MANDI : Indian Institute of Technology Mandi is hosting a virtual workshop on Adversarial Cyber Security on 23rd and 24th September 2020. The workshop will have invited talks from a number of leading academicians and industry experts.

The workshop is a part of the UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) to enhance educational linkages between the two countries and is jointly organised by Applied Cognitive Science Laboratory of IIT Mandi, India, Cyber Security Research Center, London Metropolitan University, UK, and Centre for Multidisciplinary Research, Innovation and Collaboration, UK.

The workshop will discuss the influence of adversarial cognition on the decision making of adversaries, the prevalence of several cyber defence strategies, and the use of game-theoretic and machine learning tools and techniques in cyber security research. The two-day virtual workshop will be particularly beneficial to engineering students, researchers, engineers and scientists working in various institutes, and those who are curious to learn new things alike.

Speaking about the need for this workshop, Dr. Varun Dutt, Coordinator of the workshop and Associate Professor, School of Computing and Electrical Engineering, IIT Mandi, said, “This UKIERI-DST workshop would be the first of its kind between IIT Mandi, India, and London Metropolitan University, UK, and it provides an excellent forum for top cybersecurity researchers and industry practitioners to share their views on defenses against cyber threats. I am hopeful that this event will be a stepping stone to more academic collaborations between IIT Mandi and London Metropolitan University in the near future.”

Cyber security refers to the protection of internet-connected systems from an attack, damage or unauthorised access. It is important because, these days, most of the data is kept on the computers and other devices, which may include sensitive information for which unauthorised access or exposure could have negative consequences.

Speaking about the workshop, Prof. Karim Ouazzane, Professor, London Metropolitan University, UK said, “The exponential growth of the internet interconnections has led to significant growth of cyber attack incidents often with disastrous and grievous consequences. Our society, economy, and critical infrastructures have become largely dependent on computer networks and information technology solutions. Cyber attacks become more attractive and potentially more disastrous as our dependence on information technology increases. Therefore, this international workshop is timely and it will enable businesses, academics and experts to share knowledge and exchange best practices in the field of cyber security and raise awareness about cyber threats and risks.”

Along with the organising institutes, eminent researchers and scientists from the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences, Defence Research and Development Organisation, India, University of Kent, UK, Cardiff University, UK, University in Dublin, Ireland, and Carnegie Mellon University, USA, will also be taking part in this workshop to showcase their work in the area of cyber security.

Speaking about the collaboration, Dr. Cyril Onwubiko, Founder, Centre for Multidisciplinary Research, Innovation and Collaboration, UK, said, “This great opportunity demonstrates the long-standing bilateral relationship between the United Kingdom and India. By partnering with world-class institutes in IIT Mandi, India and London Metropolitan University, UK, we aim to provide to our audience outstanding experience and high quality keynotes and talks in a fast paced, digitally-enabled modern society from notable industry experts and academics. And I am looking forward to the workshop!”

The primary objectives of this workshop are:

• Discussion on the influence of adversarial cognition on the decision-making of adversaries as single individuals and teams

The workshop will cover research related to adversarial mental models, the influence of recent and frequent experiences on adversarial decisions and adversarial strategies for waging cyber attacks

• Discussion on the prevalence of several cyber defence strategies
  The workshop will cover research that discusses the use of honeypots (deception), intrusion detection systems and other approaches for monitoring suspicious network-related activities

• Discussion on the use of game-theoretic and machine learning tools and techniques in cyber security research

In this workshop, discussion on different cyber security games that allow researchers to compute optimal nash actions and deviations from adversary actions from nash actions is proposed

• To impart knowledge and experience sharing about the cognitive and social aspects involved in the cyber attacks and cyber defence

Interested participants can make their submissions through the workshop’s website (http://acslab.org/ukieri/). Deadline for paper submissions is 31st August 2020. Registration for the workshop is free. The organising institutes are hopeful that this UKIERI-DST sponsored workshop will also help pave the way for research collaboration in the near future. As a part of its agenda, the workshop will host a number of talks as well as student presentations.