CYBER-DEFENCE FELLOWSHIPS: Valentin Huber

• How did you find out about the CYD Fellowships and what motivated you to apply?

I did my bachelor’s thesis in collaboration with the Cyber Defence Campus and when the time came for my master's thesis, I remembered that my advisor mentioned something about the program. I enjoyed working at the CYD Campus and the connection to other students and researchers, so I decided to apply.

• What was your CYD Fellowship project about?

I'm attempting to build a fuzzer that can test the network stack of the real-time operating system Zephyr by repeatedly sending it altered packets.

• What were the advantages of conducting your master thesis project at the CYD Campus?

I am really enjoying seeing what other students are doing in their theses, what other projects are happening at the CYD Campus, and connecting with people outside of academia.

• Did you as a child dream of working in cyber-defence?

It took me a while to find out what I wanted to do in life; I'm interested in a lot of different things. But I have always enjoyed logic and puzzles, and in my mind, that is at the core of security research, so I'm not surprised at all that I ended up here.

• What is driving you to pursue research in cyber-defence?

I would like to think that it may help the world become a better place. Additionally, I like the combination of complex engineering and more abstract research that is required in fuzzing.

• What is the most important lesson you have learned in your scientific career so far?

I don't believe we're ever going to be able to build exclusively, provably secure systems. This leads to an exciting arms race between attackers and defenders where to be successful, a pragmatic approach needs to be pursued that takes both engineering and academic knowledge but also creative and outside-the-box thinking. There are few insights that do not have some form of potential application in security.

• What are you most proud of in your career to date?

I love how much I have already been able to contribute to the security community, not just with the research I've done, but also with concrete contributions to open-source projects that will hopefully improve research in both academia and the private sector for years to come.

• Outside the lab, what do you enjoy doing most?

I enjoy making and listening to music, different kinds of sports, and leading kids, teens, and young adults in different kinds of youth groups at my church.

• What were your expectations about the CYD Fellowships?

I was expecting to enter a diverse community interested in making the cybersecurity world a more secure place, connecting with them and getting inspired by their approaches.

• Could you share some tips with future applicants who are considering applying for the CYD Fellowships?

Talk! Talk to people at CYD campus, to previous fellows, to other students and your academic advisors. They are going to be able to help you get more accurate expectations of what it means to be a CYD Fellow, find your topic, and prepare your application documents.