I’m hiring a Research Assistant/Associate to work on the EPSRC-funded Adaptive PETs to Protect & emPower People during Life Transitions (AP4L) project. The project is being undertaken with the Universities of Surrey, Queen Mary, Strathclyde, Edge Hill, and Edinburgh.
AP4L is a program of interdisciplinary research, centring on the online privacy & vulnerability challenges that people face when going through major life transitions. The four transitions we are considering in the scope of this project are relationship breakdowns; LBGT+ transitions or transitioning gender; entering/ leaving employment in the Armed Forces; and developing a serious illness or becoming terminally ill. Our central goal is to develop privacy-by-design technologies to protect & empower people during these transitions.
We are looking for a researcher with experience in quantitative data analysis, threat assessment, data science, machine learning and/or natural language processing, as well as excellent programming and technical writing skills. Expertise in cybercrime or privacy enhancing technologies (PETs) research is desirable, but not essential. Successful applicants will review the relevant literature, design research projects, develop tools, collect and analyse data, and write research outputs.
The role will analyse life transitions from the attacker’s perspective, such as how and where they gather information about their victims. This will require the analysis of cybercrime forums and similar data at scale. Furthermore, the tools we develop are designed for an adversarial context. Adversaries include those known to individuals, such as interfamilial abuse, as well as targeted and indiscriminate attacks. The researcher will also undertake a rigorous threat analysis for each of the tools developed within the overall project.
The full details are available here.
Category Archives: Jobs
Assistant/Associate Professor in Security and Privacy
The Department of Computer Science and Technology is hiring six new faculty members, including an Assistant or Associate Professor in the area of Privacy and/or Security.
The Department is one of the world leaders in computer security, with outstanding historic contributions (such as the Needham-Schroeder protocol and the economics of computer security), as well as vibrant current research (the Cambridge Cybercrime Centre, CHERI processor architecture, and hardware tamper lab). Security is one of the ten core research themes in the department. We take a holistic and interdisciplinary view of the topic, so while we look in detail at many of the technical areas, we also work across traditional subject boundaries to tackle major challenges.
We are looking for someone who can demonstrate they are capable of world-class research which will complement existing expertise in the Department. Given the fast-moving nature of the field, evidence of breadth and flexibility in research is expected.
We aim to substantially broaden coverage of security-related research and teaching in the Department and we welcome applications relating to a wide range of security and privacy topics, including cryptography, cryptographic protocols and verification, distributed-systems security, malware analysis, forensics, machine learning, privacy, software security, computer hardware security, human factors, ledger technologies, and security economics.
The full details are available here.
Hiring for iCrime
A Research Assistant/Associate position is available at the Department of Computer Science and Technology to work on the ERC-funded Interdisciplinary Cybercrime Project (iCrime). We are looking to appoint a computer scientist to join an interdisciplinary team reporting to Dr Alice Hutchings.
iCrime incorporates expertise from criminology and computer science to research cybercrime offenders, their crime type, the place (such as online black markets), and the response. Within iCrime, we sustain robust data collection infrastructure to gather unique, high quality datasets, and design novel methodologies to identify and measure criminal infrastructure at scale. This is particularly important as cybercrime changes dynamically. Overall, our approach is evaluative, critical, and data driven.
Successful applicants will work in a team to collect and analyse data, develop tools, and write research outputs. Desirable technical skills include:
– Familiarity with automated data collection (web crawling and scraping) and techniques to sustain the complex data collection in adversarial environments at scale.
– Excellent software engineering skills, being familiar with Python, Bash scripting, and web development, particularly NodeJS and ReactJS.
– Experience in DevOps to integrate and migrate new tools within the existing ecosystem, and to automate data collection/transmission/backup pipelines.
– Working knowledge of Linux/Unix.
– Familiarity with large-scale databases, including relational databases and ElasticSearch.
– Practical knowledge of security and privacy to keep existing systems secure and protect against data leakage.
– Expertise in cybercrime research and data science/analysis is desirable, but not essential.
