2026 · Book Chapter
14 citations
Anticipating Disasters through a Security Twin
Dynamics of Disasters: Hybrid Threats — Springer Optimization and Its Applications (DoD 2024, Vienna)
PhD Candidate · AI Researcher
Vincenzo Sammartino
Security Twin Researcher @ UniPi & KAUST
KAUST · UniPi · 2026
160
Citations
8
h-index
7
i10-index
36
Publications
Citations per year 2026 = year to date
| Year | Citations |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 3 |
| 2025 | 20 |
| 2026 | 137 |
Most cited works
- AI-Enabled Cybersecurity Using Synthetic DataIEEE PerCom 202517
- Anticipating Disasters through a Security TwinDynamics of Disasters: Hybrid Threats · Springer, 202614
- A Framework for Proactive Cyber-Resilience: Non-Intrusive Modeling for Autonomous DefenseDS-RT 202513
- A Security Twin to Defeat Intrusions in Cyber Physical SystemsESREL SRA-E 202513
- NotLine: A Non-Intrusive Automated Platform to Build a Digital TwinDS-RT 202511
Source: Google Scholar · updated 15 September 2026
Full profile ↗
About
Researcher.
Engineer.
Builder.
I am a PhD candidate in Artificial Intelligence at the University of Pisa, working at the intersection of cybersecurity, AI, and distributed systems. My doctoral research focuses on Security Twins — digital twin architectures for real-time, non-intrusive threat assessment, what-if analysis and attack-path reasoning in cyber-physical systems.
From January to June 2026 I was a Visiting PhD Student (VSRP Intern) at KAUST (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology) under the supervision of Prof. Roberto Di Pietro, contributing to the ResilientGuard project on UAV swarm security with TinyML and Edge AI.
My research also spans quantum machine learning, post-quantum security, 6G far-edge digital twins and the security of LLM-driven multi-agent systems. To date I have authored 36 works cited 160 times (h-index 8), including IEEE, Springer and Elsevier journals and proceedings, CRC/Taylor & Francis book chapters, and arXiv preprints.
I also serve as a peer reviewer for 20 international journals (37 reviews in 2026), including IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems, ACM Computing Surveys, Scientific Reports and Computers & Security.
Digital Twin & Security Twin Architectures
Cyber-Physical Systems Resilience & Attack-Path Analysis
Quantum Machine Learning & Post-Quantum Security
6G & Far-Edge Digital Twins
UAV Swarm Security & TinyML / Edge AI
AI-enabled Cybersecurity, Synthetic Data & LLM Agents
Least Privilege & GDPR-compliant Data Systems
Natural Language Processing
Position
PhD Candidate, AI
Institution
University of Pisa
Visiting
KAUST, Saudi Arabia (Jan–Jun 2026)
KAUST Supervisor
Prof. R. Di Pietro
UniPi Supervisor
Prof. F. Baiardi
UniPi Co-supervisor
Prof. S. Ruggieri
ORCID
0009-0002-4632-1179
Location
Pisa, Italy / Thuwal, KSA
Scholar
160 citations · h-index 8 ↗
Scopus ID
59166600100 ↗
Peer Review
37 reviews · 20 journals
UniPi Profile
people.unipi.it ↗
Collaborators
- Fabrizio BaiardiUniPi
- Salvatore RuggieriUniPi
- Roberto Di PietroKAUST
- Nathanael DenisKAUST
- Omar Adel IbrahimKAUST
- Ashok Kumar DasIIIT Hyderabad
- Abhishek Kumar PandeyIIIT Hyderabad
- Anusha VangalaNITW
- Michael Schneider
- Corrado BaccheschiUniPi
Research & Experience
Timeline
Jan 2026 — Jun 2026
Visiting PhD Student — VSRP Intern
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) · Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
Research on ResilientGuard: security framework for UAV swarms. Development of a
decentralised anomaly-detection framework based on TinyML/Edge AI models. Design and simulation of
distributed consensus mechanisms against Byzantine attacks and internal threats.
Sep 2024 — Present · expected end Oct 2027
PhD Candidate in Artificial Intelligence
Università di Pisa · Pisa, Italy
National PhD Programme in Artificial Intelligence. Research focused on Security Twins,
non-intrusive cyber-physical systems modelling, and AI-enabled cybersecurity via synthetic data generation
and adversarial simulation.
Jun 2025 — Dec 2025
Digital Twin Engineer — Infrastructure Modeling
Consorzio Metis
Collection and analysis of structural/operational data for the construction of precise
digital models of existing infrastructure. Integration of IoT sensors for real-time monitoring and
synchronisation between digital model and physical environment. Simulation for predictive failure analysis
and proactive optimisation.
