Challenges Facing the Cybersecurity of Mobility in the Age of Modern AI
Colloquium Presentation by: Dr. Samir Tout
Date: Friday, October 24th, 2025
Time: 10:00 am
Location: Erie Hall, Room 3123
About a decade ago, the automotive industry came under considerable pressure when researchers, such as Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek, demonstrated that a connected vehicle may be hacked remotely. A barrage of efforts ensued, which focused on ensuring the cybersecurity of vehicles, mainly by assessing their threat landscape, the associated risks, and establishing proper mitigations. To an extent, the situation was exacerbated by the addition of autonomy, electrification, and ride-sharing services, as these considerably widened the vehicle's attack surface. Then came modern AI into this mix, and things got way more "intriguing," as Dr. Tout put it. In his talk, he addresses such challenges and touches on measures that he and other researchers have been tackling at Eastern Michigan University and other collaborating institutions.
Dr. Samir Tout completed his B.Sc. and Masters at Western University in London, Ontario and his Ph.D. at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, FL. He joined Eastern Michigan University (EMU) in 2009 and has since progressed through the faculty ranks to a professor (then an EMU-specific title of "super professor"). In 2013, he gave a TEDx talk about "Engineering our future one hack at a time", which was followed by multiple endeavours in which he engaged with other universities and the larger community. Shortly thereafter, in early 2014, he received a collaborative grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and had a stellar conclusion thereof in 2018. This resulted in co-published work with multiple colleagues and students, industry collaborations, and graduating about 10 graduates and undergraduates who were directly involved in the project. In 2019, he co-authored a proposal to the State of Michigan's education development (MEDC), and used part of the award to launch a Mobility & Autonomy Cybersecurity (MAC) lab that is equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure to help students engage in effective experiential learning in these important areas. Dr. Tout has represented EMU at the Detroit Auto Show, the Ann Arbor Tech Trek, and several other venues in which he and his students demonstrated emerging research around vehicle and drone cybersecurity. He continues to chair and serve on multiple university committees, engage with the community, conduct emerging research, and advise Ph.D., graduate, and undergraduate students.
Register Here (Only MAC students need to pre-register)