About Me
Ahmad Samer Wazan
Associate Professor · Zayed University, UAE | PhD · Paul Sabatier University, France
"The more you know, the more you know what you don't know."
Researcher, Educator & Builder
I am an Associate Professor at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi, UAE, on secondment from Paul Sabatier University (Toulouse III), where I earned my PhD in 2011. My research sits at the crossroads of Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence, and Education Technology.
Over nearly two decades, I have published in top-tier venues including IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing, Elsevier Computers & Security, and IFIP SEC. I hold a certified NVIDIA instructor status for Deep Learning and AI-Driven Anomaly Detection. I have also contributed directly to the ISO/ITU X.509 international standard — a rare achievement that places my research at the heart of global internet security infrastructure.
Three Pillars of Work
Cybersecurity
PKI trust models, Linux privilege management, X.509 certificates, TLS, verifiable credentials.
AI & Security
LLM vulnerability scoring, adversarial AI, anomaly detection, and AI-driven system design.
AI in Education
Socratic exam design in the LLM era, AI-powered personalized learning, remote proctoring.
Impact at a Glance
Landmark Research Contributions
These are the research outcomes I consider most significant in terms of long-lasting impact:
Proposed a new trust role in the X.509 model — a technical and legal expert to guide certificate decisions. The proposal was voted on and accepted at an international committee level and is now part of the latest edition of the X.509 standard, which underpins the security of the entire Web.
Designed an open-source Linux security module to replace the traditional sudo/su commands, implementing the principle of least privilege for system administrators. Published in Elsevier Computers & Security and actively maintained on GitHub.
Conceived a pedagogical framework that allows students to use LLMs during exams in a way that promotes deep understanding over rote answers. I began integrating AI into my exams in December 2022, just two weeks after ChatGPT launched — read my original article on this. The system has since been presented at 9 universities across 5 countries.
Built a fully automated lockdown exam management system with a 360° AI cloud-based invigilator, protecting student privacy while ensuring academic integrity during remote examination.
▶ Watch Demo Video →Funded Projects
Building AI tools that integrate ChatGPT, BARD, and LLAMA into higher education to personalize learning and foster student creativity.
Designing a decentralized identity verification system to enhance privacy in IM platforms and enable cross-platform communication.
Secure, instant digital certificate verification across borders — validated with COVID-19 certificates as the primary use case.
Enabling Certificate Authorities to automatically issue Organization Validated and Extended Validation TLS certificates using W3C Verifiable Credentials.
Tools I Built for the Community
RootAsRole
Linux least-privilege management — a secure replacement for sudo/su.
github.com/SamerW/RootAsRole →mindmosaicAIExam
An exam system designed for the AI era using Socratic pedagogical principles. I began integrating AI into my exams in December 2022 — just two weeks after ChatGPT launched — as described in my blog article from that time.
mindmosaicAIExam on GitHub → ▶ Watch Demo Video →VC Universal Verifier
A general-purpose tool for verifying W3C Verifiable Credentials across borders.
github.com/SamerW/VC-Verifier →statcert
A statistical analysis tool for X.509 certificate validation study.
github.com/SamerW/statcert →Recent Research (2024–2025)
Atmane Ayoub Mansour Bahar, Ahmad Samer Wazan. Examines whether classical vulnerability scoring frameworks such as CVSS remain applicable when evaluating adversarial attacks targeting Large Language Models.
Mustafa Kaiiali, Ioram Sette, Ahmad Samer Wazan, David W. Chadwick, Omar Alfandi. Proposes a universal verifier architecture enabling seamless cross-system interoperability of W3C Verifiable Credentials.
Ahmad Samer Wazan, David W. Chadwick, Romain Laborde, April Rains Reyes Maramara. Extended journal version of work enabling Certificate Authorities to automatically issue all classes of TLS certificates using Verifiable Credentials.
Ahmad Samer Wazan, Imran Taj, Abdulhadi Shoufan, Romain Laborde, Rémi Venant. A Socratic-inspired pedagogical framework for designing AI-compatible courses and exams in higher education.
Eddie Billoir, Romain Laborde, Ahmad Samer Wazan, Yves Rütschlé, Abdelmalek Benzekri. Surveys the landscape of least-privilege enforcement on modern OS, with focus on Linux capabilities and RootAsRole.
→ Full publication list on Google Scholar · DBLP · ResearchGate
Awards & Honours
- 2025 Technology in Life Award — Zayed University
- 2018 Best Demonstration Prize — Occitanie Region, France
- 2014 Best Paper Prize — Gres 2014 Conference
- 2005 Best Employee Prize — awarded by Ronaldo Mouchawar, co-founder of souq.com
Hobbies & Passions
Outside of academia, I find inspiration and balance through creative and physical pursuits.
Piano
I serve as advisor for Zayed University's Music Club since January 2023.
Drawing
Visual thinking and sketching help me map complex ideas.
Basketball
TV & Radio Interviews on AI
I regularly speak about AI's impact on society and education in Arabic media outlets.
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