La Trobe University > Research > Research centres and institutes > Centre for Technology Infusion > Research > Asian Smart Cities Research Innovation Network > Research themes > Security and safety

Security and safety

Smart cities technologies are growing rapidly and the dollar value of this growth means there is a lot at stake.

The inter-connectivity across virtual and physical infrastructure that makes a smart city work are also vulnerable to significant cyber security risks which could result in crippling a city and even cause death.

This theme will examine the many cyber threats and how to protect critical infrastructure such as electricity and water supply from cyber threats. It will also look at how to ensure the integrity and confidentiality of data is protected.

Active threat detection and prevention of cyber threats is essential to developing and monitoring smart cities.

Research

We are eager to work with people and organisations on research that fits this theme. Some possible research examples might be:

is human privacy protected in a smart cities environment?
is data integrity mature for a smart environment?
how can cyber threats mitigate in smart cities?
are current technologies and algorithms enough to secure the Internet of Things (IoT) environment?
can cyber resilience protect smart cities from cyber-attack?

If you have an idea for research and want to be a part of our network, contact us with your ideas.

Engagement

We are able to undertake work for organisations and governments. Talk to us about how we can help you. Some examples include:

analysis of data and provision of reports to advise on data confidentiality, integrity and availability in smart networks
feasibility studies – for example, IoT communication security
economic modelling – for example, cryptography for smart networks

Externally Funded Projects

Operationalising ethical frameworks in critical tech industries

This project intends to provide Australian and Indian businesses with improved ethical policy and practice when outsourcing their technology to Indian providers. It will do this by improving the understanding of how they translate being signatories of Ethical Codes to their actual practice. Moreover, the project will analyse the emotions and views of stakeholders expressed in social media on the ethical issues found to be important in business surveys. In doing so, the project intends to advance the body of knowledge in artificial intelligence (AI) and cyber and critical technology, ethics and sustainability and risk by bringing together disciplines in business management and ethics, computer science and engineering, and AI and business analytics.

The outcomes expected include recommendations as to revised codes and practices of ethics and a framework using AI and advanced analytics to review ethical practices of companies.

Project Team:

Professor Suzanne Young (La Trobe University) - Project Leader
Professor Naveen Chilamkurti (La Trobe University)
Professor Damminda Alahakoon (La Trobe University)
Professor Murali Prasad Panta (IIT Kanpur)
Professor Praveen Kulshreshtha (IIT Kanpur)
Dr Sameer G Kulkarni (IIT Gandhinagar)

Together, they bring expertise in corporate governance, ethics and human behaviour, cyber threats and social engineering, and the use of predictive data for industry.

This project has been funded through the first round of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade - Australia-India Cyber and Critical Technology Partnership program

Current research projects

Intelligent planning of Prosumer Microgrid (PMG) Load Management in Smart Cities for Optimal Energy Consumption

This project aims to reduce the costs of energy consumption through intelligent monitoring of the loads and generations of the Prosumer Microgrid (PMG). When prosumers along with Net Zero Buildings (NZB) participate in energy bidding process, energy cost minimisation in PMG can be achieved.

Investigators:

Associate Professor Abdun Mahmood (La Trobe University)
Professor Naveen Chilamkurti (La Trobe University)
Associate Professor Alivelu Manga Parimi (BITS Pilani)
Professor Hitesh Dutt Mathur (BITS Pilani)

PhD candidate:

Mr Aishvaria Gorityala

Project ID: 18-EOI-BITSP

Smart Healthcare: Techno-Economic Aspects of Digitalization of Secure Healthcare Services in India and Australia

This project will explore how to secure Electronic Health Records (EHR) and protect against data breaches and human error, to ensure data recorded is truthful and transparent. The project will firstly categorize malicious, known and unknown patterns in the data breaches, automatically discover the contextual information to be used for classification, and use them for modelling dynamic security policies. The second part will be 'an ethical model' considering the human and economic dimensions together.

Investigators:

Dr ASM Kayes (La Trobe University)
Professor Wenny Rahayu (La Trobe University)
Associate Professor Naveen Chilamkurti (La Trobe University)
Professor Murali Prasad Panta (IIT Kanpur)
Professor Praveen Kulshreshtha (IIT Kanpur)

Project ID: 24-EOI-IITK

Security of biometric authentication in the IoT

This project will develop secure biometric authentication systems using deep learning techniques to counter biometric-related threats in the IoT environment.

With template protection, the biometric authentication systems designed need to show strong security and good recognition performance.

Investigators:

Dr Song Wang (La Trobe University)
Associate Professor Ashutosh Bhatia (BITS Pilani)

PhD candidate:

Laxmi Chhibbar

Project ID: 25-EOI-BITSP

Future of India-Australia Agribusiness Trade in an Era of Reglobalization: A Supply Chain Management Perspective

This research aims to explore how supply chain collaboration among groups of importers and/or exporters can successfully reduce production/logistical costs along with work for new trade agreements. We will combine national input output data along with trade statistics to identify the global value chains in various sectors and decipher value added in bilateral trade flows. The study will generate innovative supply chain solutions and promote collaboration among multiple clusters of Indian and Australian exporters and importers, with special focus on micro, small and medium enterprises and low-income consumers.