RMIT graduate strengthens cybersecurity in online learning environments

Tiếng Việt

RMIT graduate strengthens cybersecurity in online learning environments

A fresh RMIT software engineering graduate left his mark at a conference organised by the world’s largest technical professional organisation IEEE, through an application within a research paper.

RMIT Bachelor of Engineering (Software Engineering) (Honours) graduate Le Gia Bao (pictured left) and his lecturer Dr Duy Dang-Pham.

RMIT Bachelor of Engineering (Software Engineering) (Honours) graduate Le Gia Bao designed and built network analytics for a paper developed by a team of researchers at RMIT University in Vietnam, entitled Network Analytics for Improving Students’ Cybersecurity Awareness in Learning Systems.

Research team member Dr Duy Dang-Pham said that while “many universities have been widely delivering courses via online learning systems that rely on the internet in their execution, such systems rarely focus on cybersecurity issues”.

Also a lecturer, and Senior Program Manager of the Bachelor of Information Technology and Bachelor of Engineering (Software Engineering) at RMIT University, Dr Duy identified the main issue of student cybersecurity awareness, which includes internal threats, false identity authentication, and personal data leakage.

“Bao helped propose the network analytics approach to disseminate cybersecurity knowledge, by identifying the influential students from social networks of online interactions in the online learning systems.”

Dr Duy first recognised Bao’s advanced programming skills in his final year project, that led to his contributions for this research project.

“I was impressed by [Bao’s] project which involved designing and developing a web-based information system for managing human resources by using machine learning and data analytics techniques,” Dr Duy said. “I encouraged Bao to develop it further for our team’s proposed research paper.”

Bao was grateful for the opportunity to become part of a research team with his lecturers and senior fellow.

“My job was to develop a web application that draws an interactive network diagram through nodes and links,” he said.

There were difficulties while building the application that Bao took as a great chance to step out of his comfort zone, and use as a stepping stone for his career path.

“Choosing the most suitable technology application in the beginning was very challenging,” he said. “As I had never experienced it before, I had to go through various technologies to identify their pros and cons.

“The design and implementation phases were the most difficult challenges I had to overcome.”

Currently working at NetCompany Vietnam, Bao is enriching his portfolio and experiences before seeking more opportunities to pursue an academic pathway.

The research paper also involved others from RMIT University in Vietnam including the Dean of the School of Business & Management Professor Mathews Nkhoma, the School of Business & Management Lecturer Dr Hoang Ai Phuong and PhD candidate Hoang Thi Bao Minh. The paper was accepted for publication in the proceedings of the 2020 RIVF International Conference on Computing and Communication Technologies.

Story: Ha Hoang

Media Release

18 September 2020