November 2021

Publications

• Sara Jafarbeiki, Amin Sakzad, Shabnam Kasra Kermanshahi, Ron Steinfeld, Raj Gaire, and Shangqi Lai, “A Non-Interactive Multi-User Protocol for Private Authorised Query Processing on Genomic Data”, Information Security Conference (ISC 2021), acceptedThis paper introduces a new non-interactive multi-user model for secure and efficient query executions on outsourced genomic data to the cloud. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper proposing an authorisation mechanism based on queries on genomic data.
• Nosouhi, Mohammad Reza; Yu, Shui; Sood, Keshav; Grobler, Marthie; Jurdak, Raja; Dorri, Ali; Shen, Shigen. “UCoin: An Efficient Privacy Preserving Scheme for Cryptocurrencies”. Accepted to Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing. CORE A. In this paper, we propose Unlinkable Coin (UCoin), a secure and efficient mixing approach to address the vulnerabilities that anonymity in pseudonymity introduces. Using UCoin, the link between input and output addresses (pseudonyms) in a transaction is broken. This is done by mixing the transactions of multiple users into a single aggregated transaction and shuffling the output addresses in the final transaction.
• [Best paper award, EAI QSHINE 21] Chandra Thapa, Kallol Krishna Karmakar, Alberto Huertas Celdran, Seyit Camtepe, Vijay Varadharajan, Surya Nepal, “FedDICE: A ransomware spread detection in a distributed integrated clinical environment using federated learning and SDN based mitigation, ” In proc. EAI QSHINE 2021 (https://arxiv.org/pdf/2106.05434.pdf).  This paper presents a federated distributed integrated clinical environment for ransomware detection and its software-defined network-based mitigation.
• Fei Zhu; Yi, Xun; Sharif Abuadbba; Khalil , Ibrahim ; Surya Nepal; Huang, Xinyi; Yan, Xingfu, “Certificate-based Anonymous Authentication with Efficient Aggregation for Wireless Medical Sensor Networks” Accepted in IEEE Internet of Things Journal (Impact factor 9.9). This paper introduces a lightweight authentication solution for the Internet of things devices that guarantees the anonymity of the authenticated devices involved.

Join us

• Postdoctoral Fellow opportunities

https://jobs.csiro.au/job/Sydney%2C-NSW-CSIRO-Postdoctoral-Fellowship-in-Collaborative-Intelligence-Cybersecurity/802708400/?locale=en_GB

• New PhD opportunities at Data61, for more info and to apply:  https://jobs.csiro.au/job/Various-CSIRO-PhD-Top-Up-Scholarships-Data61/784733300/

https://jobs.csiro.au/job/Various-Data61-PhD-Scholarships/796808000/?locale=en_GB

Staff

Goodbye to Andrew Feutrill, our Security Data Science Team leader has left Data61 end of November to move to Amazon US working on demand forecasting and optimisation. Good luck Andrew.

Students

• Summer vacation scholars
  

Our summer vacation students started in November. Six in an expanded Pawsey Supercomputing + Data61 collaboration; James Donnelly and Usman Malik working on “Machine Learning Analysis of App Reviews to Study User Awareness of Privacy and Security” with Mohan Baruwal Chhetri; Jack Swallow and Reena Zelenkova working on “Privacy Preserving Biometric Recognition” with Chamikara Mahawaga Arachchige; Caleb The-Tjoean and Danny Chacko working on “Proactive Cyber-Defences with URL and Source Code Analysis” with Ejaz Ahmed; Liam Hunter from Griffith University will commence 29th Nov on a industrial attachment program / undergraduate traineeship with Raj Gaire; Sandeep Santhosh Kumar commenced on the 23/11 in Adelaide (IAM project) with Selasi Kwashie.

Welcome to all of them.

Sandeep is an applied mathematics honours student at the University of South Australia (UniSA).  His honours project revolves around the mathematical modelling of diffusion in and around a biological cell at the root of a plant. As a capstone research project for his bachelors, he worked with the Department for Energy and Mining, South Australia, and analysed geophysical data to determine possible locations of deposits. His research interests are in vivid applications of mathematics and statistical methods in various disciplines.

Reena Zelenkova is from the Monash university. She is currently working with the Monash Young MedTech Innovators to develop technology that improves the lives of people living with cystic fibrosis. She has also previously worked to develop machine learning algorithms for miRNA folding and classification with the Monash Bioinformatics Platform.

Jack Swallow is from the RMIT university. One of his previous works includes a blockchain-based solution for tracking the academic progress of university students. This prototype system was an Ethereum based application built from the ground up to provide increased accountability, transparency, and flexibility for both staff and students.

James Donnelly is a Bachelor of Computer Science student at RMIT completing in 2022. His areas of focus are Machine Learning, Data Science and Security. Currently with CSIRO on a studentship with the Data61 and Pawsey business units researching user awareness of mobile application security and privacy features utilizing Machine Learning.

