Resume
Profile
Cybersecurity lecturer with 5+ years of teaching experience at Deakin University in Burwood and Melbourne Polytechnic in Preston and Prahran. Bringing advanced teaching programs in cybersecurity, as well as 7 years of experience in the IT industry.
As a Lecturer, my career has focused on high impact research, practice, and education in cybersecurity starting with my doctoral thesis. Teach highly popular advanced courses on “Cyber Security Models and Systems” and “Principles of Computer and Information Security” at Deakin University, Burwood, Vic. My experience as Deputy Technical Support at the Qatari General Customs Authority in Doha, Qatar. I supervised a 15+ member team, which provided technical support to all seaports, airports, and borders managed by Qatari customs. I screened the migration process from analog faxes to Rightfax and was the team leader of the cargo and container inspection systems using X-ray machines and video scopes.
QUALIFICATIONS
Ph.D. in Improving Malicious Document Detectors - 2020
Deakin University, Burwood, Vic.
Master of Information Technology (Professional) - 2016
Deakin University, Burwood, Vic.
Cybersecurity and Networking streams
My high-quality performance and research earned me The Professor of Information Technology’s postgraduate degree award at Deakin University for having placed top of the class in the master’s course – 2017.
Bachelor of Science, Mobile Communications and Internet Technology - 2008
Swansea University, Swansea, UK.
Current Certification:
CompTIA Security+
https://www.youracclaim.com/badges/024e7d02-d75c-40d5-9810-0121e3bad539/public_url
WORK EXPRIENCE
Summary
Cybersecurity & IT Lecturer, Melbourne Polytechnic, Melbourne, Vic Mar 2019-Present
Cybersecurity & IT Tutor, Deakin University, Burwood, Vic July 2015-Present
Deputy Head Technical Support , Qatari General Customs Authority, Doha, Qatar April 2010-Feb 2015
Cybersecurity & IT LECTURER Mar 2019-Present
Melbourne Polytechnic, Preston, Vic
Cybersecurity & IT Tutor July 2015-Present
Deakin University, Burwood, Vic
Key Responsibilities:
Prepare and deliver lectures, high-quality curriculum or program materials, workshops and lab sessions and prepare assessment materials.
Undertake additional activities including training and mentoring with enrolments and content moderation.
Often work as only tutor in a unit at Deakin University.
Co-supervise higher degree research students.
Supervise students in each semester to clear all their doubts, mentoring them to high-quality completion outcomes promptly.
Key Accomplishments:
Implementing innovative approaches for the online learning environment to assist international and other students.
Strong ability to liaise effectively with students from other backgrounds and assist them.
Well-liked by students and generally chosen as preferred Lecturer.
Follow an outcome-oriented approach in teaching and focus on learner-centred approach to teaching and quality improvement.
Work-related awards and achievements:
Earned teaching excellence award in Deakin university in T1 2020
Unit name: SIT719 Security and Privacy Issues in Analytics
Deputy Head Technical Support, April 2010-Feb 2015
Qatari General Customs Authority, Doha, Qatar
Key Responsibilities:
Co-managed 15+ member team which provided technical support to all seaports, airports and borders managed by Qatari customs
System administrator of fax management system
Installed, managed and maintained Rightfax and required infrastructure
Team leader of of integration procfess between Rightfax system and Avaya IP telephony
In-charge of migration process from analogue faxes to Rightfax
Team leader of cargo and container inspection systems using X-ray machines and videoscopes
Team member of Avaya IP telephony team
Served as Microsoft Outlook 2010 Instructor to all officers at Authority
Key Accomplishments:
Headed team to procure and install two new container scanning systems at cost of A$3 million
Managed purchase and installation of 6 pallet scanning systems at cost of A$1.5 million for installation at various seaports throughout Qatar
Member of team to introduce new videoscope systems and integrate into customs operations
Work-related awards and achievements:
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
75,000 words PhD dissertation at Deakin University, Burwood from 2017 to 2020 - Thesis focus: “Improving Malicious Document Detectors”
15,000 words Research dissertation at Deakin University, Burwood-2016 as part of Master’s degree - Title: “Case Study of Evaluating the Security of IoT Platforms via Penetration Testing”
Reviewer for The 16th International Conference on Mobility, Sensing and Networking (MSN 2020)
PUBLICATIONS
Journal publications
Ahmed Falah, Lei Pan, Shamsul Huda, Shiva Raj Pokhrel, and Adnan Anwar. 2021. Improving malicious PDF classifier with feature engineering: Adata-driven approach.Future Generation Computer Systems115 (2021), 314 – 326 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.future.2020.09.015
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167739X20305082
Conference publications
Falah, A., Pan, L., Abdelrazek, M. and Doss, R., 2018, July. “Identifying Drawbacks in Malicious PDF Detectors” in International Conference on Future Network Systems and Security (pp. 128-139). Springer, Cham.