Please read the formal advertisement (at https://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/34324/) for the details about exactly who and what we’re looking for and how to apply — and please pay special attention to our request for a covering letter!
Hiring for iCrime
We are hiring two Research Assistants/Associates to work on the ERC-funded Interdisciplinary Cybercrime Project (iCrime). We are looking to appoint one computer scientist and one social scientist to work in an interdisciplinary team reporting to Dr Alice Hutchings.
iCrime incorporates expertise from criminology and computer science to research cybercrime offenders, their crime type, the place (such as online black markets), and the response. We will map out the pathways of cybercrime offenders and the steps and skills required to successfully undertake complex forms of cybercrime. We will analyse the social dynamics and economies surrounding cybercrime markets and forums. We will use our findings to inform crime prevention initiatives and use experimental designs to evaluate their effects.
Within iCrime, we will develop tools to identify and measure criminal infrastructure at scale. We will use and develop unique datasets and design novel methodologies. This is particularly important as cybercrime changes dynamically. Overall, our approach will be evaluative, critical, and data driven.
If you’re a computer scientist, please follow the link at: https://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/30100/
If you’re a social scientist, please follow the link at: https://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/30099/
Please read the formal advertisements for the details about exactly who and what we’re looking for and how to apply — and please pay special attention to our request for a covering letter!
10/06/21 Edited to add new links
Hiring for the Cambridge Cybercrime Centre (Sep 2020 version)
We have yet another “post-doc” position in the Cambridge Cybercrime Centre: https://www.cambridgecybercrime.uk (for the happy reason that Ben is leaving us to become a Lecturer in Digital Methods in Edinburgh).
Hence, once again, we are looking for an enthusiastic researcher to join us to work on our datasets of cybercrime activity, collecting new types of data, maintaining existing datasets and doing innovative research using our data. The person we appoint will define their own goals and objectives and pursue them independently, or as part of a team.
We are specifically interested in determining how cybercrime has changed in response the COVID-19 pandemic and our funding requires us to identify new trends, to collect (and share) relevant data, and to rapidly provide an analysis of what is happening, with the aim of assisting in optimising technical and policy responses. We are also expanding our data collection into examining the online activities of extremist groups — with a specific focus on pandemic related issues.
An ideal candidate would identify datasets that can be collected, build the collection systems and then do cutting edge research on this data – whilst encouraging other academics to take our data and make their own contributions to the field. However, we recognise that candidates may be from a technical background and hence stronger at the collecting side, or from a social science background and hence stronger on providing compelling insights into what our data reveals. Along with a CV we expect to see a covering letter which sets out what type of research might be done and the skills which will be brought to bear, along with an indication where help would need to be sought from colleagues in our interdisciplinary environment.
Please follow this link to the advert to read the formal advertisement for the details about exactly who and what we’re looking for and how to apply — and please pay special attention to our request for a covering letter.
Hiring for the Cambridge Cybercrime Centre
We have just advertised some short-term “post-doc” positions in the Cambridge Cybercrime Centre: https://www.cambridgecybercrime.uk.
We are specifically interested in extending our data collection to better record how cybercrime has changed in response the COVID-19 pandemic and we wish to mine our datasets in order to understand whether cybercrime has increased, decreased or displaced during 2020.
There are a lot of theories being proposed as to what may or may not have changed, often based on handfuls of anecdotes — we are looking for researchers who will help us provide data driven descriptions of what is (now) going on — which will feed into policy debates as to the future importance of cybercrime and how best to respond to it.
We are not necessarily looking for existing experience in researching cybercrime, although this would be a bonus. However, we are looking for strong programming skills — and experience with scripting languages and databases would be much preferred. Good knowledge of English and communication skills are important.
Since these posts are only guaranteed to be funded until the end of September, we will be shortlisting candidates for (online) interview as soon as possible (NOTE the application deadline is less than ONE WEEK AWAY) and will be giving preference to people who can take up a post without undue delay. The rapid timescale of the hiring process means that we will only be able to offer positions to candidates who already have permission to work in the UK (which, as a rough guide, means UK or EU citizens or those with existing appropriate visas).
