Newcastle University

Introduction

I did my PhD with Ross Anderson in Cambridge, and my main research field is information security. I am interested in most aspects of security, both theoretical and practical, and my recent work include systems security (e.g. system and security issues in network games), applied crypto (e.g. cryptanalysis of some traitor tracing schemes) and human aspects of security (e.g. the so-called "usable security"). Please feel free to contact me if you'd like to discuss security issues or opportunities for working with me.

Research organisations I've been affiliated with: DSO National Labs (Singapore), Hewlett-Packard Labs (Bristol), Chinese University of Hong Kong

Undergraduate Teaching

CSC360
CSC265
CSC2002
CSC3102

Postgraduate Teaching

CSC8102

• El Ahmad A, Yan J, Ng WY. CAPTCHA Design Color, Usability, and Security. IEEE Internet Computing 2012, 16(2), 44-51.
• Yan J, El Ahmad AS. Captcha Robustness: A Security Engineering Perspective. Computer 2011, 44(2), 54-60.
• Zhu B, Yan J, Li Q, Yang C, Liu J, Xu N, Yi M, Cai K. Attacks and design of image recognition CAPTCHAs. In: Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security. 2010, Chicago, Illinois, USA: ACM Press.
• Yan J. Collusion detection in online bridge. In: Proceedings of the National Conference on Artificial Intelligence. 2010, Atlanta, Georgia, USA: Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence.
• El Ahmad AS, Yan J. Colour, usability and security: a case study. Newcastle upon Tyne: School of Computing Science, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 2010. School of Computing Science Technical Report Series 1203.
• Salah El Ahmad A, Yan J, Marshall L. The robustness of a new CAPTCHA. In: Proceedings of the third European Workshop on System Security (EUROSEC). 2010, Paris, France: ACM Press.
• Yan J, Randell B. An Investigation of Cheating in Online Games. IEEE Security & Privacy 2009, 7(3), 37-44.
• Yan J, El Ahmad AS. CAPTCHA Security: A Case Study. IEEE Security & Privacy 2009, 7(4), 22-28.
• Yan J, Yu S-Y. Streamlining Attacks on CAPTCHAs with a Computer Game. In: Proceedings of the Twenty-First International Joint Conference On Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI). 2009, Pasadena, California, USA: AAAI Press.
• Yan J, El Ahmad AS. The Robustness of CAPTCHAs: A Security Engineering Perspective. Newcastle upon Tyne: School of Computing Science, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 2009. School of Computing Science Technical Report Series 1180.
• Yan J, Salah El Ahmad A. A Low-cost Attack on a Microsoft CAPTCHA. In: 15th ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS'08). 2008, Alexandria, Virginia, USA: ACM.
• Yan J, Salah El Ahmad A. A Low-cost Attack on a Microsoft CAPTCHA. Newcastle upon Tyne: School of Computing Science, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 2008. School of Computing Science Technical Report Series 1093.
• Yan J, Salah El Ahmad A. Is cheap labour behind the scene? - Low-cost automated attacks on Yahoo CAPTCHAs. Newcastle upon Tyne: School of Computing Science, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 2008. School of Computing Science Technical Report Series 1127.
• Yan J, Salah El Ahmad A. Usability of CAPTCHAs or usability issues in CAPTCHA design. In: Proceedings of the Fourth Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS).2008,Pittsburgh, PA, USA:ACM
• Yan J, Salah El Ahmad A. Breaking Visual CAPTCHAs with Naive Pattern Recognition Algorithms. In: Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC).2007,Miami Beach, Florida:IEEE
• Yan J, Salah El Ahmad A. Breaking Visual CAPTCHAs with Naïve Pattern Recognition Algorithms. Newcastle upon Tyne: School of Computing Science, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 2007. School of Computing Science Technical Report Series 1026.
• Dunphy P, Yan J. Do background images improve "draw a secret" graphical passwords ?. In: CCS'07: Proceedings of the 14th ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security. 2007, Alexandria, Virginia, USA: ACM Press.
• Lin D, Dunphy P, Olivier P, Yan J. Graphical Passwords & Qualitative Spatial Relations. In: Third Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS). 2007, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: ACM.
• Dunphy P, Yan J. Is FacePIN Secure and Usable?. In: 3rd Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS).2007,Pittsburgh, PA, USA:ACM Press
• Yan J. Bot, Cyborg and Automated Turing Test. Newcastle upon Tyne: School of Computing Science, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 2006. School of Computing Science Technical Report Series 970.
• Yan J, Cho PL. Enhancing Collaborative Spam Detection with Bloom Filters. In: 22nd Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC '06).2006,Miami Beach, Florida, USA:IEEE Computer Society
• Yan J, Cho PL. Enhancing Signature-based Collaborative Spam Detection with Bloom Filters. Newcastle upon Tyne: School of Computing Science, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 2006. School of Computing Science Technical Report Series 973.
• Yan J, Randell B. A systematic classification of cheating in online games. In: 4th ACM SIGCOMM Workshop on Network and System Support for Games (NetGames).2005,Hawthorne, NY, USA:ACM Press
• Yan J, Randell B. Security in Computer Games: from Pong to Online Poker. Newcastle upon Tyne: School of Computing Science, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 2005. School of Computing Science Technical Report Series 889.
• Yan J, Blackwell A, Anderson R, Grant A. The Memorability and Security of Passwords. In: Cranor, L.F., Garfinkel, S., ed. Security and Usability: Designing Secure Systems that People Can Use. Beijing; Farnham; Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly, 2005, pp. 129-142.
• Yan J, Blackwell A, Anderson R, Grant A. Password memorability and security: empirical results. IEEE Security and Privacy 2004,2 5 25-31.
• Yan J. Security Design in Online Games. In: 19th Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC).2003,Las Vegas, Nevada, USA:IEEE Computer Society Press
• Yan J. Denial of Service: Another Example. In: Security in the Information Society : Visions and Perspectives. IFIP TC11 17th International Conference on Information Security (IFIP/SEC).2002,Cairo, Egypt:Kluwer Academic Publishers
• Yan J, Choi H-J. Security Issues in Online Games. The Electronic Library 2002,20 2 125-133.
• Yan JJ. A Note on Proactive Password Checking. In: New Security Paradigms Workshop .2001,Cloudcroft, NM, USA:ACM
• Yan J, Wu Y. An Attack on A Traitor Tracing Scheme. Cambridge, UK:Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge,2001.
• Yan J, Early S, Anderson R. The XenoService -- A Distributed Defeat for Distributed Denial of Service. In: Third Information Survivability Workshop (ISW).2000,Boston, Massachusetts, USA:IEEE