Falah, A., Pan, L. and Chen, F., 2018, December. “Quantitative Approach to Design Special Purpose Systems to Measure Hacking Skills” in 2018 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering (TALE) (pp. 54-61). IEEE.
Falah, A., Pan, L. and Abdelrazek, M., 2017, January. “Visual representation of penetration testing actions and skills in a technical tree model” in Proceedings of Australasian Computer Science Week Multiconference (p. 8). ACM.
INDUSTRY TRAINING
Victoria, Australia:
Microsoft Azure Fundamentals - Microsoft Webinar - 2020
Malware Fundementals – Cybrary – 2019
Dynamic Malware Analysis - Cybrary – 2019
How to Use IDA (BSWJ) - Cybrary – 2019
Master Networking For Penetration Testing - Cybrary – 2019
Advanced Malware Analysis – Udemy - 2018
Intro to Malware Analysis and Reverse Engineering - Cybrary – 2018
Web Application Penetration Testing - Cybrary – 2018
Securing your IT in 10 Steps - Cybrary – 2018
Scrum: Advanced - LinkedIn learning – 2018
Scrum: The Basics - LinkedIn learning – 2018
Python for Data Science – Data Camp - 2017
Python - Codecademy – 2016
Programming Foundations: Fundamentals – LinkedIn learning – 2016
Learning Aptana Studio 3 - LinkedIn learning – 2016
IT training completed at General Customs Authority, Doha, Qatar:
OpenText Fax Server training-2013
RightFax Administration course-2013
Unified Communications Boot Camp-2012
PMP training-2012
TUSCAN MB1215DE Course for Engineers-2011
MOBOTIX AG Security Vision Systems course-2011
SKILLS AND EXPERTISE
Cybersecurity
Malware analysis
Digital forensics
Penetration testing
Networking and security
Kali Linux
IDS/IPS configurations
Cryptography and encryption
Information security management
Incident response and disaster recovery
IT
Machine learning and Deep leanring
Python
Virtualisation
Windows and Linux
Research & Education
Business
Project management
Business Analysis
Interpersonal
Team leadership
Excellent communication skills
Adaptability and flexibility
Time management
Attention to detail
Troubleshooting and problem solving
INTERNSHIPS and VOLUNTEERING
Technical support and system administration officer at Dar Albalagh Charity in Doha, Qatar from January to April 2009.
Installed Drupal software and necessary infrastructure for training purposes.
Volunteer at the Health Information Systems department at Hamad Medical Corporation in Doha, Qatar, from October 2008 to January 2009.
Member of standardization team which installed a secure and standardized OS image on 5,000+ computers.
Website and graphics designer at Afkar Co. Ltd., Doha, Qatar, from June to September 2004.
Personal
Status:
Post-study work Visa without any work restrictions.
Licences:
‘C’ class driver’s licence and own reliable vehicle.
Languages:
Fluent in written English and Arabic.
Interests:
Football, tennis, archery, cycling and technology: hacking, malware analysis and forensics challenges and completion plus experimenting with data centre technology and Raspberry Pi .
Referees
Email me!