Prof D Pym, Prof A Sasse
No more applications being accepted
Competition Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
About the Project
Applications are invited for a PhD position at the Information Security Group of the UCL Department of Computer Science, funded by the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). The successful candidate will also be a member of the Programming Principles, Logic, and Verification (PPLV) Group. The studentship is open only to UK nationals because of the funder’s eligibility requirements. The successful candidate will be required to undertake an internship of approximately 2 - 4 weeks per year at GCHQ’s headquarters in Cheltenham. To be considered for this studentship, candidates must therefore be prepared to undergo GCHQ’s security clearance procedures.
The successful candidate will develop logical and mathematical models of access control policies in physical and information systems, including the architectural and behavioural issues that affect the extent to which an implemented system complies with policies. The aim of the project is to develop a framework for modelling access control policies and their implementation in system architectures and will provide tools for reasoning about the circumvention of policies in the presence of behaviours that are driven by competing priorities (the policy-implementation gap). Thus the project will address problems that of significant concern in business contexts using rigorous mathematical and/or computational tools. The project build on and integrate aspects three scientific literatures: within computer/information security, the study of access control models, such as Bell La Padula, Biba, and Chinese Walls; within logic/theoretical computer science, frameworks for modelling and reasoning about access control policies in system contexts; and, within usable security and security economics, the study of how individuals and organizations place different values on the benefits and costs of behaviours associated with security policies.
All research that is undertaken at UCL as part of the studentship will be unclassified and published in the open literature.
The start-date for the studentship will be no later than October 2017 (this cannot be delayed).
We expect a candidate to have at least a strong 2:1 degree in Mathematics or Computer Science, or to have successfully completed an MSc course in a related area. Prior knowledge of some of logic, semantics, information/computer security, mathematical modelling using tools such as Matlab, and empirical methods in data collection and analysis would be advantageous.
If you have any queries about submitting an application, please email Sarah Turnbull at [Email Address Removed]
Supervisors for this studentship will be Professor David Pym and Professor Angela Sasse
Your application must reach the Department by 28 February, 2017.
Funding Notes
The studentship is open only to UK nationals because of the funder's eligibility requirements. The successful candidate will be required to undertake an internship of approximately 2–4 weeks per year at GCHQ's headquarters in Cheltenham. To be considered for this studentship, candidates must therefore be prepared to undergo GCHQ's security clearance procedures.
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