Improving Cyber Resilience of Mobility-as-a-Service Platforms

Transportation systems are moving towards Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) to meet clients’ mobility requirements, while being environmentally friendly and people-centred. MaaS provides a unified platform that integrates multiple transport-related services (e.g., multimodal trips, cashless payment). Due to MaaS’ complexity (e.g., uneven node distribution,  dynamic topologies, unlimited mobility), its attack surface is massive, comprising cyber threats associated with authentication, credential theft, data availability, privacy, and legitimacy. Despite its relevance, research on MaaS preventive/defensive security and privacy mechanisms is still limited. E.g., a common and impactful attack in this system type is Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), which seeks to disrupt services by flooding them with sudden large volumes of fraudulent traffic. While some methods have been proposed to mitigate DDoS, further research is required as current techniques are still limited in terms of scalability, practicality, and robustness. This project involves research and development to address those challenges leveraging privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) and zero-trust security to design and implement a framework for improving identity management, network security, and data privacy in MaaS.

Required qualifications:

* First-Class Honours BSc degree (or equivalent) in Computer Science or closely related engineering disciplines.

* Fluent written and verbal communication skills in English.

* Programming/application development skills in Java/Python (or similar).

Desirable:

* Good knowledge in one or more of these areas AI/cybersecurity/data protection/privacy engineering.

* Professional working experience

* Research experience, including publications

Funding agency: This project is supported by TU Dublin and funded via the Technological University R&I supporting Enterprise scheme, which is co-financed by the Government of Ireland and the European Union through the ERDF Regional Programme 2021-2027

Student Stipend per annum: €25,000

Fees: €5500 covered

Duration of funding: 24 months

To express your interest, please complete the following form:

https://forms.office.com/e/Lex0JxLRZW

Please have ready the documents below, as they need to be submitted as part of the application:

* 1-page cover letter in English

* CV in English (include your current work status e.g., student, working, etc.)

* Diploma/Transcript for finished degrees (not necessary in English)

* Evidence of English Proficiency