Mario Polino

Papers

Total Citations

214

H-Index

About

Mario Polino is a leading researcher in the security of cyber-physical systems, with a specific focus on the vulnerabilities of industrial robots and connected manufacturing environments. His seminal 2017 paper, “An Experimental Security Analysis of an Industrial Robot Controller,” with 169 citations, was among the first to systematically expose critical security flaws in robotic systems central to Industry 4.0. This work demonstrated how attackers could compromise robot controllers, altering safety-critical operations and threatening both production integrity and human safety. Polino extended this analysis in his 2019 paper on controlled manufacturing systems, further mapping the attack surface of the connected factory. His most recent contribution, “Janus: A Trusted Execution Environment Approach for Attack Detection in Industrial Robot Controllers” (2024), proposes a novel hardware-backed detection mechanism, representing a shift from vulnerability discovery to active defense. By bridging industrial automation and cybersecurity, Polino’s research has been instrumental in raising awareness of security risks in smart manufacturing, influencing both academic research and industry practices. His work continues to shape the safe adoption of interconnected robotic systems.