Mutahar Ali

About

I am a third-year PhD student in the Computer Science department at University of California, Irvine (UCI), advised by Prof. Habiba Farrukh. I am broadly interested in security and privacy research. I work at the intersection of systems security and human-centered research. My current research centers on the security of immersive systems, backdoor and supply-chain attacks on machine learning, and how users perceive and respond to security and privacy risks in emerging technologies.

Before joining UCI, I was a Research Associate in the Computer Science department at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), where I also earned my Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, graduating in 2023.

News

• Sep 2026Our work on user perceptions of client modifications and anti-cheat engines in social XR got accepted at ACM CCS 2026.
• Aug 2026Our work on automated security analysis of multi-user XR clients got accepted at XR Security Workshop 2026.
• Aug 2026Presented our work on exploiting client-side authority in multi-user mixed reality at USENIX Security 2026.
• Jul 2026Received USENIX Student Travel Grant for USENIX Security 2026.

See older news

Publications

• Understanding Users’ Perceptions of Client-Side Modifications and Anti-Cheat Engines in Social XR
  Iman Mohammadi^*, Mutahar Ali^*, Habiba Farrukh
  ^*Equal Contribution
  ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS), 2026
  To Appear
• Agentic Framework for Automated Security Analysis in Multi-User Extended Reality
  Mutahar Ali, Habiba Farrukh
  Workshop on Enhancing Security, Privacy, and Trust in Extended Reality (XR) Systems (XR Security), 2026
  To Appear
• Relay and Betray: Exploiting Client-Side Authority in Multi-User Mixed Reality
  Mutahar Ali, Habiba Farrukh
  USENIX Security Symposium, 2026
  PDFCodePoster
• Understanding Users’ S&P Attitudes Towards Conversational AI Platforms
  Mutahar Ali, Arjun Arunasalam, Habiba Farrukh
  IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (S&P), 2025
  PDFCodePoster
• Warping the Edge: Where Instant Mobility in 5G Meets Stateful Applications
  Mukhtiar Ahmad, Faaiq Bilal, Mutahar Ali, Muhammad Ali Nawazish, Amir Salman, Shazer Ali, Fawad Ahmad, Zafar Ayyub Qazi
  ACM/IEEE Symposium on Edge Computing (SEC), 2025
  PDF

Posters

• PeekXR: Understanding Privacy Leakages from Eye Gaze in Extended Reality
  Chuyang Peng, Mutahar Ali, Habiba Farrukh
  ACM International Conference on Mobile Systems, Applications, and Services (MobiSys), 2025
  PDFPosterBest Poster Runner-Up

Pre-prints

• Follow My Eyes: Backdoor Attacks on Goal-Directed Scanpath Prediction
  Diana Romero^*, Mutahar Ali^*, Momin Khan^*, Habiba Farrukh, Fatima Anwar, Salma Elmalaki
  ^*Equal Contribution
  arXiv:2604.08766, 2026
  PDF

See all publications

Teaching Experience

• Graduate Teaching Assistant
  • CS-130: Introduction to Security & Privacy (Spring 2025, Spring 2026)
  • CS-141: Concepts in Programming Languages (Fall 2025)
• Undergraduate Teaching Assistant, LUMS
  • CS 382: Network-Centric Computing (Spring 2023, Spring 2022)

Service

• Artifact Evaluation Committee (AEC)
  • IEEE Security and Privacy (S&P), 2026
  • ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS), 2026
• Student Volunteer
  • ACM International Conference on Mobile Systems, Applications, and Services (MobiSys), 2025

Awards

• USENIX Security Student Travel Grant (2026)
• UCI Computer Science Department Research Fellowship (2024-2025)
• Graduated with Distinction, BS Computer Science, LUMS (2023)
• Students as Co-Researchers Grant, LUMS (2022)
• Dean’s Honor List, BS Computer Science, LUMS (2019–2022)