Prof Pasquale Malacaria

Pasquale Malacaria

Professor of Computer Science

School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science
Queen Mary University of London
Google Scholar

Research

information theory and program analysis, computer security, semantics of programming languages

Interests

I am interested in both the theoretical foundations of computer science and the practical implications and applications of the theoretical foundations.
In particular, my theoretical interests focus on the use of information theory, logic and game theory to understand how information is transformed and leaked in computational processes.
On the applications side, I have worked on program analysis and the use of model-checkers to detect and quantify information leakage in programs and in side channels.

Publications

solid heart iconPublications of specific relevance to the Centre for Fundamental Computer Science

2024

Relevant PublicationSmart topology detection using multi-armed bandit reinforcement learning method
Sönmez FÖ, Hankin C and Malacaria P
Information Security Journal a Global Perspective, Taylor & Francis, 1-26.  
10-12-2024
bullet iconDealing with uncertainty in cybersecurity decision support
Zhang Y and Malacaria P
Computers & Security, Elsevier vol. 148, 104153-104153.  
10-10-2024

2023

Relevant PublicationKeep spending: Beyond optimal cyber-security investment
Malacaria P and Zhang Y
2023 IEEE Computer Security Foundations Symposium
01-07-2023
Relevant PublicationCROSS: A Framework for Cyber Risk Optimisation in Smart Homes
Zhang Y, Malacaria P, Loukas G and Panaousis E
Computers and Security, Elsevier, 103250-103250.  
05-04-2023

2022

Relevant PublicationAttack Dynamics: An Automatic Attack Graph Generation Framework Based on System Topology, CAPEC, CWE, and CVE Databases
zdemir S.nmez F, Hankin C and Malacaria P
Computers and Security, Elsevier vol. 123 
14-10-2022
Relevant PublicationDecision support for healthcare cyber security
Sönmez FÖ, Hankin C and Malacaria P
Computers and Security, Elsevier vol. 122, 102865-102865.  
04-08-2022
Relevant PublicationOptimal Security Hardening over a Probabilistic Attack Graph: A Case Study of an Industrial Control System using CySecTool
Buczkowski P, Malacaria P, Hankin C and Fielder A
Sat-CPS '22: Proceedings of the 2022 ACM Workshop on Secure and Trustworthy Cyber-Physical Systems., 21-30.  
28-04-2022
Relevant PublicationOptimal Security Hardening over a Probabilistic Attack Graph
Buczkowski P, Malacaria P, Hankin C and Fielder A
Proceedings of the 2022 ACM Workshop on Secure and Trustworthy Cyber-Physical Systems., 21-30.  
18-04-2022
bullet iconOptimal Security Hardening over a Probabilistic Attack Graph: A Case Study of an Industrial Control System using CySecTool.
Buczkowski P, Malacaria P, Hankin C and Fielder A
SAT-CPS@CODASPY., 21-30. Editors: Gupta M, Khorsandroo S and Abdelsalam M. 
01-01-2022

2021

Relevant PublicationChannel-supermodular entropies: Order theory and an application to query anonymization
Américo A, Khouzani M and Malacaria P
Entropy vol. 24 (1) 
25-12-2021
Relevant PublicationConcavity, Core-concavity, Quasiconcavity: A Generalizing Framework for Entropy Measures
Américo A and Malacaria P
2021 IEEE 34th Computer Security Foundations Symposium (CSF). vol. 00, 1-14.  
25-06-2021
Relevant PublicationBayesian Stackelberg games for cyber-security decision support
Zhang Y and Malacaria P
Decision Support Systems, Elsevier vol. 148 
15-05-2021
Relevant PublicationOptimization-Time Analysis for Cybersecurity
Zhang Y and Malacaria P
Ieee Transactions On Dependable and Secure Computing 
01-02-2021
Relevant PublicationConcavity, Core-concavity, Quasiconcavity: A Generalizing Framework for Entropy Measures.
Américo A and Malacaria P
CSF., 1-14.  
01-01-2021

