Security and Privacy in Virtual and Robotic Assistive Systems: A Comparative Framework

Computer Science > Cryptography and Security [Submitted on 31 Mar 2026] Security and Privacy in Virtual and Robotic Assistive Systems: A Comparative Framework Nelly Elsayed Assistive technologies increasingly support independence, accessibility, and safety for older adults, people with disabilities, and individuals requiring continuous care. Two major categories are virtual assistive systems and robotic assistive systems operating in physical environments. Although both offer significant benefits, they introduce important security and privacy risks due to their reliance on artificial intelligence, network connectivity, and sensor-based perception. Virtual systems are primarily exposed to threats involving data privacy, unauthorized access, and adversarial voice manipulation. In contrast, robotic systems introduce additional cyber-physical risks such as sensor spoofing, perception manipulation, command injection, and physical safety hazards. In this paper, we present a comparative analysis of security and privacy challenges across these systems. We develop a unified comparative threat-modeling framework that enables structured analysis of attack surfaces, risk profiles, and safety implications across both systems. Moreover, we provide design recommendations for developing secure, privacy-preserving, and trustworthy assistive technologies. Comments: The paper has been accepted in the 3rd International Conference on Intelligent Systems, Blockchain, and Communication Technologies (ISBCom) 2026 Subjects: Cryptography and Security (cs.CR) Cite as: arXiv:2603.29907 [cs.CR]   (or arXiv:2603.29907v1 [cs.CR] for this version)   https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2603.29907 Focus to learn more Submission history From: Nelly Elsayed [view email] [v1] Tue, 31 Mar 2026 15:53:01 UTC (188 KB) Access Paper: view license Current browse context: cs.CR < prev   |   next > new | recent | 2026-03 Change to browse by: cs References & Citations NASA ADS Google Scholar Semantic Scholar Export BibTeX Citation Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data, Media Demos Related Papers About arXivLabs Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax (What is MathJax?)