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Research

MCARTEC

The Maritime Cybersecurity Applied Research, Technology and Education Center (MCARTEC) advances interdisciplinary research focused on strengthening the cybersecurity and resilience of the nation's Maritime Transportation System (MTS). This complex network — including ships, ports, passenger and cargo terminals, inland waterways, and intermodal connections — relies on increasingly interconnected technologies that introduce evolving cybersecurity challenges.

What We Do

MCARTEC brings together faculty, students and external partners to investigate these challenges and develop practical, research-informed solutions for the maritime sector. Through applied research, technology development, and collaboration with industry and government partners, MCARTEC works to advance knowledge, address emerging cyber threats, and strengthen the security and resilience of maritime operations and infrastructure.

Scholarly Activities

  • Greer, J., Garces, E., Clark, U., Karabacak, B. (July 2026). Modeling Cybersecurity Governance in the U.S. Maritime Transportation System: A Systems-Theoretic Approach to Gray-Zone Conflict. Journal of Information Warfare.
  • Miller, K., Clark, U., Karabacak, B., Alamleh, H., & Garces, E. (July 2026). From Cyber Defense to Information Warfare: Technical Roadmapping Study and Gaps in Maritime Cybersecurity. Journal of Information Warfare.
  • Clark, U., Alamleh, H. (June 2026). Regulatory Fragmentation and Grey Zone Maritime Cybersecurity Threats. MARSEC COE, Istanbul, Türkiye.
  • Clark, U., Karabacak, B., Stoker, G., Miller, K., Cummings, J., Garces, E., Alamleh, H., Rachakonda, L., & Greer, J. (April 2026). Research and Development Priorities for the Maritime Transportation System Cybersecurity. CAE Symposium 2026, Pittsburgh, PA.
  • Ulrich, C., Alamleh, H., Clark, U., Rachakonda, L., & Karabacak, B. (April 2026). The Risk of Secondary Wireless Channels in GCS. CyberRECON, Maryland.
  • Clark, U., Karabacak, B., Stoker, G., & Karamustafaoglu, A. (April 2026). From Workforce Training to Research Incubation. CAE Symposium 2026, Pittsburgh, PA.
  • Clark, U. (moderator), Greer, J., & Oruc, A. (March 2026). Maritime Cybersecurity Panel. ICCWS 2026, Wilmington, NC.
  • Kanumuri, R., Rachakonda, L., Karabacak, B., Alamleh, H., & Clark, U. (March 2026). VESSIGUARD: AI-Driven Cybersecurity and Anomaly Detection for Smart Vessels. ICCWS 2026, Wilmington, NC. (Presentation)
  • Greer, J., Garces, E., Karabacak, B., & Cummings, J. (March 2026). Recommended Improvements for Winning MTS Gray-Zone Competition. ICCWS 2026, Wilmington, NC.
  • Karabacak, B., Miller, K., Clark, U., Cummings, J., Garces, E., & Stoker, G. (March 2026). Regulatory Challenges in Maritime Cybersecurity: Evidence from Expert Workshops. ICCWS 2026, Wilmington, NC.
  • Kanumuri, Ravi Varma, Rachakonda, Laavanya, Alamleh, Hosam, Karabacak, Bilge, & Clark, Ulku. (March 2026). VessiGuard: AI-Driven Anomaly Detection for Maritime Cyber Defence. Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Cyber Warfare & Security. (Conference Paper)
  • Tran, E., Goodman, G., Alamleh, H., Karabacak, B., & Clark, U. SoK: The Cyber Attack Surface of Unmanned Water Vehicles (UWVs). MARCAS IEEE LCN Conference Paper 2026.
  • Rachakonda, L., Tarra, A., Madewell, M. G., & Serrano, H. AquaScope: A Secure, Edge-Native Framework for Real-Time Aquatic Habitat Monitoring. 2nd IEEE Conference on Secure and Trustworthy CyberInfrastructure for IoT and Microelectronics (SaTC 2026), Houston, TX, March 24–26, 2026.
  • Miller, K., Cummings, J., Clark, U. (December 2025). From Ship to Shore: Cybersecurity in Maritime Systems: A Technology Roadmap. ICIS 2025.  
  • Talucci, C. P., Alamleh, H., Karabacak, B., Clark, U. (November 2025). A Guide to Developing IDS for NMEA 2000. 2025 3rd International Conference on Foundation and Large Language Models (FLLM).  
  • Miller, K. C., Fitzpatrick, C. N. (October 2025). Cybersecurity Resilience in Maritime Transportation: Leadership and Frameworks for Protecting Port Operations. CCDE UNCW Conference.  
  • Alamleh, H. (October 2025). NATO, Ai4CUAV – Innovative AI Framework to Enable the Detection, Classification, and Tracking of Killer Drones. Rome.  
  • Townsend, J., Karabacak, B., Miller, K., Clark, U., Alamleh, H. Designing a Maritime Cybersecurity Risk Intelligence Model with Generative AI and Real-Time Interviews. IEEE 50th Conference on Local Computer Networks (LCN)/MarCaS, Sydney, Australia, October 2025. (Conference Paper)  