2020

Relevant PublicationConditional Entropy and Data Processing: an Axiomatic Approach Based on Core-Concavity
Americo A, Khouzani M and Malacaria P
Ieee Transactions On Information Theory, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (Ieee), 1-1.  
13-04-2020
Relevant PublicationQQIF: Quantum Quantitative Information Flow (invited paper)
Américo A and Malacaria P
2020 IEEE European Symposium on Security and Privacy Workshops (EuroS&PW). vol. 00, 261-270.  
11-01-2020
bullet iconPreface
Di Pierro A, Malacaria P and Nagarajan R
 
01-01-2020
bullet iconFrom Lambda Calculus to Cybersecurity Through Program Analysis - Essays Dedicated to Chris Hankin on the Occasion of His Retirement

From Lambda Calculus to Cybersecurity Through Program Analysis. vol. 12065 Editors: Pierro AD, Malacaria P and Nagarajan R. 
01-01-2020
Relevant PublicationConditional Entropy and Data Processing: An Axiomatic Approach Based on Core-Concavity.
Américo A, Khouzani MHR and Malacaria P
Ieee Trans. Inf. Theory vol. 66, 5537-5547.  
01-01-2020
Relevant PublicationQQIF: Quantum Quantitative Information Flow
Americo A and Malacaria P
2020 IEEE EUROPEAN SYMPOSIUM ON SECURITY AND PRIVACY WORKSHOPS (EUROS&PW 2020)., 261-270.  
01-01-2020

2019

Relevant PublicationChannel Ordering and Supermodularity
Américo A, Malacaria P and Khouzani M
2019 IEEE Information Theory Workshop (ITW). vol. 00, 1-5.  
28-08-2019
Relevant PublicationDeterministic Channel Design for Minimum Leakage
Américo A, Khouzani M and Malacaria P
, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (Ieee) vol. 00, 428-441.  
25-06-2019
bullet iconMalware Detection Using 1-Dimensional Convolutional Neural Networks
Sharma A, Malacaria P and Khouzani M
2019 IEEE European Symposium on Security and Privacy Workshops (EuroS&PW). vol. 00, 247-256.  
19-06-2019
Relevant PublicationScalable min-max multi-objective cyber-security optimisation over probabilistic attack graphs
Khouzani MHR, Liu Z and Malacaria P
European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier Bv 
29-04-2019
Relevant PublicationGeneralized Entropies and Metric-Invariant Optimal Countermeasures for Information Leakage Under Symmetric Constraints.
Khouzani MHR and Malacaria P
Ieee Trans. Inf. Theory vol. 65, 888-901.  
01-02-2019
bullet iconPseudo-Random Number Generation Using Generative Adversarial Networks
De Bernardi M, Khouzani MHR and Malacaria P
Lecture Notes in Computer Science (Including Subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics) vol. 11329 LNAI, 191-200.  
01-01-2019
Relevant PublicationCore-concavity, Gain Functions and Axioms for Information Leakage
Américo A, Khouzani MHR and Malacaria P
In The Art of Modelling Computational Systems: a Journey From Logic and Concurrency to Security and Privacy, Springer Nature 261-275.  
01-01-2019
Relevant PublicationChannel Ordering and Supermodularity
Americo A, Malacaria P and Khouzani MHR
2019 IEEE INFORMATION THEORY WORKSHOP (ITW)., 674-678.  
01-01-2019

