Return to Portfolio Dr. Ashish Nanda — Executive CV

Dr. Ashish Nanda

Principal Cybersecurity Architect & R&D Leader  |  Critical Infrastructure Advisor
Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Email: me@drashishnanda.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dr-ashish-nanda/ ORCID: 0000-0002-6837-7272
$1.5M+
R&D Funding
4
Patents Filed
25+
Publications
15+ Yr
Cybersecurity
5,500+
Students Taught
Executive Summary

Highly accomplished Principal Cybersecurity Architect, R&D Strategist, and Critical Infrastructure Advisor with a Ph.D. in Computer Systems. Recognised by the Australian Government as a Distinguished Global Talent, specialising in translating advanced theoretical security models (Post-Quantum Cryptography, AI Governance & Safety, IoT Systems, Decentralised Identity) into sovereign-grade, applied enterprise solutions. Proven track record securing and directing over $1.5 Million in competitive R&D grants (including AEA Ignite, CyberCRC, and Asian Development Bank schemes), holding multiple patents in Generative AI governance, cyber risk quantification, and continuous authentication architectures, with deep expertise leading elite cross-functional engineering teams from concept to live deployment.

Core Competencies & Technical Capabilities
Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning:

AI Governance, Model Training & Alignment, Generative AI Prompt Attribution, Reverse Prompting, Deepfake Mitigation, LLM Automation.

Applied Quantum Computing:

Quantum Cyber Defence Engines (QCDE), IBM 156-Qubit Hardware Execution, Quantum One-Class SVMs, QAOA Hamiltonians, Quantum Reinforcement Learning.

Cybersecurity & Cryptography:

Zero-Trust Security, Post-Quantum Cryptography (BIKE KEM), Verifiable Credential Digital Wallets (W3C/ZKP), FIDO2/WebAuthn, NIST SP 800-63A Identity Proofing.

Systems, Networks & Identity:

IPv6 Geo-Location Oriented Routing (GLOR), Wireless Mesh Networks, 3-layer Database-Blockchain (DBC) Architectures, CNII Assessment, Ambient Intelligence (RAAISE).

AI & Quantum Tools: Qiskit Quantum SDK, PennyLane QML, Google Gemini, Claude, GPT-4, Google Antigravity, OpenCV Vision
Security & Standards: FIDO2, WebAuthn, W3C DIDs, Zero-Knowledge Proofs, NIST SP 800-63A, IDS/IPS, Metasploit, CEHE Methodology
Coding & Systems: Python, C, C++, C#, Java, Shell Scripting, PHP, ASP.NET, Ubuntu Linux, Kali Linux, UNIX, Windows OS
Hardware & IoT: Arduino, Raspberry Pi, RF Mesh Telemetry, ToF Sensors, UHF RFID, NFC Systems, MQTT Gateways
Career Journey & Professional Experience
Research Fellow — Deakin University, Australia Nov 2019 – May 2026
Deakin Cyber, CREST, CSRI, and Deakin Blockchain Innovation Lab (DBIL)
  • Lead complex multi-year grant-funded R&D projects bridging advanced academic theory and enterprise cyber defence in collaboration with CyberCRC and Tata Consultancy Services.
  • Engineered the Quantum Cyber Defence Engine (QCDE) combining variational quantum circuits, game-theoretic response models, and quantum reinforcement learning (QRL).
  • Architected privacy-respecting Verifiable Credential Digital Wallets (VCDW) utilizing Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) for ISO/IEC DIS 27551 Unlinkability Level 5 compliance.
  • Designed and deployed the RAAISE Continuous Authentication Platform testbed across 17 security zones utilizing ambient multi-sensor fusion.
Principal Research Strategist — TNK (TNK2 PTY LTD), Australia Nov 2024 – Present
Corporate R&D Strategy & Patent Commercialisation
  • Direct corporate R&D strategy and advise company leadership on emerging threat landscapes, architectural resilience, and enterprise commercialisation.
  • Authored invention disclosures and filed standard and provisional Australian patents covering AI prompt governance and behavioral individual cyber risk quantification.
Research Fellow — Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre (CyberCRC), Australia Aug 2021 – Nov 2024
National Cybersecurity Initiatives
  • Directed high-stakes national authentication initiatives, bridging national security needs, academic research, and commercial security product requirements.
  • Conducted national studies on usable security features and user perceptions of Physical Authentication Devices (PADs) published in IEEE and Elsevier.
Founder & Principal Advisor — CyberSherpa, Australia Oct 2022 – Present
  • Provide board-level strategic cybersecurity advisory, regulatory compliance (MFA, DMARC, Essential Eight), and incident readiness assessments.
