Dr Sharif Abuadbba

Senior Research Scientist

https://people.csiro.au/A/S/sharif-abuadbba

Biography

Dr. Sharif Abuadbba is the team leader of Distributed Systems Security at CSIRO's Data61. With +13 years of experience in cybersecurity, Dr. Abuadbba has led a large portfolio of national and international science projects, collaborating with organisations such as the Cyber Security CRC, Department of Home Affairs, DSTG, and others. Many of these projects have gained national recognition, including the Smartshield project, which won the iAwards in NSW in 2022. His passion lies in driving cutting-edge science and translating it into impactful applications.
His interests span AI security, AI for cyber defence, systems security, and the general security and trustworthiness of emerging technologies such as AI, digital twins, 6G, and VR. Dr. Abuadbba has co-authored +50 publications and submissions in prestigious security venues such as IEEE S&P, NDSS, ASIACCS, ACSAC, IEEE TDSC, IEEE TIFS, and ESORICS. He has also secured significant scholarship funding and supervises numerous PhD students, including Monash, UoA, UNSW, and UQ.

He has a PhD in computer security from RMIT University, Australia. He won the RMIT prestigious VC Award for Research Excellence in Technology 2018. He also won the Eureka Innovation Award 2018 for EyeCura Pty Ltd's cybersecurity startup, inspired by his PhD work. EyeCura has three online products on IOS and Google Play used by +10K users. Dr Abuadbba was one of a handful of CSIRO staff awarded a CSIRO Julius Career Award and the only among two recipients from the entire CSIRO’s Data61 Business Unit (+500 scientists) in the 2022 round. IN 2022, he also won the Data61 best performance award. Dr Abuadbba has previously worked with California-based technology company AgilePQ Inc as a senior R&D engineer and contributed to a number of US IP patents in cybersecurity.

Academic Qualifications

2017

PhD in Computer Science (Cybersecurity) with presigious VC award of Research Excellence
RMIT University, Australia
2013

Master of Computer Science with Honour Distinction, GPA 4/4
RMIT University, Australia

Achievements and Awards

2022-2025

Julius Career Award
CSIRO
2020-2021

SCS program award for collaboration
CSIRO's Data61
2019-2020

DSS group high achievement award
CSIRO's Data61
2018-2018

Eureka international Innovation award for creative startup
Eureka international
2018-2018

RMIT prestigious VC award of PhD Research Excellence in Technology
RMIT University
2015-2016

CSIT HDR Student Publications Awards
RMIT University
2014-2014

Nominated for the student of the year in state of Victoria Australia
RMIT University
2013-2014

Best-graduated Master student of Computer Science
RMIT University

Current Roles

Team Leader, Distributed Systems Security | Data61
Lead team of researchers and projects | Carry out impactful research | Help in commecialising of Cybersecurity products
Cofounder, Eyecura Pty Ltd
Board Member | previously major IP contribution and Team lead

Grants

2024-2028

2 Industry PhD iPHD (400,000$ from CSIRO, 100,000$ from Telstra)
2020-2023

PhD scholarship (200,000$), Cybersecurity CRC
2020-2023

PhD scholarship (114,000$), CSIRO's Data61
2020-2021

2 Honour scholarship (20,000$), Cybersecurity CRC
2019-2021

Smart Shield : AI based anti-phishing systems project (1M$), Cybersecurity CRC
2019-2021

Deception As a Service project (1.2M$), Cybersecurity CRC
2019-2020

3 vacation student scholarships (30,000$), Cybersecurity CRC