Academia

Dr McDermott is Computer Scientist and researcher in Cybersecurity where he leads a Human-centred Security research team. He seeks to answer security related questions at the intersection between humans and digital technologies, in particular the Internet. Current Research interests include, but are not limited to:

Areas of Interest

Human Factors in Security:

  • Security by Design: System, Personas and Threat Modelling;
  • Secure Behaviour: Trust, Influence, Error and Crime;
  • Usable Security and Situational Awareness;
  • Exploits against humans: Phishing, Social Engineering, Insider Threats;
  • Misinformation (fake news, deep fakes) and trustworthy content on the Internet.

Machine Learning for Cybersecurity:

  • Threat Detection: IoT Botnet and DDoS;
  • Cyber Ontologies and Knowledge Graphs;
  • Large Language Models (LLMs) for cybersceurity

Outside of his academic research, he writes about Digital Wellbeing and Privacy, exploring tools and strategies that can help us lead healthy, safe and authentic digital lives. Specifically, how to manage our digital footprint and online persona.

Students and Internships

Current PhD Students

  • Nadeeka Pathirannahalage: Exploring Unintentional Insider Threats
  • Khaliq Ur Rahman: Exploring the security of underwater wireless sensor networks

If you are interested in studying for a PhD in any of the research areas above, please get in touch

Current Internship Students

  • Enzo Maze
  • Thomas Martin
  • Robin Rouet
  • Emmanuella Odounlami

Previous Masters, Undergrauduate ad Internship Students

  • A full list of past Masters, Undergraduate, and Intern students along with their projects can be found on the RGU website

Selected Published work

Scholary Activities

Dr McDermott has held various roles, in academia and industry. A selection of these are listed below.

Public Engagement: Talks and Articles

  • OT Cyber Security Symposium (Panel Speaker) Challenges in OT Security: Research Trends in AI OT Cyber Security Symposium (2024)

  • International Workshop on the Challenges in Cybersecurity Education (Workshop) The challenge of teaching cybersecurity in education International Conference on Cryptology and Network Security (2023)

  • Senior Leaders Cyber Summit (Panel Speaker) What have we learnt Conference (2023)

  • Aberdeenshire Schools Visit (Community Outreach) Two Factor Authentication (2023)

  • OT/IT Cyber Summit (Academic Partner & Panelist) Securing the future of the industry against the continued cyber threat Conference (2023)

  • Cyber News Global Magazine (Bimonthly Column) Human-centred Security Series Issue 2 , 3 (2023)

  • Police Scotland/Scottish Government Funded Cyber Collaboration (Invited Talk) Be Cyber Aware Project Launch (2023)

  • Cyber News Global Magazine (Article) Change Cyber Behaviour Issue 1 (2022)

  • Cyber Resilience Conference (Academic Partner) Cyber Resilience for National Security & the Energy Sector (2022)

  • British Science Week (Workshop) Capture The Flag (CTF) events explained Link (2022)

  • Cyber Scotland Week (Workshop sponsored by SICSA ) What to expect and how to get involved in a Capture The Flag (CTF) event Zoom link (2022)

  • TrackGenesis (Invited Talk Aberdeen) Innovation Skills - Demystifying Blockchain Zoom link (2022)

  • Nimbus-Blue (Panel Member) Ask the Cyber Guys Link (2022)

  • Fintech Times (Interview) Facial Recognition and Fingerprints – Foolish or Fool Proof? Link (2022)

  • Security Advisor Middle East (Article) High Alert: Advanced Persistent Threats Issue 45 (2020)

  • British Council (Invited Talk: Beijing, Qingdao, Hangzhou, Shenzen, Kunming, Hong Kong) Digital Footprint & WiFi Triangulation (2018)

  • British Council (Invited Talk: Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea) Dark Data & Digital Footprints (2017)

  • British Council (Invited Talk: Pune, Chennai) IoT Security (2017)

  • British Computer Society (Invited Talk: Aberdeen) Security in the Internet of Things (2016)

Editorial Activities

Higher Education Engagement