About the project
Cyber-attacks in multi-domain environments present a critical challenge due to the interconnected nature of modern systems, spanning across the human, cyber and digital aspects. These attacks exploit vulnerabilities across domains, posing significant risks to critical infrastructure, national security, and economic stability.
As cyber threats grow in sophistication, our need to address this problem becomes increasingly urgent.
In this PhD project, you will:
- formalize and represent the threat model of complex systems, considering both cyber and physical aspects, and the human element
- use techniques like Attack Trees and Bayesian Attack Trees to predict attack stages and identify compromised components
- incorporate methodologies for automatic risk modeling to calculate and predict the impact of attacks.
You will explore the interconnected nature of modern systems spanning across the human, cyber and digital aspects. By understanding how threats propagate and interact, you will develop comprehensive models that also include the often-overlooked human aspect. These models will help predict the next stages of an attack and understand the risk levels of analyzed systems.
Additionally, you will build a testbed to emulate attacks on cyber-physical systems and a software platform to simulate complex systems. These tools will visually represent attacker movements and damages, offering insights into preventive and mitigative measures.
You will join the Cyber Security Research Group recognised as Academic Centre of Excellence for Cyber Security Research (ACE-CSR) and Education (ACE-CSR), and work with Dr Erisa Karafili and Dr Basel Halak.
This project is funded by the Centre for Doctoral Training in Complex Integrated Systems for Defence & Security (CISDnS). They are recruiting candidates interested in digital, physical, and biological systems to create a diverse and interconnected training environment.
Besides training with a world-leading research group, a CISDnS membership will give you the skills and knowledge to handle real-world interdisciplinary challenges through a Systems Thinking approach.
You will learn about the wider challenges of research and innovation within the Defence & Security sector.
This PhD studentship is open to UK applicants only.
