WASP Researcher of the Month - Alberto Giaretta
Alberto Giaretta
Researcher of the Month is Alberto Giaretta, Associate Senior Lecturer in Computer Science. Giaretta recently gave his Docent Lecture, and we asked him to answer a few questions, to get to know him and his research.
Describe your research in one sentence.
My research expertise is in cybersecurity, with a particular interest in the intersection with AI and robotics.
What do you hope your research will lead to?
Understanding the tradeoffs. We are living in exciting times, with breakthrough cybersecurity performance from different AI models. At the same time, the complexity of these models makes them a difficult artefact to understand, let alone harness. My research looks at how various models may introduce cybersecurity risks, when they may be useful for hardening cybersecurity processes, and whether their performance justifies the resources they consume.
What is the most unexpected result you've had so far?
Recently we have found out that Behavior Trees (a mathematical model for modular composition of agent actions, normally used in video games and more recently in robotics) holds promise as a compact code representation for performing efficient vulnerability detection.
If you could collaborate with anyone in the world, who would it be and why?
I wish I'd had the chance to collaborate with Kevin Mitnick, one of the most well-known hackers in computing history. Unfortunately, he passed away in 2023.
What do you do when you're not researching?
I take care of all the administration related to my job. People are often surprised by how many things researchers have to do besides research itself.
Thank you Alberto!