  • Advise start-ups, scale-ups, and corporate leadership on academic-corporate technology transfer and secure enterprise architecture.
Lecturer & Academic Instructor — University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Australia Mar 2016 – Nov 2019
  • Co-architected the Master of Cybersecurity curriculum, established enterprise lab environments featuring Juniper SRX firewalls, and coordinated technical facilities for IEEE TrustCom 2017.
Academic Instructor — Asia Pacific International College (APIC), Australia (Mar 2017 – Nov 2018)
Co-Founder & R&D Director — AExIC, India (Feb 2014 – Mar 2015)
Software Engineering Intern — National Informatics Centre (NIC, Govt. of India), India (2012, 2013)
Software Engineering Intern — State Trading Corporation of India (STC), India (2011)
Education & Academic Qualifications
Postgraduate Degree
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Computer Systems
University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Australia | 2015 – 2018
• Thesis: Adaptive Secure Network Model for Dynamic Wireless Mesh Networks.
• Focus: Cryptography, Key Management (MPARK), Secure Routing Protocols.
• Honours: Accelerated upgrade based on outstanding research output.
Undergraduate Degree
Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech.) in Computer Science & Engineering
Amity University, India | 2010 – 2014
• Thesis: ZAUBER – Advanced Hand Gesture Recognition System.
• Focus: Human-Computer Interaction, Machine Learning, Computer Vision.
• Honours: Graduated with Distinction.
Key Research Grants & Major Projects
Cybersecurity Strategy, Infrastructure, and Capacity Assessments for Sri Lanka CERT $221,571 AUD (2026)
Role: Project Co-Lead  |  Funding: Asian Development Bank (ADB)  |  Partners: Asian Development Bank (ADB) / Government of Sri Lanka
Core Task: Leading a comprehensive 12-task national cybersecurity assessment for Sri Lanka CERT under ADB's digital transformation initiative. Oversees national readiness benchmarking (SIM3 & Oxford CMM), cyber threat landscape mapping, capacity reviews for Digital Forensics Labs and National SOC (NCSOC Phase 2 SIEM/SOAR expansion), National Certificate Authority (CA) upgrades, centralized phishing prevention, and security architectures for Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI, SLUID, NDX).
Impact: Directly informs the design and technical specification formulations for the ADB's multi-million dollar Advancing Digital Transformation Project. Delivers procurement-ready technical specification packages, Bills of Quantities (BoQs), sectoral CSIRT roadmaps (Education & Health), and the updated National Cybersecurity Strategy, Action Plan, and M&E Framework to secure critical public digital infrastructure.
Identification and Assessment of Critical National Information Infrastructure in Sri Lanka $73,828 AUD (2026)
Role: Project Co-Lead  |  Funding: Asian Development Bank (ADB)  |  Partners: Asian Development Bank (ADB) / Government of Sri Lanka
Core Task: Architecting and operationalising Sri Lanka's national framework for the identification, classification, assessment, and protection of Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII) under ADB sponsorship. Formulates a legally defensible methodology evaluating economic impact, social well-being, national security implications, system interdependencies, and cascading failure risks across essential sectors (finance, energy, telecom, healthcare, transportation, defense, and public utilities).
Impact: Delivers a validated National CNII Identification Framework, standardized CNII Inventory & Assessment Register, and an actionable National CNII Protection & Operational Toolkit. Directly informs ADB's multi-million dollar Advancing Digital Transformation Project to establish robust cyber resilience, regulatory oversight, and disaster continuity for Sri Lanka's mission-critical national digital assets.
Quantum Automation for Cyber Defence $479,960 AUD (2025 - 2026)
Role: Project Lead  |  Funding: AEA Ignite Scheme  |  Partners: Australia’s Economic Accelerator (AEA), Department of Education / Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) / Deakin Cyber Research and Innovation Centre, Deakin University
Core Task: Pioneered the Quantum Cyber Defence Engine (QCDE), executing a TRL 3 to TRL 5 maturation of hybrid quantum-classical security frameworks. Led the architecture across three core defensive pillars: (1) Identity & Access Management (IAM) leveraging QAOA cost Hamiltonians to optimise Digital Credential Wallet unlinkability, (2) Intrusion Detection (IDS) deploying a Quantum One-Class SVM to detect Living-off-the-Land (LOTL) attacks with zero false alarms, and (3) Intrusion Prevention (IPS) mapping attack graphs to Minimum Weighted Vertex Cover (MWVC) problems to block lateral network movement.
