Reaching excellence in cybersecurity exploration

Arnold Osei, an intercontinental graduate university student at The University of Winnipeg, completed his master’s diploma in applied pc science in Oct.

Along the way, Osei gathered accolades, posted investigate papers, and gained funding to conduct impressive exploration. He defended his thesis with distinction, been given the 2021-22 President’s Scholarship for Environment Leaders, and was even nominated by his professors to be valedictorian.

But Osei stated what he obtained from his time at UWinnipeg will exhibit up in his character as very well as on his resume.

“The willpower, the fortitude. People sorts of items you just are not able to get with awards. It is the total journey, the expertise. For me, that’s the most treasured part of this complete system.”

Journeying to excellence

Osei’s journey to Winnipeg began after he finished an undergraduate degree in telecommunications engineering at Kwame Nkrumah College in Kumasi, Ghana. He was hunting for an option to conduct investigate in cybersecurity and laptop or computer networking.

“I was searching at professors who had been executing analysis in this discipline and who were wanting learners who had enthusiasm,” Osei said. “That’s how I stumbled on Dr. Talal Halabi, who was then a professor here at UWinnipeg.”

Osei says he didn’t know something about Winnipeg prior to being recognized to the University, but his “wild feeling of adventure” and his have confidence in in his supervisors—Dr. Halabi and Dr. Yaser Al Mtawa, Assistant Professor, Department of Used Personal computer Science—gave him the assurance to make the journey.

Osei’s investigation at UWinnipeg focused on “strengthening the protection of intrusion detection systems (IDS),” Dr. Al Mtawa reported. 

“He generally worked on a little something very appealing we call MTD, or shifting concentrate on defense. He employed this approach in purchase to strengthen the IDS.”

Intrusion detection devices act like a gateway for your network.

It’s the whole journey, the expertise. For me, that is the most treasured part of this entire course of action.

Arnold Osei

In an place of work location, you could examine your person laptop to a home in a gated group. Each household in the group will have its very own locks and stability techniques, but to access these houses anyone need to go by way of the primary gate or find a way all-around it. An IDS is effective like the most important gate, so the additional protected it is, the additional protected all the computer systems in the community will be.

“There has been a good deal of research into securing intrusion detection systems,” Osei claimed, “but we were being exploring MTD, which is a new principle.”

Prior to launching an assault, an attacker must do some reconnaissance to learn how a system functions.

“If you want to rob a bank you almost certainly would choose some months to notice the area,” Osei reported. “See who comes in at what time, and who goes out at what time, before you essentially make your mind up to rob the financial institution.”

MTD aims to make it tougher for attackers to find patterns in protection systems.

“The novel idea listed here was to consider a pretty new principle, which is MTD, and use it to the gateway,” Osei stated. “So, if I’m an attacker and I want to figure out how your intrusion detection program works, it essentially is incredibly dynamic. It is difficult to determine out what is heading on.”

“The results of his study finished up owning very promising benefits that can be utilized in quite a few domains,” Dr. Al Mtawa stated, “such as wise infrastructures like good grids and intelligent transportation techniques. Cybersecurity troubles are on the rise and we want this form of strengthening and hardening of our safety steps, and this is what Arnold really did at the stop.”

While Osei’s investigate was all his possess, he suggests he is grateful for aid and independence he obtained from his supervisors. He designs to remain in Manitoba for now, and come across a task that affords the same independence to be resourceful and progressive that he relished all through his time at UWinnipeg.