2018

Relevant PublicationGeneralised Entropies and Metric-Invariant Optimal Countermeasures for Information Leakage under Symmetric Constraints
MALACARIA P and KHOUZANI MHR
Ieee Transactions On Information Theory, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers vol. 65 (2), 888-901.  
28-11-2018
Relevant PublicationInformation theory in game theory
Khouzani MHR and Malacaria P
Entropy vol. 20 (11) 
05-11-2018
Relevant PublicationOptimal channel design: A game theoretical analysis
Khouzani MHR and Malacaria P
Entropy vol. 20 (9) 
05-09-2018
Relevant PublicationSymbolic side-channel analysis for probabilistic programs
Malacaria P, Khouzani M, Pasareanu CS, Phan QS and Luckow K
2018 IEEE Computer Security Foundations Symposium.. vol. 2018-July, 313-327.  
07-08-2018
Relevant PublicationSymbolic Side-Channel Analysis for Probabilistic Programs.
Malacaria P, Khouzani MHR, Pasareanu CS, Phan Q-S and Luckow KS
Iacr Cryptol. Eprint Arch. vol. 2018, 329-329.  
09-07-2018
bullet iconPseudo-Random Number Generation Using Generative Adversarial Networks.
Bernardi MD, Khouzani MHR and Malacaria P
Nemesis/UrbReas/SoGood/IWAISe/GDM@PKDD/ECML. vol. 11329, 191-200. Editors: Alzate C, Monreale A, Assem H, Bifet A, Buda TS, Caglayan B, Drury B, García-Martín E, Gavaldà R, Kramer S, Lavesson N, Madden M, Molloy IM, Nicolae M-I and Sinn M. 
01-01-2018

2017

Relevant PublicationSynthesis of Adaptive Side-Channel Attacks
MALACARIA P, Phan Q-S, Pasareanu C, Bang L and Bultan T
2017 IEEE Computer Security Foundations Symposium (CSF) Santa Barbara (California) 21 Aug 2017 - 25 Aug 2017
25-09-2017
Relevant PublicationLeakage-Minimal Design: Universality, Limitations, and Applications
Khouzani M and Malacaria P
2017 IEEE 30th Computer Security Foundations Symposium (CSF)., 305-317.  
01-08-2017
Relevant PublicationSynthesis of Adaptive Side-Channel Attacks.
Phan Q-S, Bang L, Pasareanu CS, Malacaria P and Bultan T
Iacr Cryptology Eprint Archive vol. 2017, 401-401.  
09-05-2017

2016

Relevant PublicationInformation leakage analysis of complex C code and its application to OpenSSL
MALACARIA P, TAUTCHNING M and DISTEFANO D
7th International Symposium on Leveraging Applications CORFU 10 Oct 2016 - 14 Oct 2016
05-10-2016
Relevant PublicationEfficient Numerical Frameworks for Multi-Objective Cyber Security Planning
KHOUZANI MHR, MALACARIA P, HANKIN C, FIELDER A and SMERALDI F
European Symposium on Research in Computer Security (ESORICS) 2016 Heraklion, Crete, Greece 26 Sep 2016 - 30 Sep 2016
15-09-2016
Relevant PublicationRelative Perfect Secrecy: Universally Optimal Strategies and Channel Design
Khouzani MHR and Malacaria P
2016 IEEE 29th Computer Security Foundations Symposium (CSF)., 61-76.  
08-08-2016
Relevant PublicationMulti-run Side-Channel Analysis Using Symbolic Execution and Max-SMT
Pasareanu CS, Phan Q-S and Malacaria P
2016 IEEE 29th Computer Security Foundations Symposium (CSF)., 387-400.  
08-08-2016
Relevant PublicationDecision support approaches for cyber security investment
Fielder A, Panaousis E, Malacaria P, Hankin C and Smeraldi F
Decision Support Systems vol. 86, 13-23.  
19-03-2016

2015

bullet iconQuantifying information leakage of randomized protocols
Biondi F, Legay A, Malacaria P and Wasowski A
Theoretical Computer Science vol. 597, 62-87.  
13-09-2015
bullet iconQuantifying information leakage of randomized protocols
Biondi F, Legay A, Malacaria P and Wąsowski A
Theoretical Computer Science, Elsevier vol. 597, 62-87.  
01-09-2015
bullet iconAll-Solution Satisfiability Modulo Theories: Applications, Algorithms and Benchmarks
Phan Q-S and Malacaria P
Availability, Reliability and Security (ARES), 2015 10th International Conference on., 100-109.  
01-08-2015
bullet iconA Game-Theoretic Approach for Minimizing Security Risks in the Internet-of-Things
Rontidis G, Panaousis E, Laszka A, Daziuklas T, Malacaria P and Alpcan T
2015 IEEE International Conference on Communication Workshop (ICCW)., 2639-2644.  
01-06-2015
bullet iconComparing Decision Support Approaches for Cyber Security Investment
Fielder A, Panaousis E, Malacaria P, Hankin C and Smeraldi F
 