Impact: Successfully executed quantum algorithms on physical 156-qubit quantum hardware (IBM_FEZ QPU) and containerised AMD EPYC server stacks. Achieved a 0.0% false alarm rate in LOTL attack detection (compared to 25.2% in classical SVM baselines) with a 7.9x reduction in training data, while delivering microsecond-scale quantum lateral movement disruption that bypasses the exponential constraint failures of classical solvers (IBM CPLEX).
Privacy-Respecting Digital Credential Wallet $325,000 AUD (2023 - 2024)
Role: Project Lead  |  Funding: Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre (CyberCRC)  |  Partners: Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre (CyberCRC) / Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) / Deakin Cyber Research and Innovation Centre (Deakin Cyber), Deakin University / Applied Artificial Intelligence Institute (A2I2), Deakin University
Core Task: Led the technical development and design of the PRCDCAT Privacy-Enhanced Digital Credential Wallet (VCDW) MVP. Engineered Recommendation Engine v2.3, integrating entropy-based Privacy Scores, Jaccard-weighted Diversity Scores, and composite Trust Scores to select optimal credential subsets. Mitigated credential aggregation and user tracking risks across service providers to achieve ISO/IEC DIS 27551 Unlinkability Level 5 (UL5) protection.
Impact: Delivered a production-grade cross-platform mobile wallet (Flutter) and administrative dashboard (React/Node.js/MongoDB) evaluated across 100,000 simulated transactions. Proved that recommendation-driven credential selection maintains composite Trust Scores above 60 (vs. <50 for random selection), eliminating single-credential overexposure, preventing cross-session user profiling, and achieving strict compliance with GDPR, PSD2, and ISO/IEC 27551 standards.
Robust Authentication using Ambient Intelligence (RAAISE) $553,012 AUD (2022 - 2024)
Role: Project Lead  |  Funding: Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre (CyberCRC)  |  Partners: Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre (CyberCRC) / Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) / CSIRO's Data 61 / University of New South Wales (UNSW) / Deakin Cyber Research and Innovation Centre (Deakin Cyber), Deakin University / Deakin Applied Artificial Intelligence Initiative (A2I2), Deakin University
Core Task: Led the architectural design, testbed deployment, and functional prototype demonstration of the RAAISE Continuous Authentication Platform (CAP) across a 17-zone smart facility. Engineered the 3-tier Ambient Intelligence Engine (AIE) and 10 core analytical modules, integrating multi-sensor fusion (NFC, UHF RFID, ToF motion imagers, biometrics, WiPS) with physical constraint matrices, Markov chain movement prediction, and time-decay confidence algorithms.
Impact: Demonstrated a production-grade continuous, zero-trust access control testbed on Deakin's Burwood campus. Automated real-time conflict detection and resolution for active physical security threats (including tailgating, credential theft, and unauthorized area access) while eliminating passive session hijacking and user authentication friction without requiring repeated manual re-authentication.
Deakin Cyber Lab HPC Supercomputer $49,955 AUD (2025)
Role: Procurement Lead  |  Funding: Deakin Minor Equipment Scheme  |  Partners: Deakin Cyber Research and Innovation Centre (Deakin Cyber), Deakin University
Core Task: Steered the configuration and cluster setup of an HPE enterprise GPU server system.
Impact: Provides high-performance computing power to run and validate large-scale Generative AI models and cryptographic simulations.
Usable Security & Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) Adoption $100,000 AUD (2021 - 2022)
Role: Project Co-Lead  |  Funding: CyberCRC & Deakin CSRI  |  Partners: Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre (CyberCRC) / Deakin Centre for Cyber Security Research and Innovation (CSRI), Deakin University / Industry Collaborators (Yubico, Kensington, Feitian, AuthenTrend)
Core Task: Led a multi-phase national study investigating the usable security of Physical Authentication Devices (PADs) across 16 demographic segments in collaboration with authentication device manufacturers. Co-designed Phase-1 quantitative survey (410 participants) evaluating 10 usable security dimensions (Simplicity, Time, Info & Support, Affordability, Compatibility, Error Management, GUI, Transparency, Perception, Interference) and Phase-2 2-week longitudinal case study (23 participants) deploying commercial FIDO2/WebAuthn keys (YubiKey 5C, Kensington VeriMark Guard, Feitian MultiPass K13, AuthenTrend ATKey). Coded qualitative transcripts using NVIVO 12 against UTAUT constructs.
Impact: Published flagship research in IEEE Transactions on Human-Machine Systems and Elsevier Computers & Security (2024). Disproved industry assumptions by demonstrating that brand perception and price are NOT primary adoption barriers; instead, setup guidance, error management, and form-factor ergonomics dictate retention. Formulated empirical deployment guidelines to assist enterprise IT departments in overcoming the 10% PAD adoption bottleneck.