Mar 2024 — Sep 2024
Research Fellow — Distributed Systems & GDPR
Università di Pisa — Dipartimento di Informatica
Research on GDPR-compliant distributed information systems. Database decomposition for
least-privilege confinement. Digital Twin application in AI/Cybersecurity contexts.
Nov 2023 — Mar 2024
Research Fellow
Università di Pisa — Dipartimento di Filologia, Letteratura e Linguistica
Research fellowship (borsa di ricerca) at the Department of Philology, Literature and
Linguistics.
Dec 2022 — Dec 2023
Research Fellow — Platform Development
Università di Pisa — Dipartimento di Informatica
Development of the StudentInForma platform (Python, SQL, HTML, CSS): a
questionnaire compilation and response-processing system with focus on cybersecurity hardening against
web-based attack vectors.
Jan 2022 — Dec 2022
Research Fellow
Università di Pisa — Dipartimento di Filologia, Letteratura e Linguistica
Research fellowship (borsa di ricerca) at the Department of Philology, Literature and
Linguistics.
Oct 2021 — May 2022
Research Internship — NLP & Computational Linguistics
Istituto di Linguistica Computazionale "A. Zampolli" — CNR Pisa
Sentiment analysis research: domain and genre effects on classifiers based on n-gram
features and deep learning (word embeddings). Technologies: Scikit-Learn, BERT, Python.
Publications
Research Output
Showing 36 of 36 publications
2026 · Journal
10 citations
Simulation-Powered Cybersecurity: Real-Time Risk Assessment via Non-Intrusive Security Twin
The Journal of Supercomputing — Special Issue on Simulation-Powered Cybersecurity · Springer
2026 · Book Chapter
9 citations
From Digital Twins to AI Agents: A Synthetic Data Paradigm for Next-Generation Cybersecurity
Artificial Intelligence in Cybersecurity: Unlocking the Power of Large Language Models · CRC Press / Taylor & Francis
2026 · Conference
8 citations
Quantifying the Impact of CVSS Score Ordering on Attack Paths
12th EAI International Conference on Smart Objects and Technologies for Social Good (GOODTECHS 2026)
2026 · Conference
6 citations
Evaluating Adversary Strategies Through a Security Twin
IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications (PerCom Workshops 2026)
2026 · Conference
3 citations
Quantifying Resilience of Cyber-Physical Systems to Zero-Day Threats: A Security Twin-Based What-If Analysis Framework
Proceedings of the 36th European Safety and Reliability Conference (ESREL 2026)
2026 · Journal
2 citations
Blockchain-Enabled Quantum-Resistant Hybrid Isogeny-Based Signcryption Framework for Digital Twin-Assisted Healthcare System
IEEE Communications Standards Magazine
2026 · Conference
2 citations
DOS Classification, and Virtual Machine Detection via Passive Monitoring through Security Twins
IEEE Xplore
2026 · Preprint
2 citations
HAVE: Host Active Verification Engine for Closing the Contextual Reality Gap in Security Digital Twins
arXiv preprint arXiv:2606.06968
2026 · Preprint
2 citations
SA-DTS: Semantic-Aware Digital Twin Synchronization over 6G Networks
arXiv preprint arXiv:2606.03617
2026 · Journal
1 citation
Model-Driven Security Analysis of SD-Access Fabrics Using Digital Twins: A Probabilistic Framework in Software-Defined Campus and Cyber-Physical Networks
Future Generation Computer Systems · Elsevier
2026 · Journal
1 citation
Hybrid Quantum Graph Neural Networks for Robust Botnet Detection in Modern IoT Ecosystems
Future Generation Computer Systems · Elsevier
2026 · Preprint
1 citation
Feature Encoding in Quantum Machine Learning: A Survey and Practical Guidelines
arXiv preprint arXiv:2606.05387
2026 · Preprint
1 citation
Q-FE: A Quantum-Native 6G Far-Edge Architecture Securing Industrial IoT Digital Twins via CSIDH-PQC and Asynchronous Federated Learning
arXiv preprint arXiv:2606.03611
2026 · Preprint
1 citation
Quantifying Cyber Robustness and Financial Risk via Security Twins
SSRN preprint 6890389
2026 · Preprint
SMCC-Empowered Digital Twins for Sensorless Monitoring in Large-Scale AI-Driven IoT Systems
arXiv preprint arXiv:2609.09161
2026 · Preprint
QUASAR: A Quantum-Classical Neural Network for SAR Satellite Physical-Layer Authentication
arXiv preprint arXiv:2608.20240
2026 · Preprint
Adversarial Reliability: From Design to Deployment and Beyond Using Attack-Path Chokepoints
SSRN preprint 7382213
2025 · Conference
17 citations
AI-Enabled Cybersecurity Using Synthetic Data
23rd IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications (PerCom 2025), Washington DC
2025 · Conference
13 citations
A Framework for Proactive Cyber-Resilience: Non-Intrusive Modeling for Autonomous Defense
29th International Symposium on Distributed Simulation and Real Time Applications (DS-RT 2025) · IEEE
2025 · Conference
13 citations
A Security Twin to Defeat Intrusions in Cyber Physical Systems
European Safety and Reliability Conference (ESREL SRA-E 2025), Stavanger, Norway
