PhD Studentship: Measuring security “goodness” for ultra-large scale infrastructures

The project:

This studentship is part of a 5 year research programme on Securing Convergent Ultra-large Scale Infrastructures (SCULI): https://sculi.ac.uk. Such infrastructures are seeing convergence and connectivity at unprecedented scale. This is true for both current critical national infrastructures and emerging future systems, e.g., smart cities, intelligent transportation, high-value manufacturing and Industry 4.0. Cyber security of such ultra-large scale infrastructures faces unprecedented complexity. Diverse legacy and non-legacy software and hardware compose on-the-fly to deliver services to millions of users with varying requirements and unpredictable actions. This complexity is compounded by intricate supply-chains and the need to deliver resilient operations in the presence of untrusted, partially trusted or compromised elements.

Measuring security goodness is a hard problem in any system. It is even a harder one in infrastructures of such a scale. The studentship will focus on developing a runtime model to measure security goodness in such infrastructures while accounting for the fact that there will be varying degrees of visibility as well as possibility to instrument the diverse sub-systems at the requisite level of fidelity and resolution. It will also need to address the challenges arising from differing levels of assurance possible across legacy and non-legacy systems and the presence of compromised, vulnerable or under-attack elements in the infrastructure. Another key challenge will be that measurements and what matters will be contextual, for instance, during normal operation, incident response or when new systems dynamically compose with the infrastructure or existing ones leave/are updated.

The successful candidate will have a strong and demonstrated interest in software and/or systems security with a willingness to learn about cyber-physical systems and industrial control systems security. They will also have a strong interest in instrumenting systems and experimental research to be conducted on our state-of-the-art testbeds within the Bristol Cyber Security Group.

How to apply:

Prior to submitting an online application, you will need to contact the project supervisor to discuss.

Online applications are made at http://www.bris.ac.uk/pg-howtoapply. Please select Computer Science PhD on the Programme Choice page. You will be prompted to enter details of the studentship in the Funding and Research Details sections of the form.

Candidate requirements: 

Applicants must hold/achieve a minimum of a merit at master’s degree level (or international equivalent) in a science, mathematics or engineering discipline. Applicants without a master's qualification may be considered on an exceptional basis, provided they hold a first-class undergraduate degree. Please note, acceptance will also depend on evidence of readiness to pursue a research degree.

If English is not your first language, you need to meet this profile level: Profile E
Further information about English language requirements and profile levels.

Funding:

4 years fees and stipend. Minimum tax-free stipend at the current UKRI rate is £19,237 for 2024/25. £2,000 per annum for expenses and consumables spending.

Contacts:

For questions about the research topic, please contact Prof Awaid Rashid (awais.rashid@bristol.ac.uk).

For questions about eligibility and the application process please contact Engineering Postgraduate Research Admissions admissions-engpgr@bristol.ac.uk

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