Léo Lavaur receives the 2025 Thesis Award !

October 20, 2025 By Dylan Massieux Actualitéscyber,cybercni,cybersecurity,PhD,price,thesis

The IMT Atlantique Cyber CNI Chair is proud to announce that its former doctoral student Léo Lavaur has been awarded the 2025 Thesis Prize by the GDR Réseaux et Systèmes Distribués (RSD CNRS).
This distinction recognizes the scientific excellence and originality of the thesis at the chair. Léo was awarded for his thesis entitled “Improving Intrusion Detection in Distributed Systems with Federated Learning” that was followed by Airbus, BNP Paribas, EDF, and SNCF and defended in summer 2024 at IMT Atlantique.

A project supported by the Cyber CNI Chair

Léo Lavaur’s research was conducted with the support and funding of the Cyber CNI Chair. Under the supervision of our chairholder Marc-Oliver Pahl, and his co-supervisors Yann Busnel and Fabien Autrel, Léo explored new approaches to cybersecurity and federated learning.

This collaboration has led to the design of innovative solutions to improve intrusion detection while protecting data confidentiality. This work addresses a key challenge: strengthening the security of industrial systems and critical infrastructure.

Work recognized in the scientific community

Following the publication strategy of the chair, the results of this thesis have been widely disseminated in international conferences and journals.

Peer-reviewed national conferences :

Federated learning seeks quality models, good reputation required – ALGOTEL 2025
Metrics and Strategies for Adversarial Mitigation in Federated Learning-based Intrusion Detection – RESSI 2023
Federated Learning as Enabler for Collaborative Security between Not Fully-Trusting Distributed Parties – C&ESAR 2022

Non-peer-reviewed conferences and posters :

Federated Security Approaches for IT and OT – GT-SSLR Theme Day, May 2021, best poster award

Peer-reviewed international journals :

Investigating the Impact of Label-flipping Attacks against Federated Learning for Collaborative Intrusion Detection – Computers & Security, 2025
The Evolution of Federated Learning-based Intrusion Detection and Mitigation: A Survey – IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management, 2022

Recognition of excellence and collaboration

This 2025 Thesis Award highlights the scientific momentum driven by the Cyber CNI Chair.
It also illustrates the strength of the link between academic research and industrial innovation.
Furthermore, it confirms the Chair’s key role in training young cybersecurity researchers.