19-02-2015
bullet iconConcurrent Bounded Model Checking
Phan Q-S, Malacaria P and Pasareanu CS
Sigsoft Softw. Eng. Notes, Acm vol. 40, 1-5.  
01-02-2015

2014

bullet iconInformation leakage of non-terminating processes
Biondi F, Legay A, Nielsen BF, Malacaria P and Wąsowski A
Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics, LIPIcs. vol. 29, 517-529.  
01-12-2014
bullet iconAlgebraic foundations for quantitative information flow
MALACARIA P
Mathematical Structures in Computer Science, Cambridge University Press (Cup) vol. 25 (2), 404-428.  
10-11-2014
bullet iconHow to spend it
Smeraldi F and Malacaria P
, Association For Computing Machinery (Acm), 1-4.  
06-05-2014
bullet iconAbstract Model Counting: A Novel Approach for Quantification of Information Leaks
Phan Q-S and Malacaria P
ASIA CCS '14 Proceedings of the 9th ACM symposium on Information, computer and communications security Kyoto, Japan 4 Jun 2014 - 6 Jun 2014., 283-292.  
01-01-2014
bullet iconCybersecurity Games and Investments: A Decision Support Approach
Panaousis E, Fielder A, Malacaria P, Hankin C and Smeraldi F
Lecture Notes in Computer Science. vol. 8840, 266-286.  
01-01-2014
bullet iconQuantifying Information Leaks Using Reliability Analysis
Phan Q-S, Malacaria P, Pasareanu CS and d Amorim M
SPIN 2014 Proceedings of the 2014 International SPIN Symposium on Model Checking of Software San Jose, CA. USA 21 Jul 2014 - 22 Jul 2014., 105-108.  
01-01-2014
bullet iconGame Theory Meets Information Security Management
Fielder A, Panaousis E, Malacaria P, Hankin C and Smeraldi F
IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology. vol. 428, 15-29.  
01-01-2014

2013

bullet iconSideAuto: Quantitative information flow for side-channel leakage in web applications
Huang X and Malacaria P
Proceedings of The Acm Conference On Computer and Communications Security, 285-290.  
09-12-2013
bullet iconThermodynamic Aspects of Confidentiality
MALACARIA P and SMERALDI F
Information and Computation vol. 226, 76-93.  
01-05-2013
bullet iconQuantifying Information Leakage of Randomized Protocols
Biondi F, Legay A, MALACARIA P and Wasowski A
14th International Conference on Verification, Model Checking, and Abstract Interpretation (VMCAI) Rome 20 Jan 2013 - 22 Jan 2013. vol. 7737, 68-87. Editors: Giacobazzi R, Berdine J and Mastroeni I. 
01-01-2013
bullet iconPayoffs, Intensionality and Abstraction in Games.
Hankin C and Malacaria P
Computation, Logic, Games, and Quantum Foundations. vol. 7860, 69-82. Editors: Coecke B, Ong L and Panangaden P. 
01-01-2013

2012

bullet iconThe thermodynamics of confidentiality
Malacaria P and Smeraldi F
Proceedings of The Computer Security Foundations Workshop, 280-290.  
05-10-2012
bullet iconThe Thermodynamics of Confidentiality
MALACARIA P and SMERALDI F
25th IEEE Computer Security Foundations Symposium Harvard, MA, USA 25 Jun 2012 - 27 Jun 2012., 280-290. Editors: Cortier V and Zdancewic S. 
01-01-2012
bullet iconSymbolic quantitative information flow.
Phan Q-S, Malacaria P, Tkachuk O and Pasareanu CS
Acm Sigsoft Softw. Eng. Notes vol. 37, 1-5.  
01-01-2012
bullet iconQuantitative Security Analysis (Dagstuhl Seminar 12481).
Köpf B, Malacaria P and Palamidessi C
Dagstuhl Reports vol. 2, 135-154.  
01-01-2012

