Meet the Lecturer – Arathi Arakala

We talk to Dr Arathi Arakala about cybersecurity, failing and the superpower she wishes she had!

1. How do you explain your work and its real-world impact to people outside of the mathematical sciences?

I use mathematics to make cyberspace safer for all citizens. The internet has been a great gift to connect people together. However there are also many who have found new ways to exploit this technology for malicious gain. I hope to use mathematics to explain why people communicate in certain ways on social media and characterise user behaviour that is normal and abnormal.

2. Best piece of advice you’ve received?

Don’t be afraid to fail. If you are not failing, you are not innovating.

3. If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

Time travel

4. Deepening field knowledge and providing a networking platform, why are opportunities such as AMSI Summer School so valuable? What do you hope attendees take from your lectures?

I hope the attendees enjoy learning the mathematics behind the algorithms that keep their data secure everyday. I also hope this will spark their interest and awareness in information security in general and that all security has an undergirding of mathematics.

Dr Arathi Arakala will be presenting the topic Cryptography for Cybersecurity at the 2022 Summer School hosted by University of Technology Sydney in January.