Cristina Improta
Cristina Improta

PhD student @ Federico II, UniNa

About Me

Hey! 👋🏻 I’m Cristina, I’m a PhD student in Information Technology and Eletrical Engineering (ITEE) at the University of Naples Federico II. My research activity focuses on the security and robustness of AI-based code generators and the application of LLMs for offensive security. I am a member of the DESSERT (DEpendable and Secure Software Engineering and Real-Time Systems) group.

Interests
  • AI Code Generation
  • Cybersecurity
  • Software Engineering
Education
  • MSc Computer Engineering

    University of Naples Federico II, Italy

  • BSc Computer Engineering

    University of Naples Federico II, Italy

  • Diploma Apple Developer Academy

    University of Naples Federico II in partnership with Apple, Naples, Italy

📚 My Research
My research focuses on the trustworthiness of AI-based code generators, particularly on their ability to generate functionally correct and secure source code from natural language descriptions. My goal is to address the limitations of these tools, such as their vulnerability to generating incorrect or insecure code due to ambiguous descriptions or training data poisoning, and to develop strategies to effectively mitigate these threats.
Recent Publications
(2024). Enhancing AI-based Generation of Software Exploits with Contextual Information. arXiv preprint arXiv:2408.02402.
(2024). Automating the correctness assessment of AI-generated code for security contexts. Journal of Systems and Software.
(2024). Vulnerabilities in ai code generators: Exploring targeted data poisoning attacks. Proceedings of the 32nd IEEE/ACM International Conference on Program Comprehension.
(2024). AI Code Generators for Security: Friend or Foe?. IEEE Security & Privacy.
(2023). Poisoning programs by un-repairing code: security concerns of AI-generated code. 2023 IEEE 34th International Symposium on Software Reliability Engineering Workshops (ISSREW).
Talks
Don't hesitate to contact me!

You can reach out at cristina.improta@unina.it or find me at DESSERT lab, Via Claudio 21, Naples, IT, Building 3/A, 4th floor.