On the Security & Privacy in Federated Learning
Gorka Abad and Stjepan Picek and Aitor Urbieta
202140 citations
Hi — I'm Gorka Abad
I am a LEAD-AI Postdoctoral Fellow @ University of Bergen, funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions COFUND program. My research focuses on bridging cryptography and deep learning. Formerly, I was a P.h.D. candidate @ Radboud University.
Bergen, Norway
Research Areas
Deep Learning & Crypto
Bridging the gap between cryptography and deep learning to build more secure and efficient machine learning systems.
Spiking Neural Networks
Investigating the security and robustness of bio-inspired Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs).
Neuromorphic Data
Developing novel attacks and defenses for neuromorphic data and event-based vision systems.
Fellowships & Grants
LEAD-AI Postdoctoral Fellowship
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) COFUND program. University of Bergen, Norway.
2025 — Present
Teaching
“The Only Constant is Change: AI in Research, Innovation, and Careers”
4th Vilnius University Multidisciplinary Doctoral Summer School. VU Botanical Garden, Vilnius, Lithuania. Program focused on integrating artificial intelligence into research practice and developing transferable career skills.
Jun 2026
Academic Service
Program Committee
- ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS) — Machine Learning and Security Track, 2026, 2027
- IEEE Conference on Secure and Trustworthy Machine Learning (SaTML), 2026, 2027
- SAFE-ML Workshop at the IEEE International Conference on Software Testing, Verification and Validation (ICST), 2026
2026 — Present
Session Chair
European Symposium on Research in Computer Security (ESORICS) 2025
2025
Reviewer
IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics & Security (TIFS)
2023 — Present
Artifact Evaluator
Network and Distributed System Security Symposium (NDSS)
2023 — 2024
Research Visits
University College London (UCL)
Visiting Prof. Lorenzo Cavallaro and his team. London, UK.
2024
Selected Publications
View all →Top 5 most cited publications
Sneaky Spikes: Uncovering Stealthy Backdoor Attacks in Spiking Neural Networks with Neuromorphic Data
Gorka Abad and Oguzhan Ersoy and Stjepan Picek and Aitor Urbieta
202438 citations
Rethinking the trigger-injecting position in graph backdoor attack
Jing Xu and Gorka Abad and Stjepan Picek
202317 citations
Poster: Backdoor attacks on spiking nns and neuromorphic datasets
Gorka Abad and Oguzhan Ersoy and Stjepan Picek and Víctor Julio Ramírez-Durán and Aitor Urbieta
202217 citations
Sniper Backdoor: Single Client Targeted Backdoor Attack in Federated Learning
Gorka Abad and Servio Paguada and Oguzhan Ersoy and Stjepan Picek and Victor Julio Ramírez-Durán and Aitor Urbieta
202313 citations