2011

bullet iconAlgebraic Foundations for Information Theoretical, Probabilistic and Guessability measures of Information Flow
Malacaria P
 
18-01-2011

2010

bullet iconQuantifying Information Leak Vulnerabilities
Heusser J and Malacaria P
 
06-07-2010
bullet iconProgram Analysis Probably Counts: Discussant Contribution for the Computer Journal Lecture by Chris Hankin
Malacaria P
Comput J vol. 53 (6), 881-881.  
01-07-2010
bullet iconRisk assessment of security threats for looping constructs.
Malacaria P
Journal of Computer Security, Ios Press vol. 18, 191-228.  
22-03-2010
bullet iconThe Optimum Leakage Principle for Analyzing Multi-threaded Programs
Chen H and Malacaria P
INFORMATION THEORETIC SECURITY. vol. 5973, 177-193. Editors: Kurosawa K. 
01-01-2010
bullet iconQuantifying information leaks in software
Heusser J and MALACARIA P
Twenty-Sixth Annual Computer Security Applications Conference, ACSAC 2010 Austin Texas 6 Dec 2010 - 10 Dec 2010., 261-269.  
01-01-2010
bullet iconApplied Quantitative Information Flow and Statistical Databases
Heusser J and Malacaria P
FORMAL ASPECTS IN SECURITY AND TRUST. vol. 5983, 96-110. Editors: Degano P and Guttman JD. 
01-01-2010
bullet iconQuantitative Information Flow: From Theory to Practice?
Malacaria P
COMPUTER AIDED VERIFICATION, PROCEEDINGS. vol. 6174, 20-22. Editors: Touili T, Cook B and Jackson P. 
01-01-2010
bullet iconInformation Theory and Security: Quantitative Information Flow
Malacaria P and Heusser J
FORMAL METHODS FOR QUANTITATIVE ASPECTS OF PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES. vol. 6154, 87-134. Editors: Aldini A, Bernardo M, Di Pierro A and Wiklicky H. 
01-01-2010

2009

bullet iconStudying Maximum Information Leakage Using Karush-Kuhn-Tucker Conditions
Chen H and Malacaria P
Eptcs 7, 2009, Pp. 1-15 
21-10-2009
bullet iconOn Adaboost and optimal betting strategies
Malacaria P and Smeraldi F
Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Data Mining (DMIN/WORLDCOMP)., 326–332-326–332.  
01-07-2009
bullet iconOn Adaboost and Optimal Betting Strategies
MALACARIA P and SMERALDI F
WORLDCOMP: The 2009 International Conference on Data Mining, DMIN 2009 Las Vegas 13 Jul 2009 - 16 Jul 2009., 326-332.  
01-01-2009
bullet iconQuantifying maximal loss of anonymity in protocols
CHEN H and MALACARIA P
Proceedings of the 2009 ACM Symposium on Information, Computer and Communications Security, ASIACCS 2009 Sydney, Australia 1 Jan 1970., 206-217.  
01-01-2009

2008

bullet iconLagrange Multipliers and Maximum Information Leakage in Different Observational Models
Malacaria P and Chen H
PLAS'08: PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACM SIGPLAN THIRD WORKSHOP ON PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES AND ANALYSIS FOR SECURITY., 135-146.  
01-01-2008

