Dr. Sapna Sadhwani

Assistant Professor, Faculty of Mathematics and Data Science

Biography

Dr. Sapna Sadhwani is an Assistant Professor with over nine years of experience in teaching and research. She holds a PhD (2025) with title "Enhancing IoT Security against DDoS Attacks using Machine Learning Techniques ", where her research focused on leveraging Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning techniques to defend IoT networks against DDoS and botnet attacks. She completed her M. Tech in Computer Science and Engineering in 2014 and B.Tech in 2012. Currently she is serving as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Data Science at Emirates Aviation University, Dubai, UAE. Prior to her current role, she served at BITS Pilani, Dubai Campus—initially as a Lecturer and later promoted to Assistant Professor. Additionally, she served as a Lecturer at Mody University, India (2012-2015). Her academic journey has been deeply rooted in cybersecurity, AI, machine learning, deep learning, explainable AI, and network security. She has published extensively in high-impact Q1 journals and top-tier international conferences, and her work has received global recognition through citations and invited roles. She has served as Session Chair for several international conferences and also contributed as the Conference Chair for an annual international conference organized by her institution. Passionate about teaching, mentoring, and interdisciplinary research, she strive to bridge theory with real-world applications while guiding students toward innovation, critical thinking, and impactful research.

https://www.eau.ac.ae/faculty-member/dr-sapna-sadhwani
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Education

PhD title "Enhancing IoT Security against DDoS Attacks using Machine Learning Techniques" Department of Computer Science, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Dubai campus Aug 2020 - 9th June 2025
M.Tech. in Computer Science and Engineering 8.63 CGPA (First class with A+ in dissertation title "Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) in Web application") Department of Computer Science, Mody University of Science and Technology Rajasthan, India 2012-2014
B.Tech. in Computer Science and Engineering 7.96 CGPA (First class) Department of Computer Science, Mody University of Science and Technology Rajasthan, India 2008-2012

Teaching Area

Object Oriented Programming
Data Structures & Algorithm
Database Systems
Computer Network
Security
Artificial Intelligence

Research Area

Security, IoT Networks
Network Security
Intrusion Detection
Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning
Deep Learning
Computer Vision
Explainable AI
GenAI

