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Olaf M. Maennel

The Internet has revolutionized the way in which we communicate, do business, or learn. Knowledge is now easier to access than ever, and what fascinates my research is the technology that enables this worldwide paradigm change.

Since February 2023 I am with the University of Adelaide in Australia. Before that I have been a full Professor for Cyber-Security at the Centre of Digital Forensics and Cyber Security at Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia. I joined TalTech in July 2014, got tenure in 2017. Before that i was with Loughborough University in UK and with the University of Adelaide in Australia. I have been general co-chair of ACM SIGCOMM 2015, ACM IMC 2017, and Global Internet Symposium GI'17. I serve as EU expert evaluator and vice-chair for Horizon calls.

My interests are in security, focusing on:

     Olaf Maennel

pgp key
  • network security & network forensics
  • network measurements (active & passive)
  • WAN-routing & security (IPv6, BGP/BGPsec,...)
  • communication protocol security including, but not limited to the public transport sector

I obtained my Ph.D. (Dr. rer. nat.) in computer science from the Technical University of Munich, Germany, in the group of Prof Anja Feldmann, PhD in 2005 and my Diploma (MSc) from the Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany in 2002.

Cyber Security Research

The term Cybersecurity has become a buzzword in the recent years. It's overloaded and doesn't mean much anymore. Many people, including me, try to avoid the word as much as possible. In a university context, however, it's a student magnet. We see a very high demand in 'cybersecurity education', but it should be clearly understood that 'cybersecurity' is not a scientific discipline in itself. Instead it combines insights from many other disciplines: for example, from computer science it takes secure software design, or how to build intrusion detection systems, methods for vulnerability testing, and so on; cryptography is rooted in mathematics; psychology helps to understand human factors; aspects of forensic science are used by law enforcement agencies; social sciences, business and economic understanding is essential; operational and strategic risk management models & audits help with reducing the threats in day-to-day operations; and of course legal and political disciplines are required.

For me the term 'cybersecurity' is simply an expression meaning interdisciplinary. In fact interdisciplinarity and effective communication are the only way we can fight today's problems in 'cyberspace'. It is the combination of knowledge and insights from several great areas of science that is required to secure 'cyberspace'. This is exiting, interesting, but also very challenging.


Teaching

With respect to my teaching, cyber security is a very interesting area as well. If we consider the interdisciplinary scope of cybersecurity, we must also realize that this provides great challenges for teaching. Traditional teaching does not work anymore. We need to rethink our methods/values and implement innovative teaching into our programs. I have also recently been involved in the restructuring of Loughborough's postgraduate Internet Computing and Network Security (ICNS) program and contribute to the constant development of Tallinn University of Technology's Cyber Security MSc.

For more information about my view on teaching cyber security in higher-education, please see my teaching statement.

Since April 2012 I am a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy (HEA) having completed the HEA accredited "New Lecturers' Course", which is a comprehensive course for new academic faculty in UK.

Loughborough University:

  • Undergraduate courses
  • COF181 Introduction to Programming II
    (2012/13 Sem 2)
  • COC190 Advanced Networking
    (2012/13 Sem 2, 2013/14 Sem 2)

  • MSc-level courses
  • COP455 Network Systems
    (2009/10 Sem 1, 2010/11 Sem 2, 2011/12 Sem 2, 2012/13 Sem 1, 2013/14 Sem 1)
  • COP502 Networks Lab
    (2009/10 Sem 2, 2010/11 Sem 2, 2011/12 Sem 2)
  • COP502 Building Secure Networks
    (2012/13 Sem 1, 2013/14 Sem 1)
  • COP532 Internet Architectures
    (2010/11 Sem 1, 2011/12 Sem 1)
  • COP532 Internet Protocols
    (2012/13 Sem 1, 2013/14 Sem 1)

Tallinn University of Technology:

  • MSc-level courses
  • ITC8060 & ITC8061 Network Protocol Design
    (3ECTS variant: Spring 2014/15, updated 6ECTS variant: Spring 2015/16, Spring 2016/17, Spring 2017/18, Spring 2018/19, Spring 2019/20)
  • ITX8040 Cyberdefence Seminar
    (Spring 2014/15, Autumn 2015/16)
  • ITX8230 Digital Forensics Seminar
    (Spring 2014/15, Autumn 2015/16)
  • ITX8512 Practical Training
    (Continuously since spring 2014.)
  • ITC8070 Information Systems Attacks and Defence
    (Autumn 2016/17, Autumn 2017/18, Autumn 2018/19, Autumn 2019/20)