2007

bullet iconA static analysis for quantifying the information flow in a simple imperative language
MALACARIA P, Hunt S and Clark D
Journal of Computer Security vol. 15 (3), 321-371.  
01-03-2007
bullet iconQuantitative Analysis of Leakage for Multi-threaded Programs
Chen H and Malacaria P
PLAS'07: PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2007 ACM SIGPLAN WORKSHOP ON PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES AND ANALYSIS FOR SECURITY., 31-40.  
01-01-2007
bullet iconAssessing security threats of looping constructs
Malacaria P
ACM SIGPLAN NOTICES. vol. 42 (1), 225-235.  
01-01-2007
bullet iconAssessing Security Threats of Looping Constructs
Malacaria P
CONFERENCE RECORD OF POPL 2007: THE 34TH ACM SIGPLAN SIGACT SYMPOSIUM ON PRINCIPLES OF PROGAMMING LANGUAGES., 225-235.  
01-01-2007

2005

bullet iconQuantitative information flow, relations and polymorphic types
Clark D, Hunt S and Malacaria P
J Logic Comput vol. 15 (2), 181-199.  
01-04-2005
bullet iconQuantified Interference for a while Language
Clark D, Hunt S and Malacaria P
Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science vol. 112 (SPEC. ISS.), 149-166.  
02-01-2005

2002

bullet iconRelative definability of boolean functions via hypergraphs
Bucciarelli A and Malacaria P
Theor Comput Sci vol. 278 (1-2), 91-110.  
06-05-2002
bullet iconQuantitative Analysis of the Leakage of Confidential Data
MALACARIA P, Clark D and Hunt S
Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science vol. 59 (3) 
01-01-2002

2000

bullet iconFull abstraction for PCF
Abramsky S, Jagadeesan R and Malacaria P
Inform Comput vol. 163 (2), 409-470.  
15-12-2000

1999

bullet iconProgram analysis games
Hankin C and Malacaria P
Acm Computing Surveys, Association For Computing Machinery (Acm) vol. 31 (3es) 
01-09-1999
bullet iconNon-deterministic games and program analysis: An application to security
Malacaria P and Hankin C
Proceedings 11th Annual Ieee Symposium On Logic in Computer Science, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (Ieee), 443-452.  
01-01-1999

1998

bullet iconA new approach to control flow analysis
Malacaria P and Hankin C
Lecture Notes in Computer Science. vol. 1383, 95-108.  
01-01-1998
bullet iconGeneralised flowcharts and games
Malacaria P and Hankin C
Lecture Notes in Computer Science. vol. 1443, 363-374.  
01-01-1998

1995

bullet iconStudying equivalences of transition systems with algebraic tools
Malacaria P
Theoretical Computer Science, Elsevier vol. 139 (1-2), 187-205.  
01-03-1995

1994

bullet iconFull abstraction for PCF
Abramsky S, Malacaria P and Jagadeesan R
Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics). vol. 789 LNCS, 1-15.  
01-01-1994
bullet iconFull Abstraction for PCF (extended abstract)
Abramsky S, Malacaria P and Jagadeesan R
In Theoretical Aspects of Computer Software, Springer Nature 1-15.  
01-01-1994
bullet iconEquivalences of Transition Systems in an Algebraic Framework
Malacaria P
In Algebraic Methodology and Software Technology (Amast’93), Springer Nature 263-270.  
01-01-1994

1991

bullet iconStone duality for stable functions
Ehrhard T and Malacaria P
Lecture Notes in Computer Science. vol. 530, 1-15.  
01-01-1991
bullet iconSome results on the interpretation of lambda -calculus in operator algebras
Malacaria P and Regnier L
[1991] Proceedings Sixth Annual IEEE Symposium on Logic in Computer Science., 63-72.  
01-01-1991

Grants

solid heart iconGrants of specific relevance to the Centre for Fundamental Computer Science
solid heart iconUnrestricted donation: Formal verification of privacy properties
Pasquale Malacaria
£58,029 Meta Platforms Inc
01-10-2022 - 31-12-2025


solid heart iconCHAI: Cyber Hygiene in AI enabled domestic life
Pasquale Malacaria
£329,505 EPSRC Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
01-12-2020 - 30-11-2023
solid heart iconOptimal Cybersecurity Investment
Pasquale Malacaria
£388,777 EPSRC Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
01-08-2017 - 31-07-2021