2025 · Conference
11 citations
NotLine: A Non-Intrusive Automated Platform to Build a Digital Twin
29th International Symposium on Distributed Simulation and Real Time Applications (DS-RT 2025) · IEEE
2025 · Proceedings
11 citations
A Quantitative Framework for the Validation of Twin-Based Cyber Defense
Procedia Computer Science, vol. 274, pp. 721–730 · Elsevier
2025 · Conference
8 citations
Graph-Based Cyber Defence Using a Security Twin
29th International Symposium on Distributed Simulation and Real Time Applications (DS-RT 2025) · IEEE
2025 · Magazine
4 citations
Security Twins e il Futuro della Previsione di Intrusioni Cyber
ICT Security Magazine
2025 · Journal
1 citation
Cyber Weapons as Components of Weapon Systems
Journal of Information Warfare, vol. 24, no. 4
2025 · Journal
A Comparative Study of NLP Systems for Sentiment Polarity Classification Across Different Domains and Genres
International Journal of Complexity in Applied Science and Technology
2025 · Conference
NotLine: Dynamic Network Topology and Risk Assessment Through Passive Discovery
FAIR General Conference, Rome, 10–12 December 2025
2024 · Journal
7 citations
A Comparative Study of Machine Learning Models for Hate Speech and Stereotype Detection in Italian Texts
International Journal of Complexity in Applied Science and Technology, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 155–176
2024 · Journal
4 citations
Database Decomposition to Satisfy the Least Privilege Principle in Healthcare
ARIS2 — Advanced Research on Information Systems Security, vol. 4, no. 1
2024 · Conference
3 citations
Satisfying Least Privilege Through Database Decomposition
20th International Conference on the Design of Reliable Communication Networks (DRCN 2024), Montréal, Canada · IEEE
2024 · Conference
2 citations
Multilevel Database Decomposition Framework
ITASEC 2024 — Italian Conference on Cybersecurity, Salerno · CEUR Workshop Proceedings, vol. 3731
2024 · Preprint
Feature Engineering and Semantic Enrichment for Enhanced Text Classification: A Case Study on Figurative Language in Tweets
Preprints
2024 · Preprint
D3F: A Framework to Minimize the Impact of Intrusions
Preprints
Preprint
Discovering When a Security Twin Cheats: An Equivalence Theorem
SSRN preprint 7277218
Preprint
Vulnerabilities in Autonomous Execution: A Survey of Security Threats and Defenses in LLM-Driven Multi-Agent Systems
SSRN preprint 7218206
No publications match your search.
Academic Service
Peer Review
& Grants
37Reviews
20Journals
8Publishers
I serve as a reviewer for international journals in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and distributed computing, including IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems, ACM Computing Surveys, Scientific Reports, Computers & Security and Future Generation Computer Systems. All reviews are recorded on ORCID ↗.
Reviewer for
- Discover Artificial IntelligenceSpringer Nature · ISSN 2731-08097 reviews
- Scientific ReportsSpringer Nature · ISSN 2045-23226 reviews
- Pervasive and Mobile ComputingElsevier · ISSN 1574-11924 reviews
- IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning SystemsIEEE · ISSN 2162-23882 reviews
- International Journal of Information SecuritySpringer Nature · ISSN 1615-52702 reviews
- Big Data Mining and AnalyticsTsinghua University Press · ISSN 2097-406X2 reviews
- ACM Computing SurveysACM · ISSN 1557-73411 review
- Computers & SecurityElsevier · ISSN 0167-40481 review
- Future Generation Computer SystemsElsevier · ISSN 0167-739X1 review
- Computer CommunicationsElsevier · ISSN 0140-36641 review
- Journal of Computer SecuritySAGE Publications · ISSN 1875-89241 review
- Cluster ComputingSpringer Nature · ISSN 1573-75431 review
- Journal of Cloud ComputingSpringer Nature · ISSN 2192-113X1 review
- Journal of Big DataSpringer Nature · ISSN 2196-11151 review
- Discover ComputingSpringer Nature · ISSN 2948-29921 review
- International Journal of Data Science and AnalyticsSpringer Nature · ISSN 2364-41681 review
- Journal of King Saud University – Computer and Information SciencesSpringer Nature · ISSN 2213-12481 review
- PeerJ Computer SciencePeerJ · ISSN 2376-59921 review
- Computers, Materials & ContinuaTech Science Press · ISSN 1546-22181 review
- Computer Systems Science and EngineeringTech Science Press · ISSN 0267-61921 review
Research Grant
Grant · Università di Pisa · 2026
Smart Security for Connected Cyber-Physical Systems: Paradigms, Threats and AI-based Defenses
Prot. 0079213/2026 del 16/04/2026
Thesis Supervision
Supervised
Theses
Role: Relatore 2
Intrusion Planning with Large Language Models
Università di Pisa — Dipartimento di Informatica
Use of Large Language Models to plan multi-step intrusion strategies against a target system, in support of
adversary emulation and the evaluation of defensive measures.
