touch gestures to verify user identity. In his highly cited 2016 paper, "Toward Robotic Robbery on the Touch Screen" (27 citations), Serwadda demonstrated how a Lego-based robot could mimic human touch gestures to bypass security measures, exposing critical flaws in widely accepted authentication models. He advanced this line of inquiry in his 2015 work, "On Humanoid Robots Imitating Human Touch Gestures on the Smart Phone" (3 citations), where he employed an autonomous humanoid robot with superior motoric capabilities to replicate user gestures more convincingly. These contributions have reshaped the security landscape, forcing researchers to reconsider the robustness of gesture-based systems against sophisticated, physical adversaries. Serwadda’s work is notable for bridging robotics and cybersecurity, highlighting real-world threats often overlooked in theoretical studies. His findings continue to influence the design of more resilient authentication protocols, making him a key voice in the ongoing effort to secure mobile devices against emerging attack vectors.