Chen Yu, Jingjing Tan, Wenwu Zhao, Ke Gu^*

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.87, No.2, 2026, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2026.075457 - 12 March 2026

Abstract Although federated learning (FL) improves privacy-preserving by updating parameters without collecting original user data, their shared gradients still leak sensitive user information. Existing differential privacy and encryption techniques typically focus on whether the aggregated gradient is correctly processed and verified only, rather than whether each user is honestly trained locally. To address these above issues, we propose a gradient feature-based collaborative filtering scheme in verification federated learning, where the authenticity of user training is verified using the collaborative filtering (CF) method based on gradient features. Compared with single user gradient detection (such as similarity detection More >

Noura Mohammed Alaskar¹, Muzammil Hussain², Saif Jasim Almheiri¹, Atta-ur-Rahman³, Adnan Khan^4,5,6, Khan M. Adnan^7,*

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.87, No.1, 2026, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2025.074041 - 10 February 2026

Abstract The increasing number of interconnected devices and the incorporation of smart technology into contemporary healthcare systems have significantly raised the attack surface of cyber threats. The early detection of threats is both necessary and complex, yet these interconnected healthcare settings generate enormous amounts of heterogeneous data. Traditional Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), which are generally centralized and machine learning-based, often fail to address the rapidly changing nature of cyberattacks and are challenged by ethical concerns related to patient data privacy. Moreover, traditional AI-driven IDS usually face challenges in handling large-scale, heterogeneous healthcare data while ensuring data… More >

Sghaier Guizani^1,*, Tehseen Mazhar^2,3,*, Habib Hamam^4,5,6,7

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.87, No.1, 2026, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2025.073883 - 10 February 2026

Abstract The advent of quantum computing poses a significant challenge to traditional cryptographic protocols, particularly those used in Secure Multiparty Computation (MPC), a fundamental cryptographic primitive for privacy-preserving computation. Classical MPC relies on cryptographic techniques such as homomorphic encryption, secret sharing, and oblivious transfer, which may become vulnerable in the post-quantum era due to the computational power of quantum adversaries. This study presents a review of 140 peer-reviewed articles published between 2000 and 2025 that used different databases like MDPI, IEEE Explore, Springer, and Elsevier, examining the applications, types, and security issues with the solution of… More >

Danping Niu¹, Yuan Ping^1,*, Chun Guo², Xiaojun Wang³, Bin Hao⁴

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.86, No.3, 2026, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2025.073630 - 12 January 2026

Abstract With the increasing complexity of malware attack techniques, traditional detection methods face significant challenges, such as privacy preservation, data heterogeneity, and lacking category information. To address these issues, we propose Federated Dynamic Prototype Learning (FedDPL) for malware classification by integrating Federated Learning with a specifically designed K-means. Under the Federated Learning framework, model training occurs locally without data sharing, effectively protecting user data privacy and preventing the leakage of sensitive information. Furthermore, to tackle the challenges of data heterogeneity and the lack of category information, FedDPL introduces a dynamic prototype learning mechanism, which adaptively adjusts the More >

Faisal Mahmud¹, Fahim Mahmud², Rashedur M. Rahman^1,*

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.86, No.3, 2026, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2025.073519 - 12 January 2026

Abstract Federated Learning (FL) has become a leading decentralized solution that enables multiple clients to train a model in a collaborative environment without directly sharing raw data, making it suitable for privacy-sensitive applications such as healthcare, finance, and smart systems. As the field continues to evolve, the research field has become more complex and scattered, covering different system designs, training methods, and privacy techniques. This survey is organized around the three core challenges: how the data is distributed, how models are synchronized, and how to defend against attacks. It provides a structured and up-to-date review of… More >

Afnan Alhindi^*, Saad Al-Ahmadi, Mohamed Maher Ben Ismail

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.86, No.3, 2026, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2025.072625 - 12 January 2026

Abstract Split Learning (SL) has been promoted as a promising collaborative machine learning technique designed to address data privacy and resource efficiency. Specifically, neural networks are divided into client and server sub-networks in order to mitigate the exposure of sensitive data and reduce the overhead on client devices, thereby making SL particularly suitable for resource-constrained devices. Although SL prevents the direct transmission of raw data, it does not alleviate entirely the risk of privacy breaches. In fact, the data intermediately transmitted to the server sub-model may include patterns or information that could reveal sensitive data. Moreover,… More >

Yuewei Tian¹, Yang Su², Yujia Wang¹, Lisa Guo¹, Xuyang Wu^3,*, Lei Cao⁴, Fang Ren³

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.86, No.3, 2026, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2025.072081 - 12 January 2026

Abstract This study addresses the risk of privacy leakage during the transmission and sharing of multimodal data in smart grid substations by proposing a three-tier privacy-preserving architecture based on asynchronous federated learning. The framework integrates blockchain technology, the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) for distributed storage, and a dynamic differential privacy mechanism to achieve collaborative security across the storage, service, and federated coordination layers. It accommodates both multimodal data classification and object detection tasks, enabling the identification and localization of key targets and abnormal behaviors in substation scenarios while ensuring privacy protection. This effectively mitigates the single-point… More >

Samuel Acheme^*, Glory Nosawaru Edegbe

Journal of Cyber Security, Vol.8, pp. 1-31, 2026, DOI:10.32604/jcs.2026.073923 - 07 January 2026

Abstract Federated learning (FL) enables collaborative model training across decentralized datasets, thus maintaining the privacy of training data. However, FL remains vulnerable to malicious actors, posing significant risks in privacy-sensitive domains like healthcare. Previous machine learning trust frameworks, while promising, often rely on resource-intensive blockchain ledgers, introducing computational overhead and metadata leakage risks. To address these limitations, this study presents a novel Decentralized Identity (DID) framework for mutual authentication that establishes verifiable trust among participants in FL without dependence on centralized authorities or high-cost blockchain ledgers. The proposed system leverages Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) and Verifiable Credentials… More >

Raghavendra Kulkarni¹, Venkata Satya Suresh kumar Kondeti¹, Binu Sudhakaran Pillai², Surendran Rajendran^3,*

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.86, No.1, pp. 1-23, 2026, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2025.069835 - 10 November 2025

Abstract The next-generation RAN, known as Open Radio Access Network (ORAN), allows for several advantages, including cost-effectiveness, network flexibility, and interoperability. Now ORAN applications, utilising machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, have become standard practice. The need for Federated Learning (FL) for ML model training in ORAN environments is heightened by the modularised structure of the ORAN architecture and the shortcomings of conventional ML techniques. However, the traditional plaintext model update sharing of FL in multi-BS contexts is susceptible to privacy violations such as deep-leakage gradient assaults and inference. Therefore, this research presents a… More >

Haoran Wang¹, Shuhong Yang², Kuan Shao², Tao Xiao², Zhenyong Zhang^2,*

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.86, No.1, pp. 1-18, 2026, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2025.069404 - 10 November 2025

Abstract With the rapid development of the Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT), convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have demonstrated potential and remarkable performance in AIoT applications due to their excellent performance in various inference tasks. However, the users have concerns about privacy leakage for the use of AI and the performance and efficiency of computing on resource-constrained IoT edge devices. Therefore, this paper proposes an efficient privacy-preserving CNN framework (i.e., EPPA) based on the Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) scheme for AIoT application scenarios. In the plaintext domain, we verify schemes with different activation structures to determine the… More >