  • Greer, J., Rachakonda, L., Alamleh, H. (August 2025). Creating a Virtual Ship Environment Optimized for Cybersecurity Use. DEF CON Maritime Hacking Village.  
  • Garces, E., Cummings, J., Clark, U. Navigating Maritime Cybersecurity: Identifying Critical Risks. 31st AMCIS, Montreal, August 2025. (Conference Paper)  
  • Clark, U., Karabacak, B. (July 2025). Maritime Cybersecurity for Innovation, Inclusion and Industry Engagement. International Cybersecurity Education Collaborative (ICEC).  
  • Clark, U., Miller, K. (June 2025). Maritime Cybersecurity Research Updates from UNCW. ORNL, Tennessee.  
  • Alamleh, H., Clark, U. Y., & Karabacak, B. Unseen Triggers: Exploiting Wireless Channels to Activate Dormant Malware in Air-Gapped Critical Infrastructure. 10th International Conference on Smart and Sustainable Technologies, Croatia, June 2025. (Conference Paper)  
  • Clark, U., Greer, J. (May 2025). Maritime Cybersecurity Workshop: Findings and Next Steps. MTS ISAC 2025.  
  • Alamleh, H., Hays, B. Machine Learning-Assisted Deterministic Satellite Localization Using Doppler Analysis to Counter GPS Attacks in Maritime Navigation. 2025 35th International Conference Radioelektronika (RADIOELEKTRONIKA), Hnanice, Czech Republic, May 2025. (Conference Paper)  
  • Townsend, J., Karabacak, B., & Clark, U. Protecting Our Ports: Leveraging Agentic AI to Harden Security Postures for Maritime Entities. North Carolina Graduate Education Week, Raleigh, NC, May 2025. (Poster)  
  • Greer, J., Clark, U., Karabacak, B., Alamleh, H., Miller, K., Stoker, G. (April 2025). A Transdisciplinary Approach to Maritime Transportation System Cybersecurity Education and Capability Development. CAE Symposium 2025, Charleston, SC. 
  • Alamleh, H., Clark, U., Karabacak, B., Miller, K. (April 2025). Securing Air Gapped Industrial Control Systems: Mitigating Wireless Threats through Proactive Defense Strategies. CAE Symposium 2025, Charleston, SC.  
  • Karabacak, B., Clark, U. Y., & Alamleh, H. Transitioning from Survey-Based Risk Assessment to Risk Intelligence Model for Maritime Cybersecurity. 2025 CAE in Cybersecurity Symposium, CAE in Cyber Defense (CD) Track, Charleston, SC, April 2025. (Poster)  
  • Greer, J., Clark, U. (March 2025). Maritime Cybersecurity Research Advancements at UNCW. NMIO, Maryland.  
  • Miller, K., Fitzpatrick, N., & Senft, M. Securing a Smart Port: Cybersecurity Challenges and Mitigation Strategies. 20th International Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security, Williamsburg, VA, March 2025. (Poster)  
  • Pranay, R. Transitioning from Survey-Based Risk Assessment to Risk Intelligence Model for Maritime Cybersecurity. Third Place, UNCW Student Poster Competition on Interdisciplinary AI, Marine and Data: Bridging Science and Creativity, March 2025. (Poster)  
  • Karabacak, B. (February 2025). MCARTEC: AI and Machine Learning. CMS Collider, Coastal and Marine Science.  
  • Clark, U., Alamleh, H., Cummings, J., Greer, J., Karabacak, B., Miller, K. C., Rachakonda, L., Stoker, G., Garces, E., Daim, T., Cannon, L. A., Talucci, C. P., & Sahin, E. (2025). Maritime Transportation System (MTS) Cybersecurity Technology Roadmap (TRM) Version 1. UNCW Institutional Repository.  
  • Clark, U., Karabacak, B., Alamleh, H., Cummings, J., Stoker, G., Miller, K. C., Ebrahimi, E., Rachakonda, L., Greer, J., Daim, T., & Garces, E. (2025). Maritime Cybersecurity Workshop Report. UNCW Institutional Repository.  
  • Rachakonda, L., Rothman, M., Visvesh, K., & Perugupalli, K. RemoraTech: Edge-Enabled IoT Monitoring System for Real-Time Pipeline Fault Detection. 2025 IEEE 11th International Conference on Edge Computing and Scalable Cloud (EdgeCom), New York City, NY, USA, 2025, pp. 122–127. doi: 10.1109/EdgeCom66327.2025.00027.  
  • Patnala, A., Ricanek, F., Alamleh, H., & Ricanek, K. TruckIDMe: Driver Identification from J1939 CAN Bus Signals. 2025 3rd International Conference on Foundation and Large Language Models (FLLM).  
  • Alamleh, H., Elsaid, A. Slow-Drift GPS Spoofing in UAV Swarms Using LSTM-Based Sensor Fusion. 2025 3rd International Conference on Foundation and Large Language Models (FLLM).  
  • Alamleh, H., Estremera, L., Arnob, S. S., & AlQahtani, A. A. S. Advanced Persistent Threats and Wireless Local Area Network Security: An In-Depth Exploration of Attack Surfaces and Mitigation Techniques. 2025. MDPI Journal of Cybersecurity and Privacy.

Reports

Maritime Transportation System (MTS) Cybersecurity Technology Roadmap (TRM)
Maritime Cybersecurity Workshop