My interests are in security, focusing on:

• Network security & network measurements (active & passive)
• Security education: cyber defence exercises / cyber ranges (CyberLab)
• Critical infrastructure resilience (in maritime, aviation, autonomous vehicles)
• Adversarial AI & AI system security (model poisoning, influence operations)

I obtained my Ph.D. (Dr. rer. nat.) in computer science from the Technical University of Munich, Germany, in the group of Prof Anja Feldmann, PhD in 2005 and my Diploma (MSc) from the Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany in 2002.

Cyber Security Research

The term Cybersecurity has become a buzzword in the recent years. It's overloaded and doesn't mean much. However, there is one aspect that is important to understand, addressing our "cyber" problems requires us to combine the knowledge and insights from many other disciplines. For example, from computer science it takes secure software design, or how to build intrusion detection systems, methods for vulnerability testing, and so on; cryptography is rooted in mathematics; psychology helps to understand human factors (why people click on malicious links); aspects of forensic science are used by law enforcement agencies; social sciences, business and economic understanding is essential; operational and strategic risk management models & audits help with reducing the threats in day-to-day operations; and of course legal and political disciplines are required.

For me the term 'cyber security' is simply an expression meaning interdisciplinary. Interdisciplinarity and effective communication are the only way we can fight today's problems in 'cyberspace'—and those problems are growing. The rapid evolution of AI is creating entirely new attack surfaces: models can be poisoned, AI-generated code introduces subtle vulnerabilities at scale, and autonomous systems become targets for adversarial manipulation. At the same time, AI amplifies the capabilities of both defenders and attackers. Securing 'cyberspace' now requires combining knowledge from computer science, engineering, psychology, law, and AI safety. This is exciting, urgent, and deeply challenging.

CyberLab

At Adelaide University, I am working on the CyberLab—a system-of-systems approach to cyber range where students co-design and operate a digital twin of interconnected critical infrastructure. The CyberLab models cascading failures across sectors, integrates adversary emulation, security operations, and AI-enabled defences. It serves as both an educational platform and a cyber security research experimentation environment. For more details, see maennel.ai/cyberlab.

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Teaching

AI is transforming cyber security—and with it, the skills our graduates need. The digital divide is no longer about access to technology—it is about the gap between people who master AI and people who are mastered by it. A graduate who merely forwards AI output adds no value. But a graduate who works with AI, who recognises its limitations, who detects when it is wrong, and who applies critical judgment—that graduate will be indispensable.

My teaching philosophy focuses on developing these capabilities through experiential learning: the CyberLab (a system-of-systems cyber range), NATO-inspired exercises, hands-on labs, and international research collaboration. For my full teaching statement and course history, see the teaching page.

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Current PhD Students

• Bradley Morgan (since February 2023, with Yuval Yarom, Paul Montague, Chitchanok Chuengsatiansup)
• Bhavani Sunila (with Francoise Sailhan, Kaie Maennel)
• Sara Pelinku (with Kave Salamatian, Kaie Maennel)
• Chuhan Wang
• Ziyang Ye

Graduated PhD Students

• Ashley Flavel (co-supervised with Matt Roughan and Nigel Bean; Ph.D. successfully defended in 2009.)
• Debbie Perouli (official external supervisor at Purdue University, internal supervisor was Sonia Fahmy, successfully defended 18 Feb 2013. Now prof at Marquette)
• Nejc Skoberne (internally supervised by Mojca Ciglaric, successfully defended 23 Dec 2013.)
• Sten Mäses, successfully defended 16 Dec 2020. Now at Clarified Security.
• Mauno Pihelgas, successfully defended 11 Aug 2021. Works at Dynatrace.
• Kaur Kullman, successfully defended 25 April 2023.
• Andrew Roberts, successfully defended 25 June 2025
• Gabor Visky, successfully defended 22 Oct 2025

I have supervised 76 MSc theses and over 32 MSc theses by course work, and done numerous final year projects reviews, and been on the committee of 23 PhD defenses.

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Professional Activities

General-Chair, Treasurer, TPC-Chair

• ACM SIGCOMM, Sydney, Australia (Treasurer)
• Central European Cybersecurity Conference 2019, Munich, Germany, November 14–15, 2019 (TPC-co-chair)
• Interdisciplinary Cyber Research (ICR) workshop, Tallinn, Estonia, June 29, 2019 (general co-chair jointly with Anna-Maria Osula)
• Interdisciplinary Cyber Research (ICR) workshop, Tallinn, Estonia, June 9, 2018 (general co-chair jointly with Anna-Maria Osula)
• ACM Internet Measurement Conference 2017, London, England, Nov 1–3, 2017 (general co-chair jointly with Steve Uhlig)
• Interdisciplinary Cyber Research (ICR) workshop, Tallinn, Estonia, July 8, 2017 (general co-chair jointly with Anna-Maria Osula)
• 20th IEEE Global Internet Symposium, Atlanta, GA, USA, May 1–4, 2017 (co-TPC chair)
• Interdisciplinary Cyber Research (ICR) workshop, Tallinn, Estonia, July 2, 2016 (general co-chair jointly with Anna-Maria Osula)
• ACM SIGCOMM, London, UK, August 17–21, 2015 (general co-chair jointly with Steve Uhlig, 608 attendee conference)
• Interdisciplinary Cyber Research (ICR) workshop, Tallinn, Estonia, July 18, 2015 (general co-chair jointly with Anna-Maria Osula)
• NPsec, 2013 (general co-chair jointly with Jun Li)
• CoNext Student Workshop, 2010 (co-chair jointly with Brighten Godfrey and Chuanxiong Guo)

Reviewer / Program Committee Member

Journal Reviewer: IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking (ToN) (since 2008), Computer Networks Journal (COMNET) (since 2008), IEEE Network Magazine (since 2012), IEEE Transactions on Games (since 2018), Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing (2019), Guest Editor: Security & Privacy in Cloud Computing.

External reviewer: Asian Internet Engineering Conference (aintec) 2019, ACM CCS 2016, IEEE INFOCOM 2014 & 2012, PAM 2010 & 2008, Australasian Telecommunication Networks and Applications Conference 2007, Interdomain Routing Workshop (IDRWS) 2004. Assessor: Lillian Elizabeth Bowmaker Bursary, 2010–2013.

Organizational Committee Member

• WODNAFO 10, Adelaide, Australia 2010
• Passive and Active Measurement Conference (PAM), 2006
• Interdomain Routing Workshop (IDRWS), 2004