• Professor Manindra Agrawal from IIT Kanpur will play a crucial role as part of the team to work under the Australia-India Cyber and Critical Technology Partnership Grant

• This joint project will identify various standardisation issues on privacy and security of cloud computing in Australia and India and tackle these issues via innovative privacy-enhancing cryptographic techniques.

• The team will evaluate the effectiveness of existing technologies by measuring their impact and validating whether an appropriate level of standardisation has been achieved.

Kanpur, September 12, 2023: In a joint international collaboration, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur and the University of Wollongong (UOW), Australia have been awarded an Australia-India Cyber and Critical Technology Partnership Grant, to work on improving and strengthening privacy in cloud computing. Funded through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Australia, the grant is designed to promote safety, prosperity, and security for the Indo-Pacific region through cyber and critical technology.

The project, which will be led by UOW ARC Australian Laureate Fellow Distinguished Professor Willy Susilo, will work towards developing practical privacy-enhancing cryptographic techniques for cloud computing. The team will be based out of UOW’s Institute of Cybersecurity and Cryptology including Senior Lecturer Dr. Khoa Nguyen, ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) Fellow Dr. Yannan Li and Lecturer in Cyber Security Dr. Partha Sarathi Roy. From IIT Kanpur, Professor Manindra Agrawal from the Department of Computer Science & Engineering will spearhead the research as a member researcher.

Cloud computing has become an increasingly important part of everyday life, from data storage and processing to sharing documents and working in international teams. However, it poses significant challenges to safeguarding the privacy and security of sensitive information. The art of digital cryptography provides necessary tools for protecting data in the cloud, but traditional techniques may not be sufficient for addressing the unique challenges presented by contemporary cloud computing.

Standardisation of cryptographic techniques is important to ensure they are interoperable and can be widely adopted across different cloud platforms, applications, and countries.

"This project will strategically place UOW in India through research collaboration. Cybersecurity research work conducted within the Institute of Cybersecurity and Cryptology at UOW has been at the forefront of the research within Australia, and this project will leverage our strategic position with our Indian partner," says Professor Susilo from UOW. "Furthermore, this research has great potential to strengthen the collaboration between Australia and India for the future through cybersecurity standardisation."

Prof. Abhay Karandikar, Director IIT Kanpur says, "This collaboration between IIT Kanpur and the University of Wollongong bears testimony to the growing need for advancing the dynamic landscape of cloud computing with stronger measures. With this grant, the joint research team will strive towards enhancing data privacy and security in the digital realm. I congratulate Prof. Manindra Agrawal and the team for bagging this grant and wish that it helps in strengthening the ties between both nations."

IIT Kanpur’s Professor Manindra Agrawal says, "Cybersecurity and Cryptology are rapidly growing domains in the global cloud computing context. It is essential that we work collectively towards finding effective solutions that are mutually beneficial. At IIT Kanpur, we already have an advanced and robust ecosystem to further research in critical areas of cyber security and cyber-physical domains. Under this partnership, we will work on assessing the existing technologies to enhance their efficacy and to bring innovative measures to strengthen privacy concerns in cloud computing."

This project will identify various standardisation issues on privacy and security of cloud computing in Australia and India and tackle these issues via innovative privacy-enhancing cryptographic techniques. The team will evaluate the effectiveness of existing technologies by measuring their impact and validating whether an appropriate level of standardisation has been achieved.

The team leverages research partners of UOW and IIT Kanpur, including Amazon, Google, and Microsoft and works with start-up companies resident at UOW’s start-up incubator iAccelarate and Indian companies. The expertise of the UOW School of Law will also be called upon for consultation on privacy matters.

About University of Wollongong (UOW):

The University of Wollongong (UOW) is a global network of campuses, students, graduates and academics. UOW is a global educator, delivering world-class teaching to students in the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia and Singapore. They have formal agreements with more than 400 overseas institutions in 45 countries spanning research collaborations, teaching collaborations, credit arrangements, articulation arrangements, study abroad and exchange programs and offshore program delivery.

About IIT Kanpur:

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur was established on 2nd November 1959 by an Act of Parliament. The institute has a sprawling campus spread over 1055 acres with large pool of academic and research resources spanning across 19 departments, 22 centres, and 3 Interdisciplinary programs in engineering, science, design, humanities, and management disciplines with more than 540 full-time faculty members and approximately 9000 students. In addition to formal undergraduate and postgraduate courses, the institute has been active in research and development in areas of value to both industry and government.

For more information, visit www.iitk.ac.in.