We do not realistically expect to be permitted to return to our desks in the Computer Laboratory before the end of September, so it will be necessary for successful candidates to be able to successfully “work from home” … not necessarily within the UK.
Please follow this link to the advert to read the formal advertisement for the details about exactly who and what we’re looking for and how to apply.
Hiring for the Cambridge Cybercrime Centre
We have just re-advertised a “post-doc” position in the Cambridge Cybercrime Centre: https://www.cambridgecybercrime.uk. The vacancy arises because Daniel is off to become a Chancellor’s Fellow at Strathclyde), the re-advertisement is because of a technical flaw in the previous advertising process (which is now addressed).
We are looking for an enthusiastic researcher to join us to work on our datasets of cybercrime activity, collecting new types of data, maintaining existing datasets and doing innovative research using our data. The person we appoint will define their own goals and objectives and pursue them independently, or as part of a team.
An ideal candidate would identify cybercrime datasets that can be collected, build the collection systems and then do cutting edge research on this data — whilst encouraging other academics to take our data and make their own contributions to the field.
We are not necessarily looking for existing experience in researching cybercrime, although this would be a bonus. However, we are looking for strong programming skills — and experience with scripting languages and databases would be much preferred. Good knowledge of English and communication skills are important.
Please follow this link to the advert to read the formal advertisement for the details about exactly who and what we’re looking for and how to apply — and please pay attention to our request that in the covering letter you create as part of the application you should explain which particular aspects of cybercrime research are of particular interest to you.
Hiring for the Cambridge Cybercrime Centre
We have yet another “post-doc” position in the Cambridge Cybercrime Centre: https://www.cambridgecybercrime.uk (for the happy reason that Daniel is off to become a Chancellor’s Fellow at Strathclyde).
We are looking for an enthusiastic researcher to join us to work on our datasets of cybercrime activity, collecting new types of data, maintaining existing datasets and doing innovative research using our data. The person we appoint will define their own goals and objectives and pursue them independently, or as part of a team.
An ideal candidate would identify cybercrime datasets that can be collected, build the collection systems and then do cutting edge research on this data — whilst encouraging other academics to take our data and make their own contributions to the field.
We are not necessarily looking for existing experience in researching cybercrime, although this would be a bonus. However, we are looking for strong programming skills — and experience with scripting languages and databases would be much preferred. Good knowledge of English and communication skills are important.
Please follow this link to the advert to read the formal advertisement for the details about exactly who and what we’re looking for and how to apply — and please pay attention to our request that in the covering letter you create as part of the application you should explain which particular aspects of cybercrime research are of particular interest to you.
PhD studentship in side-channel security
I can offer a 3.5-year PhD studentship on radio-frequency side-channel security, starting in October 2019, to applicants interested in hardware security, radio communication, and digital signal processing. Due to the funding source, this studentship is restricted to UK nationals, or applicants who have been resident in the UK for the past 10 years. Contact me for details.
Hiring for the Cambridge Cybercrime Centre (again!)
As recently posted, we currently advertising a post (details here) where “we expect that the best candidate will be someone from a sociology or criminology background who already has some experience analysing large datasets relating to cybercrime” — and now we have a second post for someone with a more technical background.
We seek an enthusiastic researcher to join us in collecting new types of cybercrime data, maintaining existing datasets and doing innovative research using our data. The person we appoint will define their own goals and objectives and pursue them independently, or as part of a team.
An ideal candidate would identify cybercrime datasets that can be collected, build the collection systems and then do cutting edge research on this data – whilst encouraging other academics to take our data and make their own contributions to the field.
We are not necessarily looking for existing experience in researching cybercrime, although this would be a bonus as would a solid technical background in networking and/or malware analysis. We do seek a candidate with strong programming skills — and experience with scripting languages and databases would be much preferred. Good knowledge of English and communication skills are important.
Details of this second post, and what we’re looking for are in the job advert here: http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/19543/.