Advancements in Remote Identity Proofing (RiDP) & Deepfake Mitigation Applied Research (2021 - 2022)
Role: Project Lead  |  Funding: CyberCRC & Deakin CSRI  |  Partners: Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre (CyberCRC) / Deakin Centre for Cyber Security Research Innovation (CSRI), Deakin University
Core Task: Architected the evolution of Remote Identity Proofing (RIDP) from pre-Generative AI multimodal artifact detection to a Post-Artifact Identity Assurance Framework. Evaluated NIST SP 800-63A (IAL3) and ISO/IEC 29003 requirements under high-fidelity synthetic human threats (diffusion video models, real-time facial reenactment, voice cloning, camera driver injection). Engineered a post-artifact paradigm shifting trust from visual/audio media inspection to cryptographic device attestation, temporal identity continuity, and multi-device corroboration.
Impact: Published landmark research in IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine (2023) and 'Identity Verification in the AI Era' (2024/2025). Proved that human inspection and AI deepfake detectors are fundamentally unreliable against diffusion-synthesised humans, delivering the industry's first Post-Artifact RIDP Framework that decouples digital identity assurance from media realism to secure high-risk bank onboarding, healthcare, and e-Governance systems.
GPU Distributed Ledger Validation Servers $25,000 AUD (2020)
Role: Procurement Lead  |  Funding: Deakin Minor Equipment Scheme  |  Partners: Deakin Blockchain Innovation Lab (DBIL), Deakin University
Core Task: Deployment of high-performance GPU nodes to benchmark decentralised ledger scalability and security.
Impact: Enabled high-fidelity testing of secure, high-throughput smart contracts and decentralised key exchange protocols.
Blockchain Integrated Database for Supply Chain Financing Applied Research (2020 - 2021)
Role: Project Lead  |  Funding: Deakin Blockchain Lab  |  Partners: Deakin Blockchain Innovation Lab (DBIL), Deakin University / Industry Partners
Core Task: Architected and developed the 3-layer Database Blockchain (DBC) Framework to eliminate structural vulnerabilities in traditional Supply Chain Finance (SCF) platforms (such as opaque buyer defaults, risk mis-evaluations, and regulatory blind spots demonstrated in the Greensill Capital collapse). Engineered an Access Layer managing level-based RBAC, a Blockchain Layer converting database state changes into immutable ledger transactions, and a Database Compiler building access-controlled local database replicas.
Impact: Delivered a functional Proof of Concept (PoC) uniting suppliers, buyers, financial institutions, investors, shipping/warehousing operators, and regulatory authorities onto a single transparent ledger. Eliminated buyer default ambiguity and invoice fraud, provided real-time trade auditability for regulators, and reduced processing fees via native cryptocurrency settlement mechanisms.
Enhancing Blockchain Technology for Advanced Data Management Applied Research (2019 - 2020)
Role: Project Lead  |  Funding: Deakin Blockchain Lab  |  Partners: Deakin Blockchain Innovation Lab (DBIL), Deakin University / Industry Partners
Core Task: Designed and evaluated an Adaptive Information Search Architecture for blockchain-enabled systems to solve the exponential search latency and bandwidth bottlenecks of large-scale decentralized ledgers. Engineered a pre-processing Metadata Extraction Gateway, automatic keyword ranking algorithms, and extended Block Header metadata structures to enable high-speed multi-keyword filtering without third-party indexing services.
Impact: Empirically benchmarked across 16,000 blocks containing mixed documents. Achieved a 93.1% search response time reduction and a 98.7% download bandwidth load reduction (cutting client query downloads from ~480 MB to ~6 MB) with a negligible 0.65% total blockchain storage overhead.
Adaptive Secure Network Model for Dynamic Wireless Mesh Networks (PhD Thesis) PhD Research (2015 - 2018)
Role: Primary Researcher  |  Funding: UTS Postgraduate Scheme  |  Partners: University of Technology Sydney (UTS)
Core Task: Architected and authored a doctoral dissertation introducing an Adaptive Secure Network Model for dynamic, infrastructure-less Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs). Designed the Geo-Location Oriented Routing (GLOR & Secure-GLOR) protocol utilizing a reverse network model where nodes compute their own IPv6-mapped GPS coordinates (10m accuracy) and self-route Smart Packets via vector geometry without central controllers. Engineered a multi-level security framework combining 3-scenario hybrid authentication, hybrid encryption, and the MPARK key distribution scheme.
