Abidemi Adeleye Alabi Charts Cybersecurity Futures at OurSuccessJourney Security Week 2025

In a session that combined technical precision with visionary clarity, Abidemi Adeleye Alabi, a leading cybersecurity researcher and project management expert, addressed an engaged audience of over 250 attendees at OurSuccessJourney Security Week 2025. The event—targeted toward students, IT professionals, and industry newcomers—served as a forum for rising voices in cybersecurity, and Alabi’s participation marked a highlight of the program. As one of the few women to headline the event, her contribution resonated deeply, not just for the strength of her research, but for the urgent relevance of her insights to the evolving American cybersecurity landscape.

Alabi, whose academic profile includes 465 citations, an h-index of 9, and a portfolio of high-impact, peer-reviewed publications, delivered a presentation titled “Strategic Risk Modeling and AI-Driven Security for Connected Enterprises.” The title might have suggested a purely technical exploration, but her delivery proved both analytical and visionary—emphasizing the transformative potential of AI-driven security frameworks to safeguard smart systems, cloud environments, and public digital infrastructure across the United States.

“We can no longer afford to be reactive,” Alabi began. “Cyber threats are growing in volume, sophistication, and speed. AI is not just an option—it’s a necessity. But it must be guided by strategy, accountability, and interoperability.”

Her argument aligns with recent U.S. government data indicating that cybercrime cost American businesses over $10.3 billion in 2022 alone, a figure projected to rise past $13 billion annually by 2026. Alabi’s research offers direct solutions to these escalating costs. She unpacked her 2021 landmark paper, “AI-driven intrusion detection and threat modeling to prevent unauthorized access in smart manufacturing networks,” which has been cited 138 times and widely regarded as a reference point in industrial cybersecurity.

The model proposed in the paper utilizes neural networks and anomaly detection algorithms to preemptively identify malicious access patterns in manufacturing systems. Alabi explained how this approach outperforms traditional firewall-based strategies, especially in dynamic systems where threat vectors change hourly. She also highlighted pilot deployments in mid-sized manufacturing plants in Michigan and Illinois, where the adoption of AI intrusion detection systems cut down breach attempts by nearly 37% in the first six months.

Her newer publications from 2023 and 2024 expanded this scope. In particular, her 2023 paper on “Blockchain and Zero-Trust Identity Management Systems for Smart Cities and IoT Networks,” with 60 citations, proposes an authentication framework that aligns closely with the U.S. Executive Order 14028, which mandates a zero-trust architecture across all federal agencies. Her framework offers an operational template that cities and state governments can deploy to secure public utilities, traffic systems, and digital citizen services.

“The smart city is no longer theoretical. It is here. But a city cannot be ‘smart’ if it is not secure. And security must extend to the most granular node—the door sensor, the meter, the voice assistant,” she emphasized.

For university students and junior engineers in the audience, this message struck a particularly strong chord. One cybersecurity student from Howard University commented: “Abidemi made it real for us—she translated academic models into tools we could deploy on Day 1 of our careers.”

Her 2025 paper on “Holistic Software Solutions for Securing IoT Ecosystems Against Data Theft and Network-Based Cyber Threats,” co-authored with YG Hassan and GO Babatunde, was also showcased. The framework proposes a layered defense model integrating secure firmware, dynamic access controls, and real-time threat telemetry. According to Alabi, such models are critical for securing edge devices—particularly in healthcare, energy, and transportation sectors where U.S. infrastructure remains a prime target for nation-state attacks. A 2024 CISA report indicated that over 70% of ransomware attacks in public-sector institutions originated from vulnerabilities in IoT devices.

Alabi warned that most enterprise architectures are built with assumptions that no longer hold in today’s threat landscape. She stressed the need for redesigning vendor risk protocols, an issue she addressed in her earlier work, “Developing a Vendor Risk Assessment Model to Secure Supply Chains in U.S. and Canadian Markets.” With over 300,000 vendors currently supplying the U.S. federal government, the implications of her vendor assessment model are significant for both compliance and operational security.

“The attack surface is now global and decentralized,” she told the audience. “It’s no longer about building bigger walls. It’s about building smarter gateways and knowing who you’re letting in.”

Another crucial point of her presentation addressed cross-domain microservices in cloud environments. She referenced her 2024 co-authored study, “A Conceptual Model for Real-Time Data Synchronization in Multi-Cloud Environments,” which presented a framework for streamlining data integrity across AWS, Azure, and private cloud environments. This model has been increasingly cited by startups and SMEs undergoing digital transformation. For U.S.-based companies migrating sensitive data to cloud infrastructure—especially in compliance-heavy sectors like finance and healthcare—her model offers not just security, but legal defensibility under laws such as HIPAA and CCPA.

The implications for the U.S. workforce were also a theme of her talk. In response to a question from an attendee about AI replacing cybersecurity jobs, Alabi replied:

“AI does not eliminate roles—it redefines them. We’re not replacing analysts. We’re empowering them. The analyst of the future is one who can interpret, orchestrate, and audit AI—not just react to alerts.”

She encouraged students—particularly women in tech—to pursue certifications and advanced degrees, citing her own journey through rigorous research, collaboration, and scholarly publishing. She noted that while only 24% of the U.S. cybersecurity workforce is female, the need for diverse perspectives in digital trust and threat modeling is more urgent than ever.

“When women lead in cybersecurity, we design for inclusivity. We code with empathy. And we manage risk not just for systems, but for people,” she said, drawing extended applause from the audience.

As her session concluded, the comments section filled with praise, technical questions, and calls for collaboration. One participant from NYU wrote, “We need more researchers like Abidemi leading federal cybersecurity strategy.” Another from the University of Toronto stated, “Her models should be taught in our graduate program.”

With a research portfolio that bridges theory and deployment, a voice that challenges industry orthodoxy, and a vision that centers ethical and adaptive defense, Abidemi Adeleye Alabi is undeniably one of the rising leaders shaping North America’s cybersecurity future. And her presence at OurSuccessJourney Security Week 2025 was more than just a highlight—it was a turning point