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 >

Bello Musa Yakubu^1,*, Nor Shahida Mohd Jamail ², Rabia Latif ², Seemab Latif ³

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.86, No.3, 2026, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2025.072426 - 12 January 2026

Abstract Federated Learning (FL) enables joint training over distributed devices without data exchange but is highly vulnerable to attacks by adversaries in the form of model poisoning and malicious update injection. This work proposes Secured-FL, a blockchain-based defensive framework that combines smart contract–based authentication, clustering-driven outlier elimination, and dynamic threshold adjustment to defend against adversarial attacks. The framework was implemented on a private Ethereum network with a Proof-of-Authority consensus algorithm to ensure tamper-resistant and auditable model updates. Large-scale simulation on the Cyber Data dataset, under up to 50% malicious client settings, demonstrates Secured-FL achieves 6%–12% higher accuracy, More >

Hongwei Wu^*, Guojian Li, Hanyun Zhang, Zi Ye, Chao Ma

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.86, No.3, 2026, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2025.071008 - 12 January 2026

Abstract Federated Learning (FL) protects data privacy through a distributed training mechanism, yet its decentralized nature also introduces new security vulnerabilities. Backdoor attacks inject malicious triggers into the global model through compromised updates, posing significant threats to model integrity and becoming a key focus in FL security. Existing backdoor attack methods typically embed triggers directly into original images and consider only data heterogeneity, resulting in limited stealth and adaptability. To address the heterogeneity of malicious client devices, this paper proposes a novel backdoor attack method named Capability-Adaptive Shadow Backdoor Attack (CASBA). By incorporating measurements of clients’… More >

Shaojie Min¹, Yaxiao Luo¹, Kebing Liu¹, Qingyuan Gong², Yang Chen^1,*

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.86, No.2, pp. 1-23, 2026, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2025.073175 - 09 December 2025

Abstract User identity linkage (UIL) across online social networks seeks to match accounts belonging to the same real-world individual. This cross-platform mapping enables accurate user modeling but also raises serious privacy risks. Over the past decade, the research community has developed a wide range of UIL methods, from structural embeddings to multimodal fusion architectures. However, corresponding adversarial and defensive approaches remain fragmented and comparatively understudied. In this survey, we provide a unified overview of both mapping and anti-mapping methods for UIL. We categorize representative mapping models by learning paradigm and data modality, and systematically compare them… More >

Kirubavathi Ganapathiyappan^1,*, Kiruba Marimuthu Eswaramoorthy¹, Abi Thangamuthu Shanthamani¹, Aksaya Venugopal¹, Asita Pon Bhavya Iyyappan¹, Thilaga Manickam¹, Ateeq Ur Rehman^2,*, Habib Hamam^3,4,5,6

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.86, No.2, pp. 1-31, 2026, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2025.070067 - 09 December 2025

Abstract The growing use of Portable Document Format (PDF) files across various sectors such as education, government, and business has inadvertently turned them into a major target for cyberattacks. Cybercriminals take advantage of the inherent flexibility and layered structure of PDFs to inject malicious content, often employing advanced obfuscation techniques to evade detection by traditional signature-based security systems. These conventional methods are no longer adequate, especially against sophisticated threats like zero-day exploits and polymorphic malware. In response to these challenges, this study introduces a machine learning-based detection framework specifically designed to combat such threats. Central to… More >

Ahmed Abdel-Wahab¹, Mohammad Alkhatib^2,*

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.86, No.2, pp. 1-34, 2026, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2025.070010 - 09 December 2025

Abstract Deepfake is a sort of fake media made by advanced AI methods like Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs). Deepfake technology has many useful uses in education and entertainment, but it also raises a lot of ethical, social, and security issues, such as identity theft, the dissemination of false information, and privacy violations. This study seeks to provide a comprehensive analysis of several methods for identifying and circumventing Deepfakes, with a particular focus on image-based Deepfakes. There are three main types of detection methods: classical, machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL)-based, and hybrid methods. There are… More >

Kirubavathi Ganapathiyappan¹, Heba G. Mohamed², Abhishek Yadav¹, Guru Akshya Chinnaswamy¹, Ateeq Ur Rehman^3,*, Habib Hamam^4,5,6,7

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.86, No.2, pp. 1-18, 2026, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2025.069951 - 09 December 2025

Abstract The escalating complexity of modern malware continues to undermine the effectiveness of traditional signature-based detection techniques, which are often unable to adapt to rapidly evolving attack patterns. To address these challenges, this study proposes X-MalNet, a lightweight Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) framework designed for static malware classification through image-based representations of binary executables. By converting malware binaries into grayscale images, the model extracts distinctive structural and texture-level features that signify malicious intent, thereby eliminating the dependence on manual feature engineering or dynamic behavioral analysis. Built upon a modified AlexNet architecture, X-MalNet employs transfer learning to… More >

Yifan Zhang¹, Yong Gan^2,*, Mengke Tang¹, Xinxin Gan³

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.86, No.2, pp. 1-19, 2026, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2025.068880 - 09 December 2025

Abstract High-resolution remote sensing imagery is essential for critical applications such as precision agriculture, urban management planning, and military reconnaissance. Although significant progress has been made in single-image super-resolution (SISR) using generative adversarial networks (GANs), existing approaches still face challenges in recovering high-frequency details, effectively utilizing features, maintaining structural integrity, and ensuring training stability—particularly when dealing with the complex textures characteristic of remote sensing imagery. To address these limitations, this paper proposes the Improved Residual Module and Attention Mechanism Network (IRMANet), a novel architecture specifically designed for remote sensing image reconstruction. IRMANet builds upon the Super-Resolution… More >

Sunbin Shin¹, Luong Vuong Nguyen², Grzegorz J. Nalepa^3,4, Paulo Novais⁵, Xuan Hau Pham⁶, Jason J. Jung^1,*

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.86, No.1, pp. 1-40, 2026, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2025.070613 - 10 November 2025

Abstract Recommending personalized travel routes from sparse, implicit feedback poses a significant challenge, as conventional systems often struggle with information overload and fail to capture the complex, sequential nature of user preferences. To address this, we propose a Conditional Generative Adversarial Network (CGAN) that generates diverse and highly relevant itineraries. Our approach begins by constructing a conditional vector that encapsulates a user’s profile. This vector uniquely fuses embeddings from a Heterogeneous Information Network (HIN) to model complex user-place-route relationships, a Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) to capture sequential path dynamics, and Neural Collaborative Filtering (NCF) to incorporate… More >

Ran Wei^*, Hui Shu

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.86, No.1, pp. 1-23, 2026, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2025.069562 - 10 November 2025

Abstract Transformer-based models have significantly advanced binary code similarity detection (BCSD) by leveraging their semantic encoding capabilities for efficient function matching across diverse compilation settings. Although adversarial examples can strategically undermine the accuracy of BCSD models and protect critical code, existing techniques predominantly depend on inserting artificial instructions, which incur high computational costs and offer limited diversity of perturbations. To address these limitations, we propose AIMA, a novel gradient-guided assembly instruction relocation method. Our method decouples the detection model into tokenization, embedding, and encoding layers to enable efficient gradient computation. Since token IDs of instructions are… More >