Impact: Earned Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Systems from UTS (2018). Published 5 peer-reviewed papers including ERA Tier-A FGCS journal (IF 4.639) and HICSS-51 / IEEE TrustCom-17 conferences. Validated via 72-node simulations achieving 93.1% routing acceleration, 11% CPU / 5MB RAM node footprint, and complete resilience against MITM, Sinkhole, Black Hole, and DoS attacks in disaster recovery and off-grid tactical deployments.
Race Track Management and Event Telemetry Automation Commercial Project (2014 - 2015)
Role: Project Lead  |  Funding: Incarnation Sports Scheme  |  Partners: Adroit Explorer Innovation Chamber (AExIC) / Incarnation Sports
Core Task: Designed and implemented an integrated hardware and software telemetry framework to automate real-time tracking, timing, and management of car racing events for Incarnation Sports. Deployed an interconnected network of trackside sensing units and vehicle transponders to replace legacy manual stopwatch timing with automated multi-vehicle data capture.
Impact: Revolutionised motorsport event operations for Incarnation Sports by capturing real-time vehicle positioning and performance telemetry over a fault-tolerant wireless mesh network. Eliminated human timing errors, accelerated official score generation to real-time, and established a scalable blueprint for automated sports telemetry.
Advanced Hostel Management Portal for Amity University University Project (2014)
Role: Project Lead  |  Funding: Amity University Gurgaon  |  Partners: Adroit Explorer Innovation Chamber (AExIC) / Amity University Gurgaon
Core Task: Designed and delivered a comprehensive intranet web portal to modernise administrative workflows and elevate student engagement across Amity University Gurgaon's residential hostel system. Engineered an automated complaint registration pipeline with enforced SLA resolution timers, centralized notice broadcasts, and secure multi-tier administrative dashboards.
Impact: Modernised the residential life experience for thousands of students at Amity University Gurgaon. Replaced paper-based complaint tracking with an automated intranet system featuring guaranteed SLA follow-up times, streamlined information exchange between residents and university administration, and significantly improved operational efficiency.
ZAUBER: Advanced Hand Gesture Recognition for Intuitive User Interfaces B.Tech Thesis Research (2014)
Role: Project Co-Lead  |  Funding: Amity University Gurgaon  |  Partners: Amity University Gurgaon
Core Task: Designed and developed ZAUBER—an advanced computer vision hand gesture recognition system—as part of a B.Tech Honours research thesis at Amity University Gurgaon. Engineered real-time image processing pipelines to interpret complex hand gestures via standard webcam feeds, establishing an intuitive Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) interface to bypass traditional keyboard and mouse inputs.
Impact: Published research in Cognition-2015. Successfully demonstrated real-time gesture recognition over dynamic backgrounds and varied lighting conditions, creating an intuitive touchless interface for operating system command execution and showcasing the future of contactless HCI.
GUI-Based Standardised Templates for Enhanced Online Data Entry e-Governance Project (2013)
Role: Principal Developer  |  Funding: National Informatics Centre  |  Partners: National Informatics Centre (NIC, Govt. of India)
Core Task: Designed and developed a suite of standardized Graphical User Interface (GUI) modules and online form templates for the National Informatics Centre (NIC), Department of Electronics and IT, Government of India. Engineered dynamic web forms compliant with national 'Metadata and Data Standards - Demographic Version 1.1' to secure citizen data entry across e-Governance portals.
Impact: Streamlined citizen-to-government online interactions across official Indian e-Governance services. Enhanced data entry accuracy, eliminated invalid submission formats, and enforced strict security and accessibility compliance without degrading user experience.
Secure Geographical Data Portal for National Informatics Centre e-Governance Project (2012)
Role: Principal Developer  |  Funding: National Informatics Centre  |  Partners: National Informatics Centre (NIC, Govt. of India)
Core Task: Designed and deployed a high-security online portal and database segregation system for the National Informatics Centre (NIC), Department of Electronics and IT, Government of India. Engineered a partitioned data architecture capable of hosting and serving nearly 1,000,000 geographical constituency records across India via a secure web interface.
Impact: Deploys nationwide e-Governance infrastructure accessible via www.egovstandards.gov.in. Secured public access to nearly 1 million critical constituency records, enhancing transparency, data retrieval performance, and operational efficiency across government agencies and public digital services.
Next-Generation Secure Payroll Automation System Enterprise Project (2011)
Role: Principal Developer  |  Funding: State Trading Corp of India  |  Partners: The State Trading Corporation of India Limited (STC, Govt. of India)
Core Task: Designed and developed an automated Secure Payroll Generation System for The State Trading Corporation of India Limited (STC, Govt. of India). Engineered an enterprise pipeline transitioning manual paper-based payroll into an automated workflow managing monthly salary computations, statutory reporting, and encrypted inter-bank data transfers.
