Muhammad Hassan

Research

I study the usability, accessibility, privacy, and trustworthiness of digital health technologies. My research examines how patients, caregivers, and clinicians understand and use medical devices, mobile health applications, and Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) systems, with particular attention to older adults, people with chronic conditions, and people with disabilities. I also conduct empirical studies of privacy and security in connected and online systems.

Publications

Refereed Journal Articles

• 2025 R. Yener, M. Hassan, and M. Bashir. “Threats and Security Strategies for IoMT Infusion Pumps.” Human Factors in Cybersecurity, vol. 168.

Conference Proceedings

• 2026 M. Hassan, R. Yener, E. Gumusel, and M. Bashir. “AI Healthcare Chatbots as Information Infrastructure: Large-Scale Study of User-Reported Breakdowns.” ASIS&T.
• 2026 T. Wang, M. Hassan, and M. Bashir. “AI-Driven Digital Twin System Auditor for Secure and Trustworthy EHR Operations.” TRUST-AI, co-located with IEEE ICHI.
• 2026 M. Hassan and M. Bashir. “User Privacy Expectations in Connected Heart Devices.” Annual PrivaCI Symposium.
• 2026 M. Hassan, C. Gunter, S. Landau, and M. Bashir. “Insights from GitHub Community on the Matter Standard: Developer Perspectives and Challenges.” SDIoTSec, co-located with NDSS.
• 2025 M. Hassan, M. Bashir, and Y. Ma. “Designing for Transparency: A Multilingual Analysis of Privacy Policy Usability and Compliance in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Contexts.” HCII, CCIS 2525.
• 2025 M. Hassan, M. Bashir, and I. Brooks. “Listening to Users: Privacy and Security in Mobile Health Apps.” HCII, LNCS 15824.
• 2023 M. Hassan and M. Bashir. “Unveiling Privacy Measures in Mental Health Applications.” ACM UbiComp/ISWC.
• 2023 H.-Y. Huang, S. Demetriou, M. Hassan, G. S. Tuncay, C. A. Gunter, and M. Bashir. “Evaluating User Behavior in Smartphone Security: A Psychometric Perspective.” USENIX SOUPS.
• 2023 M. Hassan, M. Jameel, and M. Bashir. “An Exploratory Study of Malicious Link Posting on Social Media Applications.” USEC, co-located with NDSS.

Manuscripts in Submission

• M. Hassan, M. Raji, P. Nakamura, and M. Bashir. “Analyzing Discourse on Agentic AI: A Study of Reddit Communities.” Under review, iConference 2027.
• M. Hassan, C. Gunter, S. Landau, and M. Bashir. “People, Policy, and Home Health Tech: User Mental Models for IoMT Integration.” Under review, Information.

Manuscripts in Preparation

• M. Hassan and M. Bashir. “Understanding Privacy and Safety Concerns Associated with Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) Surveillance: The FLOCK Case.”
• M. Hassan and M. Bashir. “Discourse on AI and Law: A Study of Reddit Communities.”
• M. Hassan and M. Bashir. “Understanding the Needs and Emotional Experiences of Neonatal Caregivers in Digital Health Contexts.”
• M. Hassan, M. Jameel, T. Wang, and M. Bashir. “Unveiling Privacy and Security Gaps in FemTech Health Apps.”
• M. Saad and M. Hassan. “Towards Characterizing COVID-19 Awareness on Twitter.”

Awards and Honors

Grants and Fellowships

• Slanker UIUC Doctoral Fellowship (Slanker Dissertation Fellowship), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2026

Invited Talks

• IS 202: Social Aspects of Information Technology, Fall 2026
• CS 598 CG: Security and Privacy for Home IoT, Spring 2025
• IS 364: Privacy and Information Technology, Fall 2025 and Fall 2024
• Illinois Cyber Security Scholars Program (ICSSP) Seminar, Fall 2025, Fall 2024, and Fall 2023

Conference Participation

Workshops Organized

• Organizer and Chair, Usable Security and Privacy for Connected Healthcare, co-located with SOUPS 2026
• Organizer and Program Committee Member, Trustworthy-AI in IoMT Workshop, co-located with IEEE ICHI 2026

Presentations

• “Investigating Engineering Challenges with Emerging IoT Frameworks,” Coordinated Science Laboratory Student Conference, UIUC, 2026
• “Multilingual Compliance: A Comparative Study of Privacy Policies in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean,” NeurIPS Workshop on Regulatable Machine Learning, 2024
• Co-authored work presented by a co-author at PEPR 2025, “Privacy Engineers on the Front Line: Bridging Technical and Managerial Skills” session

Teaching Experience

Teaching assistant roles supporting lectures, labs, office hours, assignment development, and assessment.

Research Experience

Ph.D. Research Assistant, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (2022–present). Usability, accessibility, privacy, and safety of mobile, web, and IoMT health technologies.

Graduate Research Intern, Discovery Partners Institute (Summer 2024). Developed a multilingual pipeline and analyzed a corpus of more than 2,400 privacy policies.

Research Intern, Application Security, ByteDance/TikTok (Summer 2022). Researched trusted execution environments and cloud workload security; improved secret-retrieval latency by 7%.

Research Intern, Application Security, Lahore University of Management Sciences (2020). Led research on the societal impacts of technology.

Service to Profession

Program leadership. Technical Program Committee, IEEE ISoPE 2026; Organizer and Chair, Usable Security and Privacy for Connected Healthcare (SOUPS 2026); Program Committee and Organizer, Trustworthy-AI in IoMT Workshop (IEEE ICHI 2026).

Peer review. ACM SIGCHI Papers and Case Studies (2024–2026); NeurIPS (2024–2026); ICIS, HAI, ASIS&T, IDC, and USENIX PEPR (2026); SOUPS, IUI, and ACM CSCW Posters (2025); ACM UbiComp/ISWC Posters and Demos (2023); International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Departmental and University Service

Reviewer, UIUC Undergraduate Research Symposium (2023–2026); mentor and supervisor to 4–5 undergraduate researchers annually at UIUC.

Professional Membership

Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T); International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP).