Open Position: Postdoctoral Research in Cybersecurity

The Cybersecurity research group (https://cybersecurityresearch.at/), headed by Prof. Elisabeth Oswald, is a relatively new group established in Austria’s sunny south. The group currently features a diverse range of members (from France, Iran, India, and China).

Current members work on topics such as leakage profiling, advanced leakage simulators, attacks (utilizing deep learning), statistical foundations, and hardware aspects of side channels. The group receives funding from the ERC, as well as local funding, and thus offers a supportive research environment (both financially as well as from a human perspective).

The group is looking to grow by one post-doctoral researcher and is particularly keen to expand their existing coverage of topics and seeks researchers with an interest in (any of the following areas)

compilers/languages to support the secure implementation of cryptographic primitives
machine/deep learning
secure implementations (in particular in the context of RISC-V)

A good candidate for this position will have a background in either computer science, maths, or statistics (an MSc level degree with above-average grades is required), will have some relevant publications in any of these subjects in international conferences or journals, enjoy working with people in an international context, and love water, sun, and mountains.

The position is available immediately, applications will be considered on a rolling basis and we will fill the vacancy as soon as a suitable candidate is identified. To apply please send a brief
motivation letter, your CV, and transcripts of records of your MSc and BSc to the contact below.

The position has funding until 31.08.2023 at € 3.945,90 per month.

Luftbild | Foto: LakesideLabs

Please contact Elisabeth [dot] Oswald [at] aau [dot] at for informal enquiries and to submit your application.

PhD Students in Cybersecurity wanted!

The Cybersecurity Research Group – hosted at the university’s Digital Age Research Center (D!ARC) – is seeking to fill the post of a Phd-student within the area of Side Channel Resistent Embedded Systems.

The Cybersecurity Research group has been established with a clear interest in finding and eliminating information leaks in the context of embedded devices (they often exhibit a number of so called side channels). In this particular setting, the research team – led by Prof. Elisabeth Oswald – has developed a range of techniques that integrate well in a typical software flow and make leakage information transparent to a developer.

Currently, the group consists of one further lecturer, three postdocs, and three further PhD students who work in the areas of cryptography, statistical machine learning, embedded security, artificial intelligence and deep learning as well as crypto engineering.

The purpose of this studentship is to build on the existing work and add novel ideas including the automated tracing of leaks from lower-level code representations to the description in a higher-level language, the development of code transformation techniques to mitigate leaks automatically, etc. The successful applicant will work closely with Prof. Oswald and will develop into a researcher/engineer with a profound understanding of the challenges of leakage resilient development.

Requirements:

✓ Master’s level qualification in informatics, mathematics or other technical sciences
✓ strong background in embedded systems
✓ some background in low level programming and embedded systems
✓ Very good language skills in English (German optional)
✓ Willingness to work within an international team

The vacancy shall be filled as soon as possible.
If you are interested in this opportunity please consider applying with your CV and a motivational letter to elisabeth [dot] oswald [at] aau [dot] at

Master in Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity

Interested in the future of technology? Then this jointly-run MSc programme might be the perfect fit for you! The universities of Klagenfurt and Udine collaborate to offer this highly focused program on the core subjects of Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity with an additional emphasis on the social, ethical and legal aspects that arise in practice.

The MSc in Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity is a two-year taught programme. It consists of three semesters of taught courses followed by a research project leading to the submission of a thesis and its defence at the end of the fourth term.

Over 50 students from all around the globe registered in the premiere of this MSc in October 2020 (all lectures were held online). The hands-on classes, the profound theoretical inputs as well as the multidisciplinary approaches were the major cornerstones making this first semester a huge success.

The application for the summer semester of 2021 is now open and students who are interested in this MSc will find more information here:

https://www.aau.at/en/studien/master-artificial-intelligence-and-cybersecurity/

Hello from the Cybersecurity research group!

Established within the university’s Digital Age Research Center (D!ARC) the Cybersecurity research group goes into it’s second year of activities. The group’s research areas are based within cryptography, statistical machine learning, embedded security, artificial intelligence and deep learning as well as crypto engineering.

The group’s main expertise is in the area of deployment aspects of cryptography. Such aspects are related to information leakage (via side channels), and the detection and prevention of such channels; practical cipher constructions for specific application areas; secure implementation techniques and tools; and the application of machine learning and deep learning in the context of cybersecurity.

The Cybersecurity research group is currently running an ERC funded Consolidator Grant project, titled SEAL („Sound and Early Assessment of Leakage for Embedded Software“). It tackles the challenge to developed tools that are sophisticated enough to predict a range of side channel leakage behaviours for modern processors.

In the last months the team has grown to the number of ten. Currently the group consists of one professor, one lecturer, three postdocs, three PhD students, one technician and one administrator. The group represents five different countries, making work and communication a truly international and cultural experience.

You will find more information here:
www.aau.at/digital-age-research-center/cybersecurity/

And here:
www.cybersecurityresearch.at/

If you are interested to explore collaborations in any shape or form, let’s talk!
Please email to Elisabeth [dot] Oswald [at] aau [dot] at