Impact: Deployed across STC's national corporate headquarters and 10+ major regional branch offices nationwide, achieving a 99.99% bank transfer accuracy rate. Eliminated monthly manual calculation delays, secured sensitive employee salary data, and established an enterprise payroll architecture that remains operational in modified form today.
Teaching & Academic Leadership
Over a decade of academic instruction, course development, and engineering project supervision across Australian universities (UTS, APIC, CITI, SIHE). Taught 5,500+ students with a 5.0 / 5.0 perfect student satisfaction evaluation in cybersecurity.
32548/48730: Cyber Security Essentials (UTS): Focuses on learning network attacks and defences, web security, firewalls, intrusion detection systems (IDS), along with security services such as confidentiality, integrity, authentication, and core protocols including IPsec, SSL, PGP, and S/MIME.
65326: Digital and Cyber Crime (UTS): Examines activities constituting cybercrime, cybercriminal motivations, applicable legislative frameworks, issues facing law enforcement, practical investigation steps, digital forensics principles, and investigation procedures.
41900: Security Fundamentals / Cryptography (UTS): Introduces current security issues and technologies across security principles, policies, network and system security, intrusion detection systems, and practical cryptography.
32548/48730: Network Security (UTS): Consolidates network security principles, methodologies, and technologies from a technical and management perspective. Covers network-based attack techniques and defences using industry-standard tools.
32309/48436: Digital Forensics (UTS): Covers digital crime assessment, acquiring digital evidence, analyzing evidence, preparing forensic reports, digital storage device forensics, eDiscovery, and intrusion investigations.
31274/32528: Network Management (UTS): Explains network management systems and roles across fault management, performance management, configuration management, security management, and accounting management.
31251: Data Structures and Algorithms (UTS): Covers the design, development, and evaluation of data structures and algorithms, focusing on quality characteristics including functionality suitability and usability.
SBM4102: Data and Information Management (APIC): Covers database systems, data modelling, SQL query structures, and the administration and protection of enterprise data assets.
SBM4101: Foundation of Information Systems (APIC): Introduces the strategic role of IT/IS in modern enterprises, hardware/software infrastructures, and organisational digital transformations.
SBM4104: IT Infrastructure (APIC): Explores hardware configurations, operating systems, local and wide-area networks, routing architectures, and data centers.
SBM4103: Introduction to Programming (APIC): Teaches fundamental programming constructs, algorithmic design, software logic, and basic object-oriented programming concepts.
SBM4201: Systems Analysis and Design (APIC): Covers software development lifecycles (SDLC), user requirements gathering, UML diagrams, system design modelling, and testing.
SBM1103: Project and Programme Information & Communication Systems (APIC): Focuses on IT project management frameworks, PMBOK methodologies, scheduling, risk analysis, and collaboration tools.
SBM4202: IS Strategy, Management and Acquisition (APIC): Explores strategic IT alignment, technology procurement, outsourcing models, cloud acquisition strategies, and vendor management.
SBM4203: Management Information Systems (APIC): Addresses executive decision support systems, BI/Analytics, enterprise databases, and knowledge management systems.
SBM4302: IT Audit and Controls (APIC): Details system auditing procedures, regulatory compliance, risk management, and the control frameworks (COBIT/ISO) for enterprise IT.
SBM4303: Enterprise Architecture (APIC): Covers business process mapping, alignment of IT services, and framework blueprints (TOGAF/Zachman) for large-scale organisations.
SBM3203: Strategic Planning (APIC): Undergraduate/Postgraduate unit covering strategic analysis, strategy formulation, execution frameworks, change management, and alignment with organisational goals.
MIT511: Network Security (CITI): Postgraduate curriculum detailing network security architecture, network virtualisation defences, firewall implementations, intrusion prevention systems, secure VPN tunnels, and wireless infrastructure security.
MIT512: Cryptography and Secure Communications (CITI): Postgraduate course designing advanced cryptographic theories: symmetric and asymmetric encryption models, hashing algorithms, digital signatures, public key infrastructure (PKI), and secure session negotiations.
MIT513: Ethical Hacking and Penetration Testing (CITI): Postgraduate unit structured around red-teaming fundamentals: footprinting, vulnerability scanning, network hacking, web application exploits, buffer overflows, and defensive remediation practices.
