William A. Johnson PhD

Cybersecurity Researcher · Savannah River National Lab

I'm a cybersecurity researcher at Savannah River National Lab. My research interests are in software reverse engineering, hardware hacking, adversarial machine learning, malware analysis, and cryptography for emerging network systems. I got my PhD in computer science at Tennessee Tech University in 2022. I am a proud graduate from the National Science Foundation's Cybercorps Scholarship for Service.

What's New?

Career Updates

I accepted a a new position as a Cybersecurity Researcher at Savannah River National Lab!

I presented my work "Toward Profiling IoT Processes for Remote Service Attestation" at the ISPDC 2024 in Chur Switzerland

My paper "From Data to Defense: Real-Time Deteciton of Botnets in IoT Using LSTM Networks" was accepted by the 2024 Internationaal Conference on Cyber Security and Resilience

I built the Citadel Cyber Siege, a cybersecurity CTF competition for the senior military colleges. My challenges were focused on malware analysis and binary exploitation

In The News

Home Telecom Domain Name Service Attack (February 2023)

Citadel Cadets Place 19th in Country at National Cyber League (Fall 2022)

My Graduate Students

Nate King - Enrolled in Citadel Cybersecurity MS program (Fall 2023)

Jackson All - Enrolled in Citadel Cybersecurity MS program (Fall 2022)

Trey Stevens - Enrolled in Citadel Cybersecurity MS program (Fall 2022)

Awards and Honors

CyRF@C Best Presentation Award - Collective Remote Attestation with a Focus on Industrial Internet of Things (2023)

Joined Upsilon Pi Epsilon - Honors Computing Society (2019)

Selected for Cybercorps Scholarship for Service (Fall 2018)

Joined Pi Mu Epsilon - Honors Mathematics Society (2017)

Dean's List - Tennessee Tech University (2014-2022)

Education

Tennessee Technological University

Doctor of Philosophy

Department of Computer Science - Cyber Security

Disertation Supervisor - Dr. Sheikh Ghafoor
Disertation Title - "Companion Assisted Remote Attestation of Embedded Systems in Industrial Control Networks"
GPA - 4.00

August 2018 - May 2022

Tennessee Technological University

Master of Science

Department of Computer Science - Cyber Security

GPA - 3.91

August 2018 - May 2021

Tennessee Technological University

Bachelor of Science

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering - Computer Engineering

Minor in Mathematics
Minor in Computer Science
Graduated Cum Laude

August 2014 - May 2018

Professional Appointments

Cybersecurity Researcher

Savannah River National Lab

Duties: • Software reverse engineering and binary exploitation; • Hardware reverse engineering and hacking; • Adversarial machine learning and data science; • Industrial IoT and SCADA security; • Applied cryptography

August 2025 - Present

Tenure Track Assistant Professor

The Citadel Military College of South Carolina

Teaching: • Computer organization and programming; • Reverse Engineering; • Malware Analysis; • Digital Forensics; • Special Topics: Ethical Hacking; • Special Topics: Cybersecurity Research

Service: • Faculty Search Committee; • Department Curriculum Development Committee; • Faculty Advisor for Citadel Cyber security team T215

August 2022 - August 2025

Deputy Director of Academic Engagement

Citadel Department of Defense Cyber Institute (CDCI)

Duties: • Mentor students for DoD work force; • Mentor Cybercorps Scholarship for Service (SFS) students; • Mentor DoD Cybersecurity Scholarship Program (CySP) students; • Develop and deliver material for Gencyber summer camps; • Reviewer for the Cybersecurity Research Forum at the Citadel (CyRF@C)

August 2022 - August 2025

Lecturer

Tennessee Tech University

Teaching: • Computer Architecture; • Computer Programming and Problem Solving with C++; • Computer Programming and Problem Solving with C++ for Engineers

May 2021 - August 2022

C.E.R.O.C. CyberCorps Intern

Tennessee Tech University

Duties: • Worked toward a survey in remote attestation of embedded systems; • Collaborated with Tennessee Tech University and Oak Ridge National Lab

June 2020 - August 2020

H.E.R.E. Intern

Oak Ridge National Lab

Duties: • Lead discussion on Remote Attestation for low power embedded systems; • Developed kernel modules to collect memory information of PLCs.

June 2019 - August 2019

Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU)

Tennessee Tech University

Duties: • Investigated attribute based encryption for vehicular ad hoc networks; • Ensured privacy and security of user financial information and location

June 2017 - August 2017

Programming Languages

Bash ● ● ● ● ●
Python ● ● ● ● ●
R ● ● ● ○ ○
C ● ● ● ● ●
C++ ● ● ● ● ●
X86 Assembly ● ● ● ● ○
Motorola Assembly ● ● ● ○ ○
ARM Assembly ● ● ● ○ ○

Publications

S. Sadeghpour, F. Zareen, W. A. Johnson"From Data to Defense: Real-Time Detection of Botnets in IoT Using LSTM Networks" In 2024 IEEE International Conference on Cyber Security and Resilience (CSR) IEEE, 2024.

W. A. Johnson, John Housley, S. Ghafoor, S. Prowell, “Toward Profiling IoT Processes for Remote Service Attestation” 2024 23rd International Symposium on Parallel and Distributed Computing (ISPDC). IEEE, 2024.

W. A. Johnson, S. Ghafoor, and Stacy Prowell. "A taxonomy and review of remote attestation schemes in embedded systems." IEEE Access, 9, pp.142390-142410 IEEE 2021

W. A. Johnson , S. Ghafoor, S. J. Prowell, (2020). "Companion Assisted Software Based Remote Attestation in SCADA Networks." In ICCWS 2021 16th International Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security (p. 127). Academic Conferences Limited.

M. A. Ayub, W.A. Johnson, D.A. Talbert, and A. Siraj, “Model Evasion Attack on Intrusion Detection Systems using Adversarial Machine Learning,” IEEE 2020 52nd Annual Conference on Information Sciences and Systems (CISS).

Siddik, M., Moni, S., Alam, M. and Johnson, W. (2019). SAFE-MAC: Speed Aware Fairness Enabled MAC Protocol for Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks. Sensors, 19(10), p.2405.

Johnson, W., Ayub, M. and Masum, R. (2018). INSuRE Projects: Tennessee Tech University Working with Government Agencies and National Labs.

Nabil, M., Bima, M., Alsharif, A., Johnson, W., Gunukula, S., Mahmoud, M. and Abdallah, M. (2018). Smart Cities Cybersecurity and Privacy: Chapter 12 - Priority-Based and Privacy-Preserving Electic Vehicle Dynamic Charging System with Divisible E-Payment. Washington, DC, United States: Elsevier.