Malik Usman: I have recently given my final exams for the program Bachelors of Computer Science (Professional) at Swinburne. My major is in Software Development. During my degree I had the chance to work in the industry to gain some practical experience which has greatly increased my time management skills and collaboration skills. In my free time, I enjoy working on new projects and learning new skills. I have recently developed interest in the area of machine learning and started to explore the practical and research advantages of machine learning and that is why I applied for this project to further develop my skills in the area of machine learning. I believe that this project will be very helpful in achieving my goals as I will be working with a bunch of very talented people such as James and Mohan. I look forward to working with my team members to achieve the research objectives of this project and make it a success and also look forward to having a chat with you sometime soon in the future.

• let’s meet one of our latest students:

Welcome to Hua Ma, Hua is a first year PhD student at the University of Adelaide. Her research interests are machine learning security and optimization with focus on tiny machine learning which are optimized to run on very low-power and small footprint Internet of Things (IoTs) devices.

• We had three Data61 Honours students funded by CRC who successfully finished their degrees last week : Mariya Shmalko, Arthur Wong, Julie Duan

Achievements/ Good news

• November 2021 awards winners: Dongxi Liu, Surya Nepal, Mohan Baruwal Chhetri, Kristen Moore
• Data61’s Cyber Security Research Team has been nominated as finalist for the CSIRO Chairman medal
• Zhi Zhang has been awarded a UNSW Dean’s Award for Outstanding PhD Theses in recognition of his PhD thesis: Software-only Rowhammer Attacks and Countermeasures. The award goes to UNSW PhD graduates who have submitted a thesis that requires only minimal corrections, received outstanding and/or excellent levels of achievement for all examination criteria, and, in the opinion of both examiners, is in the top 10% of PhD theses examined.

Events

• Data61 and DSTG Cyber Security Summer School

Bringing together the Australian cyber security ecosystem

Due to the recent announcements and future dates set for the relaxing on domestic and international border restrictions, the organising committee has made the decision to move our forthcoming event to 21 to 23 February 2022. This event will still be held in a hybrid online/in-person mode, but with the added benefit of an increased proportion of in-person participation, enabled by the new travel rules.  We hope that you are as excited as us at the possibility to meet in person, even if it means a change in date.

The CSIRO’s Data61 & DSTG Cyber Security Summer School (CSSS) (https://research.csiro.au/csss/), in collaboration with the University of Queensland, is an annual summer school focusing on a range of cyber security topics, bringing the Australian cyber ecosystem together.

The CDNG Technology and Science Conference (https://wp.csiro.au/cdng/), in collaboration with Macquarie University, is a first of its kind scientific and technology focused Cyber Defence Conference, with the aim to have the community of Cyber-Security under the “Next Generation Defence Technologies | Cyber Research” program in collaboration with DST-Data61 and partner universities meet together, expose relevant research activities and discuss future collaborations.

This year, the two events will jointly be hosted at Customs House Brisbane, 21 to 23 February 2022.

Attendance is free, subject to invitation.

https://research.csiro.au/csss/

• SME and Cyber workshop

Raising the bar of cyber security awareness among Australian SMEs

This workshop is crafted with the needs identified by SMEs in this domain in mind and is aimed at bringing practical and relevant research and developments directly to the SMEs.

Strengthen your current understanding of cyber security, engage with cyber security specialists, and learn through practical exercises and demos how to best tackle cyber security challenges within your organisation. Through attending this workshop, you will start your journey to build a stronger cyber security posture.

You will be equipped to better:

• Recognise cyber threats and emerging cyber trends;
• Understand the impact of cyber security on your organisation;
• Build a network of cyber security connections;
• Focus on cyber security upliftment.

This 3-hour workshop is free to attend, but will require registration.

https://www.csiro.au/en/work-with-us/funding-programs/programs/Innovate-to-Grow/Cyber-security-awareness for registration

 

Talks/conferences

• Mohan Baruwal Chhetri and Marthie Grobler have co-organized the 2nd Workshop on Human-Centric Software Engineering and Cyber Security (HCSE&CS’21) on 15 November 2021 in collaboration with colleagues from Deakin University, Monash University, and University of Strathclyde.  The workshop was held in conjunction with the 36th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Automated Software Engineering (CORE A*) and featured 2 keynote talks, 1 panel discussion, and 8 paper presentations. Trends and Innovation in Cyber at the Innovate to Grow: Cyber masterclass, the opening of a 10-week program for Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to investigate new R&D opportunities related to Cyber Security solutions. The course is open to established SMEs who are either interested in investigating new R&D opportunities or are in the early decision-making stages about engaging with a research organisation on a new project. Muhammed Esgin, Sharif Abuadbba and Chandra Thapa serves as SME mentors for this program.