MIT514: Cybersecurity Risk Management (CITI): Postgraduate unit aligning corporate strategies with security: risk identification models, qualitative and quantitative risk analysis, asset validation, ISO 27001 / NIST SP 800-30 frameworks, and disaster recovery planning.
BIT306: Network & IoT Security (SIHE): Undergraduate curriculum covering foundational routing/switching defences, port security, threat modelling for Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystems, and secure gateway configurations.
BIT308: Data Security & Privacy (SIHE): Undergraduate unit covering basic database encryption, access control frameworks, hashing techniques, and alignment with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).
BIT340: Cybersecurity Governance, Risk and Compliance (SIHE): Undergraduate course outlining security management frameworks (ISO 27001, COBIT, NIST), legislative requirements, IT compliance mapping, and auditing principles.
MIT655: Data Security & Privacy (SIHE): Postgraduate curriculum engineering advanced data protection: zero-trust data access, homomorphic encryption concepts, cloud database partitioning, anonymisation models, and global compliance (GDPR/APPs).
Publications & Intellectual Property (Patents, Journals & Conferences)
Patents (4 Filed):
  • [2025] "Behavioural Assessment for Individual Cyber Risk Quantification" - Australian Standard Patent, Application 2025 (TNK2).
  • [2025] "System and Method for Prompt Extraction, Prompt Analysis, Risk Assessment, and Governance in Generative Artificial Intelligence" - Australian Provisional Patent, Application 2025 (TNK2).
  • [2024] "Digital credential wallet" - Australian Provisional Patent, Application 2024 (Deakin & TCS).
  • [2024] "Continuous Authentication" - Australian Provisional Patent, Application 2024.
Books & Peer-Reviewed Journals:
  • [2020] Ashish Nanda. "Cybersecurity and Distributed Systems: Exploring the future of secure decentralised networks." LAP Lambert Academic Publishing, Germany, ISBN 978-620-2-68366-1.
  • [2024] Ashish Nanda, Jongkil Jay Jeong, Syed Wajid Ali Shah, Mohammad Nosouhi, and Robin Doss. "Examining Usable Security Features and User Perceptions of Physical Authentication Devices." Computers & Security (Elsevier).
  • [2024] Jongkil Jay Jeong, Syed Wajid Ali Shah, Ashish Nanda, Robin Doss, Mohammad Nosouhi, and Jeb Webb. "User Characteristics and Their Impact on the Perceived Usable Security of Physical Authentication Device." IEEE Transactions on Human-Machine Systems.
  • [2023] Ashish Nanda, Syed Wajid Ali Shah, Jongkil Jay Jeong, Robin Doss, and Jeb Webb. "Towards Higher Levels of Assurance in Remote Identity Proofing." IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine.
  • [2023] Mohammad Reza Nosouhi, Syed W Shah, Lei Pan, Yevhen Zolotavkin, Ashish Nanda, Praveen Gauravaram and Robin Doss. "Weak-Key Analysis for BIKE Post-Quantum Key Encapsulation Mechanism." IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security (TIFS).
  • [2022] Deepak Puthal, Stanly Wilson, Ashish Nanda, Ming Liu, Srinibas Swain, Biswa P.S. Sahoo, Kumar Yelamarthi, Prashant Pillai, Hesham El-Sayed and Mukesh Prasad. "Decision tree based user-centric security solution for critical IoT infrastructure." Computers & Electrical Engineering.
  • [2019] Ashish Nanda, Deepak Puthal, Joel Rodrigues and Sergei Kozlov. "Internet of Autonomous Vehicles Communications Security: Overview, Issues, and Directions." IEEE Wireless Communications.
  • [2018] Ashish Nanda, Priyadarsi Nanda, Xiangjian He, Aruna Jamdagni, and Deepak Puthal. "A hybrid encryption technique for Secure-GLOR: The adaptive secure routing protocol for dynamic wireless mesh networks." Future Generation Computer Systems (FGCS).
  • [2018] Ashish Nanda, Deepak Puthal, Saraju Mohanty and Uma Choppali. "A Computing Perspective of Quantum Cryptography." IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine.
  • [2018] Deepak Puthal, Rajiv Ranjan, Ashish Nanda, Priyadrsi Nanda, Prem P Jayaraman and Albert Y Zomaya. "Secure Authentication and Load Balancing of Distributed Edge Datacenters." Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing.
International Conference Proceedings:
  • [2026] Ashish Nanda, Folmer Heikamp, S.G. Mandapati, Jongkil Jay Jeong, and Robin Doss. "Identity Verification in the AI Era: Limitations, Failures, and New Solutions." HCI for Cybersecurity, Privacy and Trust. HCII 2026. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 16738. Springer, Cham.
