Engineering Trust in Transit: How Sikirat Mustapha Is Securing America’s Digital Infrastructure

By Tosin Clegg

In an era where connected vehicles and AI-powered transit are rapidly transforming America’s cities, cybersecurity has emerged as the anchor of national resilience. At the forefront of this frontier is Sikirat Mustapha, a U.S.-based cybersecurity researcher whose groundbreaking work is helping fortify the digital backbone of intelligent transportation systems.

With ransomware attacks costing U.S. municipalities over $1.2 billion in downtime and recovery in 2023 alone, the urgency for proactive cyber defense has never been more pressing. Mustapha’s research addresses this head-on, focusing on anomaly detection and ML-driven threat identification across in-vehicle networks , particularly the Controller Area Network (CAN) bus systems that underpin modern vehicles.
Her most recent work develops machine learning models to identify early-stage cyber intrusions and system malfunctions in real time. “We’re not just defending cars,” she says. “We’re protecting the supply chains, emergency systems, and public safety frameworks that ride on them.”
What sets Mustapha apart isn’t just her research, but its real-world translation. Through her cybersecurity engineering work with large-scale cloud environments and her earlier collaboration with NJDEP, she contributed to automated vulnerability assessment tools that streamline the triage of critical CVEs , reducing analyst triage time by up to 70% and enhancing the security posture of cloud and infrastructure systems protecting over 500,000 U.S. assets.

In recognition of her groundbreaking efforts in securing critical transportation infrastructure and educating thousands on cyber threats, Mustapha was honored with the 2024 National Award for Excellence in Cybersecurity and Intelligent Transportation Protection. This prestigious distinction celebrates her unique contributions to both cybersecurity innovation and public impact, particularly in bridging technical research with large-scale community education that strengthens the digital safety of smart mobility systems.
Mustapha’s current thesis, backed by Montclair State University, builds on her published work in encryption, V2X communications, and secure file verification. It proposes an AI-augmented framework to secure autonomous transit infrastructure. A system the U.S. Department of Transportation estimates will govern $800 billion in economic activity by 2030.

Her vision is as ambitious as it is essential: a digitally resilient transportation grid, protected not by reaction, but by design.

As the U.S. moves toward electrified highways, autonomous logistics, and AI-controlled fleets, experts like Sikirat Mustapha are proving indispensable. She isn’t just innovating, she’s helping ensure America’s digital arteries remain safe, secure, and future-ready.