Publications

Sapna Sadhwani, Navare, A., Mohan, A., Muthalagu, R. and Pawar, P.M., "IoT-based intrusion detection system using explainable multi-class deep learning approaches", Computers and Electrical Engineering, 123, p.110256, 2025
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Sapna Sadhwani, Sriwastawa, A., Muthalagu, R. and Pawar, P.M., "Feature engineering based intelligent intrusion detection system for IoT network security", International Journal of Machine Learning and Cybernetics, pp.1-25, 2025. Doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-3961151/v1 (Q2, IF:3.1) SPRINGER NATURE
Sapna Sadhwani, Urvi Kavan Modi, Raja Muthalagu, Pranav M. Pawar, Alavikunhu Panthakkan, and Wathiq Mansoor. "IoT BotScan: Ultra-Lightweight AI Defense Against Botnet Threats", IEEE Access, vol. 13, 2025.
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Sapna Sadhwani, Mohammed Abdul Hafeez Khan, Raja Muthalagu, Pranav Pawar, and K. Suresh. "A Hybrid BiLSTM-CNN Approach for Intrusion Detection for IoT Applications.", Scientific Reports
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Sapna Sadhwani, Alan Mohan, Ameya Navare, Raja Muthalagu, and Pranav Pawar. "xAIL-ID: Explainable AI-based LSTM model for Intrusion Detection for the Internet of Things.", Cyber Security and Applications (Revision Submitted), 2025
Sapna Sadhwani, U. K. Modi, Raja Muthalagu, and P. M. Pawar, "SmartSentry: Cyber Threat Intelligence in Industrial IoT" in IEEE Access, vol. 12, pp. 34720-34740, 2024.
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Sapna Sadhwani, Mathur, A., Muthalagu, R. and Pawar, P.M., “5G-SIID: an intelligent hybrid DDoS intrusion detector for 5G IoT networks”. International Journal of Machine Learning and Cybernetics, Volume 16, pages 1243–1263, 2024, Springer
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Sapna Sadhwani, Arjun Harish, Raja Muthalagu, and Pranav M. Pawar. "A Lightweight Model for Detecting Cyberthreats Using Machine Learning Techniques." In 2024 Advances in Science and Engineering Technology International Conferences (ASET), United Arab Emirates, pp. 01-07. IEEE, 2024 doi: 10.1109/ASET60340.2024.10708693.
Sapna Sadhwani, Nivedita Ajit, Raja Muthalagu, and Pranav Pawar. "An Efficient and Smart Botnet Attack Detection Model for IIoT 4.0" In 4th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Signal Processing (AISP). IEEE, 2024. doi: 10.1109/AISP61711.2024.10870698
Sapna Sadhwani, Baranidharan Manibalan, Raja Muthalagu, and Pranav Pawar. 2023. "A Lightweight Model for DDoS Attack Detection Using Machine Learning Techniques" Applied Sciences 13, no. 17: 9937.
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Sapna Sadhwani, A. Verma, Raja Muthalagu and P. M. Pawar, "Network Intrusion Detection: A Study on Various Learning Approaches," 2023 International Conference on Computational Intelligence and Knowledge Economy (ICCIKE), Dubai, United Arab Emirates, pp. 161-166. IEEE, 2023. doi: 10.1109/ICCIKE58312.2023.10131701 (Scopus)
S. Kalpesh Patel, Sapna Sadhwani, Raja Muthalagu and P. Mothabhau Pawar, "Deep Learning Based Intrusion Detection Systems Techniques in IoT - Survey," 2023 International Conference on Computational Intelligence and Knowledge Economy (ICCIKE), Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 2023, pp. 53-58. doi: 10.1109/ICCIKE58312.2023.10131739. (Scopus)
Srikanth, K., Sapna Sadhwani, Urolagin, S. (2022). “MRI Cardiac Images Segmentation and Anomaly Detection Using U-Net Convolutional Neural Networks. In: Verma, P., Charan, C., Fernando, X., Ganesan, S. (eds)” Advances in Data Computing, Communication and Security. Lecture Notes on Data Engineering and Communications Technologies, vol 106. Springer, Singapore.
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Praveen Thachappully Adithya, Raja Muthalagu, and Sapna Sadhwani. 2020. Genesis Net: Fine Tuned Dense Net Configuration using Reinforcement Learning. In 2020 4th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality (AIVR2020). Kumamoto, Japan, 46–50. DOI:10.1145/3439133.3439139 (SCOPUS)
Sapna Sejwani, Prema K.V, Ms. Sarvesh Tanwar, “Implementation of Triple RSA”, International Journal of Engineering Sciences and Research Technology (IJESRT), ISSN: 2277-9655, Volume 2, Issue 5, May 2014. Scientific Journal Impact Factor: 3.449, ISRA (IF: 1.852)
Sapna Sejwani, Sarvesh Tanwar, “Implementation of Hierarchical Trust Model in PKI”, IEEE National Conference on Computing and Infomatics, 2015 organized by Mody University of Science and Technology, Lakshmangarh, India 2-3rd December 2015.
Sapna Sejwani, “Pattern Recognition Using Artificial Neural Networks”, International Conference on Innovative Trends in Information Technologies and Computing Sciences for Competitive World Order organized by Krishi Sanskriti, J.N.U, New Delhi, 2-3rd March, 2013.
Sapna Sejwani, “Mathematics in Cryptography”, National Conference on Recent Trends in Mathematical Sciences and Their Applications, organized by Mody University of Science and Technology, Lakshmangarh, India 5-6th November, 2012

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