  • [2026] Jongkil Jay Jeong, Ashish Nanda, Folmer Heikamp, and S.G. Mandapati. "Reverse Prompt Engineering: A Horizon Scan of Prompt Attribution and Recovery in Generative AI." HCI for Cybersecurity, Privacy and Trust. HCII 2026. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 16738. Springer, Cham.
  • [2026] Sai Gautam Mandapati, Jay Jeong, Fokke Heikamp, and Ashish Nanda. "Redefining Cyber Insurance: Challenges, Gaps, and a Framework for Empirical Research." Proceedings of Eleventh International Congress on Information and Communication Technology (ICICT 2026). Springer, Singapore.
  • [2025] Ashish Nanda, Robin Doss, Folmer Heikamp, Abhi Kumar, Haftu Reda, Adnan Anwar, Zubair Baig, Praveen Gauravaram, Debi Prasad Pati, Salil Kanhere, and Mohan Baruwal Chhetri. "Enhancing Physical Security in Smart Environments with Ambient Intelligence." 24th IEEE International Conference on Trust, Security and Privacy in Computing and Communications (IEEE TrustCom-25).
  • [2025] Ashish Nanda, Robin Doss, Haftu Reda, Adnan Anwar, Zubair Baig, Frank Jiang, Praveen Gauravaram, Debi Prasad Pati, Salil Kanhere, and Mohan Baruwal Chhetri. "Ambient Intelligence-Based Continuous Authentication: A Testbed Implementation." IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications Workshops (PerCom Workshops).
  • [2025] Jongkil Jay Jeong, Syed W. Shah, Ashish Nanda, Robin Doss, and Mohammad Reza Nosouhi. "Improving the Adoption of Physical Authentication Devices Through Enhanced Usable Security Features." International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (HCII).
  • [2024] Jongkil Jay Jeong, Lu-xing Yang, Robin Doss, Praveen Gauravaram, Zoe Wang, Mohamed Abdelrazek, Ashish Nanda, and Keerthivasan Viswanathan. "Addressing the Privacy by Use Challenges in Verifiable Credential based Digital Wallets." Proceedings of the 19th ACM Asia Conference on Computer and Communications Security (ASIA CCS '24).
  • [2020] Amiya Kumar Sahu, Suraj Sharma, and Ashish Nanda. "A secure lightweight mutual authentication and key agreement protocol for healthcare systems." Intelligent Data Security Solutions for e-Health Applications. Academic Press.
  • [2019] Ashish Nanda, Priyadarsi Nanda, Mohammed S. Obaidat, Xiangjian He and Deepak Puthal. "A Novel Multi-Path Anonymous Randomized Key Distribution Scheme for Geo Distributed Networks." IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM) 2019.
  • [2018] Ashish Nanda, Priyadarsi Nanda, Xiangjian He and Deepak Puthal. "A Novel Hybrid Authentication Model for Geo Location Oriented Routing in Dynamic Wireless Mesh Networks." 51st Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS-51) 2018.
  • [2017] Ashish Nanda, Priyadarsi Nanda, Xiangjian He, Aruna Jamdagni, and Deepak Puthal. "Secure-GLOR: An Adaptive Secure Routing Protocol for Dynamic Wireless Mesh Networks." 16th IEEE International Conference on Trust, Security and Privacy in Computing and Communications (IEEE TrustCom-17).
  • [2016] Ashish Nanda, Priyadarsi Nanda and Xiangjian He. "Geo-Location Oriented Routing Protocol for Smart Dynamic Mesh Network." 18th IEEE International Conference on High-Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC-2016).
  • [2016] Ashish Nanda, Priyadarsi Nanda, Xiangjian He and Aruna Jamdagni. "A Secure Routing Scheme for Wireless Mesh Networks." 12th International Conference on Information Systems Security (ICISS-2016).
  • [2015] Ashish Nanda, Pulkit Rohilla and Yukti Mangal. "Gesture Recognition System" (ID: COG153). National Conference on Innovations in Computing and Information Technology (Cognition-2015).
Media & Industry Engagement
Honours, Awards & Professional Memberships
Honours & Awards:
  • Distinguished Global Talent Alumni — Australian Government (2021)
  • Accelerated PhD Conversion — UTS (2017)
  • Triple Top-Up Scholarship Recipient — UTS (2015 – 2017)
Affiliations & Professional Service:
Memberships: IEEE Member, ACM Member, AISA Member, SAE Member
Editorial & Review Roles: Associate Editor (IEEE Bio-inspired Computing STC); Reviewer for IEEE TIFS, IEEE Computers & Security, ACM TOSN.