  • PhD-level courses
  • IXX9601 Doctoral Seminar I, II & III
    (Autumn 2014/15, Autumn 2015/16, Spring 2016/17)
  • ITC9010 Special Topics of Cyber Security I
    (Spring 2015/16, Spring 2016/17, Spring 2017/18, Spring 2018/19)
  • ITC9020 Special Topics of Cyber Security II
    (Autumn 2016/17, Autumn 2017/18, Autumn 2017/18)

  • Cyber Security Summer School (C3S)
  • C3S 2015 — Information Security
    (13-17 July 2015)
  • C3S 2016 — Digital Forensics ‐ Technology and Law
    (3-8 July 2016)
  • C3S 2017 — Social Engineering Capture The Flag
    (10-14 July 2017)
  • C3S 2018 — Maritime Cyber Security
    (11-15 June 2018)

The University of Adelaide:

  • BSc-level courses
  • COMP SCI 3004 & COMP SCI 7064 Operating Systems
    (492 students, 3 units Spring 2023)
  • COM SCI 3307 Secure Programming
    (206 students, 3 units Spring 2023)


Current PhD Students

  • Joshua Francis (since April 2024, 40%, primary supervisor is Claudia Szabo)
  • Bradley Morgan (since February 2023, with Yuval Yarom)
  • Andrew Roberts (since Nov 2020)
  • Gabor Visky (industrial PhD, part time)
  • Dan Heering (since September 2018, part time)

Graduated/completed PhD students:

I have supervised 76 MSc theses, and done numerous final year projects reviews, and been on the committee of 23 PhD defenses.


Professional Activities


General-Chair, Treasurer, TPC-Chair:


Reviewer/Program Committee Member:
    2021:
  • MLN'2021: 4th International Conference on Machine Learning for Networking
  • EuroSP2021: EuroS&P Workshops 2021
  • NordSec: 26th Nordic Conference on Secure IT Systems
  • ARES 2021: The 16th International Conference on Availability, Reliability and Security
  • MEDI 2021: 11th International Conference on Model and Data Engineering
  • EICC 2021: European Interdisciplinary Cybersecurity Conference
  • CyCon 2021: 13th International Conference on Cyber Conflict
  • NGGS '21: Next Generation Government Symposium
  • SIGCSE TS 2021: 52nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education
    2020:
  • MLN'2020: 3rd International Conference on Machine Learning for Networking
  • Nordsec 2020: The 25th Nordic Conference on Secure IT System
  • ARES 2020: The 15th International Conference on Availability, Reliability and Security
  • EICC 2020: European Interdisciplinary Cybersecurity Conference
  • ITiCSE 2020: 25th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education
  • CyCon 2020: 12th International Conference on Cyber Conflict
  • JUCS ISMRE 2020: Information Security Methodology, Replication Studies and Information Security Education
  • CACOE 2020: Workshop on Cyber Range Technologies and Applications
  • Baltic DB&IS 2020: 14th International Baltic Conference on Databases and Information Systems
  • SIGCSE 2020 51st ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education
  • IEEE ICC 2020 NGNI Symposium (workshop co-located with ICC), Dublin, Ireland, 7-11 June 2020.
  • International Conference on Smart Education and Applied Social Sciences 2020, Oxford University, UK, 25-26 March 2020.
  • International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) Networking Conference (NETWORKING 2020), Paris, France, 22-26 June, 2020.
  • Baltic DB&IS 2020, Tallinn, Estonia, 16-19 June, 2020.
    others:
  • Asian Internet Engineering Conference (aintec2019), 2019 (external reviewer)
  • ACM CCS, 2016 (external reviewer)
  • IEEE Infocom, 2014 (external reviewer)
  • IEEE Infocom, 2012 (external reviewer)
  • Passive and Active Measurement Conference (PAM), 2010 (external reviewer)
  • Assessor for the Lillian Elizabeth Bowmaker Bursary, 2010-2013
  • Passive and Active Measurement Conference (PAM), 2008 (external)
  • Australasian Telecommunication Networks and Applications Conference, 2007
  • Interdomain Routing Workshop (IDRWS), 2004

Organizational Committee Member:
  • WODNAFO 10, Adelaide, Australia 2010
  • Passive and Active Measurement Conference (PAM), 2006
  • Interdomain Routing Workshop (IDRWS), 2004
Olaf Maennel | skype: olaf_maennel | e-mail: om@maennel.net | 10 Apr 2024