Balik Research

Independent Research Laboratory · Dubai

Research at the edge of silicon and intelligence.

We apply experimental design, optimisation and machine learning to fault injection on embedded and automotive microcontrollers.

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Research

Research Domains

Investigating complex systems through experimentation, computation and engineering. Our research explores the interplay between physical hardware behaviour and computational intelligence—spanning silicon vulnerabilities, measurement methodologies, and machine learning models designed for embedded systems.

  • Fault Injection & Embedded Security

    Electromagnetic fault injection and voltage and clock glitching on embedded and automotive microcontrollers, and the firmware-level effects of faults.

  • Experimental Design, Optimisation & Machine Learning

    Bayesian optimisation and statistical modelling for systematic exploration of fault-injection parameter spaces.

  • Applied AI for Firmware Analysis

    Domain-specific models and agents for reverse engineering embedded firmware.

Projects

Research in Progress

Active exploratory research directions investigating foundational security and intelligence challenges.

  • Intelligent Fault Injection Research

    Exploratory phase
    Research Scope & Question
    How can automated parameter space exploration optimise the discovery of instruction skips and memory corruption in bare-metal targets?
    Approach & Methodology
    Systematic physical fault injection utilising reproducible parameter modelling, measurement instrumentation, and real-time transient monitoring.

  • AI-Assisted Firmware Analysis

    Exploratory phase
    Research Scope & Question
    Can domain-specialised machine learning agents assist in identifying vulnerability surfaces and architectural patterns in stripped embedded firmware binaries?
    Approach & Methodology
    Control-flow graph analysis combined with semantic decompilation heuristics, pattern evaluation, and automated agent orchestration.

Publications

Publications & Research Outputs

First outputs are in preparation.

Publications, technical reports, and research artifacts will be listed here as they become available. Availability and licensing are stated for each research release.

About

Founded on Engineering. Driven by Research.

Balik Research was co-founded by Deniz Balik and Aylin Balik, bringing together expertise in embedded systems engineering, hardware security, data science, and applied artificial intelligence.

  • Co-Founder

    Deniz Balik

    Hardware security, embedded systems security, fault injection, firmware reverse engineering and applied AI.

    Background
    Embedded automotive systems and reverse engineering of automotive microcontrollers, with over a decade of hands-on, low-level firmware experience.
    Education
    Currently pursuing an MSc in Computer Science at Heriot-Watt University.

  • Co-Founder

    Aylin Balik

    Data science, machine learning, statistical modelling, experimental design and data-driven optimisation.

    Background
    Academic background in Industrial Engineering from Istanbul Technical University (İTÜ).
    Education
    Currently pursuing an MSc in Data Science at the University of Edinburgh.

Research Principles

  • Evidence-led research

    We document experimental conditions, assumptions, and limitations.

  • Reproducibility

    We aim to share methods, code, and data alongside research outputs.

  • Independent inquiry

    Our research agenda is guided by scientific questions and technical relevance.

Instrumentation

Electromagnetic fault injection
NewAE ChipSHOUTER on a NewAE ChipSHOVER XYZ positioning stage
Voltage and clock glitching, triggering and power capture
NewAE ChipWhisperer-HuskyPlus
Compute
2 × NVIDIA DGX Spark and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 workstation for trace analysis and model training

Disclosure

Responsible Disclosure

Balik Research follows coordinated disclosure. When our research identifies a vulnerability, we report it privately to the affected vendor first and agree on the timing of publication with them.

Contact: contact@balikresearch.org

Read the disclosure policy

Contact

Advancing Research Through Collaboration.

We welcome technical exchange and research collaboration with academic researchers, engineering teams, universities, and independent laboratories working across embedded systems security, applied AI, and experimental data science.

Email

For research proposals, academic review copies, or collaboration inquiries:

contact@balikresearch.org

Email us directly

Channels