Role: Relatore 2
Statistical
Capture-Recapture Techniques for Estimating the Number of Nodes in a Network
Università di Pisa — Dipartimento di Informatica
Implementation in C and Python, and experimental validation, of several statistical capture-recapture
techniques to estimate the real size of a network — including silent or hidden nodes that generate traffic
only sporadically during passive observation. The estimates are complemented by further analyses that give a
broader view of the behaviour of captured nodes and of its impact on the resulting estimates.
Role: Relatore 2
Development of a
Security Twin for Vulnerability Analysis in UAV Systems
Università di Pisa — Dipartimento di Informatica
Design and implementation of a Security Twin architecture for systematic modeling and analysis of attack
surfaces in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems, focusing on protocol-level vulnerabilities and remote
intrusion vectors.
Role: Relatore 2
Zeek and ntopng: Comparison and Integration in
NotLine
Università di Pisa — Dipartimento di Informatica
Comparative analysis of the network monitoring tools Zeek and ntopng, with subsequent integration into the
NotLine platform for non-intrusive network traffic detection in support of automated Digital Twin
construction.
Role: Relatore 2
Authentication
on CAN Bus
Università di Pisa — Dipartimento di Informatica
Study of authentication mechanisms applicable to the Controller Area Network (CAN) protocol, with evaluation
of lightweight cryptographic solutions compatible with the computational constraints of embedded systems in
automotive and industrial environments.
Role: Relatore 2
Extension of a Security Twin with a
Performance Model
Università di Pisa — Dipartimento di Informatica
Extension of the Security Twin architecture by integrating a quantitative model of system performance, aimed
at correlating security metrics with the operational impact of mitigation measures adopted in response to
detected intrusions.
Role: Relatore 2
Confidential Computing: Cost/Performance
Analysis
Università di Pisa — Dipartimento di Informatica
Systematic evaluation of the cost/performance trade-off in Confidential Computing technologies (Intel SGX,
AMD SEV, ARM TrustZone), with analysis of the related computational overhead and architectural implications
for highly confidential distributed systems.
Role: Relatore 2
Design
and Analysis of Dynamic Intrusion Strategies via the Security Twin
Università di Pisa — Dipartimento di Informatica
Formalization and simulation of dynamic intrusion strategies within the Security Twin environment, with
what-if analysis of adversarial behavior in multi-step scenarios. Study of the implications for designing
adaptive and proactive defense policies.
Projects
Built Things
SV WebStudio
My web studio — custom websites, perfect on every screen: showcase sites, e-commerce,
restyling, and performance & SEO optimisation. Free quotes.
Broly.it
Full-stack proprietary e-commerce platform with dynamic catalogue management, shopping
cart, and secure payment gateway integration. Mobile-optimised UX/UI.
StudentInForma
Academic questionnaire platform built in Python, SQL, HTML/CSS with cyber-hardening
against web attack vectors (SQL injection, XSS, CSRF).
Text Analytics
Text analysis pipeline leveraging neural networks and BERT-based transformers for
classification tasks including sentiment analysis and hate speech detection.
Data Mining Suite
Projects covering classification, regression, clustering, and advanced feature
engineering techniques using Scikit-Learn, XGBoost, and Python analytics stack.
Library Web App
Angular-based web application functioning as a full library management system —
catalogue, loans, reservations, and administrative back-end.
Web Scrapers
Automated data-extraction algorithms targeting Amazon, Twitter, and generic web
sources. Python-based with custom parsing and anti-bot bypass strategies.
Technical Skills
Capabilities
Machine Learning / AI
TensorFlow
Keras
Scikit-Learn
XGBoost
BERT
TinyML
Edge AI
NLP & Text
NLTK
SpaCy
Stanza
Transformers
Word Embeddings
Sentiment Analysis
Programming
Python
JavaScript
R
C++
PHP
SQL
Data & Databases
Pandas
NumPy
MongoDB
ArangoDB
GraphDB
NoSQL
Web & DevOps
HTML5
CSS3
Angular
Bootstrap
Docker
Git
Research & Standards
XML-TEI
XSLT
LaTeX
GDPR
Digital Twin
Markdown
Contact
Let's
collaborate.
Open to research collaborations, visiting positions, and industry partnerships in the areas of AI, cybersecurity, and digital twin architectures.