PhD students Huang Zhuangtong and Guan Yongqi from the Department of Computer and Information Science at the Faculty of Science and Technology, under the guidance of Assistant Professor Wang Ye, have had two research papers fully accepted by top-tier conferences in the field of information security: IEEE S&P 2025 and NDSS 2025. These conferences are considered among the top four in the field, alongside ACM CCS and USENIX Security. These are collectively known as the four top conferences in the field of information security. The acceptance rates for IEEE S&P and NDSS over the past five years are 13% and 16%, respectively. These conferences are recommended as A Level by the China Computer Federation (CCF) and have received an A* rating (the highest level) in the Core Conference Ranking, indicating their high academic value. This marks the first time that the University of Macau has published papers as the primary institution at the four top information security conferences, and it is also the first time for the Macau region. This signifies that the research achievements of the University of Macau in the field of information security have been highly recognized by international peers.
**”Security Perceptions of Users in Stablecoins: Advantages and Risks within the Cryptocurrency Ecosystem”** has been accepted by the 46th IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (IEEE S&P 2025). This research was a collaboration between the University of Macau, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Pennsylvania State University, and Yale University. The first author of the paper is Yongqi Guan, a PhD student at the Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Macau, and the corresponding author is Professor Ye Wang.
This study reveals the security advantages and potential risks of stablecoins within the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Through social media data analysis and user research, it was found that the value stability and compliance of stablecoins are their security advantages, while centralization risks and the limitations of smart contracts pose additional security risks. Based on these findings, the study proposes new stablecoin mechanism designs and educational processes to improve users’ perception of stablecoin risks. The main contribution of the research lies in identifying users’ unique risk perceptions of stablecoins and proposing design optimization suggestions aimed at bridging the gap between user perceptions and stablecoin design. It also emphasizes the relationship between cryptocurrency technical features and user security perceptions, laying the foundation for enhancing the usability and security of stablecoins in the future.
**”Exploring User Perceptions of Security Auditing in the Web3 Ecosystem”** has been accepted by the 32nd Network and Distributed System Security Symposium (NDSS 2025). In the fall cycle of NDSS 2025, only 3% of papers were directly accepted. This research was a collaboration between the University of Macau and Pennsylvania State University. The first author of the paper is Zhuangtong Huang, a PhD student at the Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Macau, and the corresponding author is Professor Ye Wang.
This study focuses on security auditing in the Web3 ecosystem, aiming to explore its impact on user security. By combining case studies, user research, and social media data analysis, it provides a comprehensive analysis of the impact of auditing in the Web3 ecosystem for the first time. It deeply reveals the information transmission, security enhancement, and its influence on user behavior. The study further discusses the challenges of understandability, consistency, and credibility faced by auditing in terms of security usability. The research results lay a solid foundation for usable security design in Web3 and other cyberspaces, with profound academic value and practical significance.
These two research achievements demonstrate the leading position of the University of Macau in the field of Web3 security, further proving its international influence and research strength in the area of information security, and have been highly recognized by international peers.
澳門大學科技學院電腦及資訊科學系博士生黃莊桐及關泳琪，在助理教授王也的指導下，兩項研究成果分別被信息安全領域頂級會議 IEEE S&P 2025 與 NDSS 2025 全文接收。 IEEE S&P、NDSS、ACM CCS和USENIX Security被並稱為信息安全領域的四大頂級會議。 IEEE S&P 和 NDSS 近五年的錄取率分別為 13%和 16%，是中國計算機學會（CCF）推薦的 A 類會議，並在 Core Conference Ranking 中獲得 A*（最高級）評價，具有極高的學術價值。這是澳門大學首次以第一單位在信息安全四大會議上發表論文，也是澳門地區首次在信息安全四大會議上以第一單位發表論文，標誌著澳門大學在信息安全領域的研究成果獲得了國際同行的高度認可。
相關研究簡介如下：
研究成果《Security Perceptions of Users in Stablecoins: Advantages and Risks within the Cryptocurrency Ecosystem》被第 46 屆 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy（IEEE S&P 2025）全文接收。該研究由澳門大學、伊利諾伊大學厄巴納-香檳分校、賓夕法尼亞州立大學和耶魯大學合作完成，論文的第一作者為澳門大學科技學院博士生關泳琪，通訊作者為王也教授。
本研究揭示了穩定幣在加密貨幣生態系統中的安全優勢與潛在風險。通過社交媒體數據分析和用戶研究，發現了穩定幣的價值穩定性和合規性是其安全優勢，而中心化風險和智能合約的局限性帶來了額外的安全風險。基於這些發現，本研究提出了新的穩定幣機制設計和教學流程，以改善用戶對於穩定幣風險的認知。研究的主要貢獻在於識別了用戶對穩定幣的獨特風險感知，並提出了設計優化建議，旨在縮小用戶感知與穩定幣設計之間的差距，同時強調了加密貨幣技術特徵與用戶安全感知之間的關係，為未來增強穩定幣的可用性與安全性奠定了基礎。
研究成果《Exploring User Perceptions of Security Auditing in the Web3 Ecosystem》被第 32 屆 Network and Distributed System Security Symposium（NDSS 2025）全文接收。在 NDSS 2025 秋季週期中，僅有 3% 的論文被直接接受。該研究由澳門大學和賓夕法尼亞州立大學合作完成，論文的第一作者為澳門大學科技學院博士生黃莊桐，通訊作者為王也教授。
本研究聚焦於 Web3 生態系統中的安全審計，旨在探討其對用戶安全的影響。透過結合案例研究、用戶研究與社交媒體數據分析的混合方法，首次全面分析審計在 Web3 生態系統中的影響，深入揭示了 Web3 審計的信息傳遞、安全提升以及其對用戶行為的影響。研究進一步討論了審計在安全可用性方面面臨的可理解性、一致性和可信度的挑戰。研究成果為 Web3 安全及其他網路空間的可用安全設計奠定了堅實基礎，具有深遠的學術價值和現實意義。
這兩項研究成果展示了澳門大學在 Web3 安全領域的領先地位，進一步證明了其在信息安全領域的國際影響力和研究實力，獲得了國際同行的高度認可。
(左)黃莊桐及關泳琪
(Left) Huang Zhuangtong and Guan Yongqi