People

Professor Zahir Tari - Research Director

 Zahir Tari is the Research Director of the RMIT Centre of Cyber Security Research and Innovation and Professor of Cloud-Systems and Security at RMIT University, Australia.

Zahir has over two decade experience in the areas of system’s performance (e.g. P2P, Cloud, IoT) as well as system’s security (e.g. SCADA, SmartGrid, Cloud, IoT). Zahir is a recipient of over 11M$ in funding from ARC (Australian Research Council) and various industries (e.g. Siemens/Germany), and lately part of a successful 7th Framework AU2EU (Australia to European) bid on “Authorisation and Authentication for Entrusted Unions. In the security area, his team have developed innovative solutions to the issues of nearly "realtime" anomaly detection and malware detection, and some of these solutions were embedded in some tools. 

Zahir's research interest is in the investigation of (even complex) cyber-security issues both from economical /industrial and social perspectives with the aim to have an impact both technologically and socially speaking.

Laki Kondylas - Deputy Director

Laki Kondylas has a wealth of experience nationally and internationally and has held executive roles in both State and Federal Governments as well as in Academic Institutions. Laki brings a wealth of international knowledge specifically in North America where he represented Australia in Arizona, Washington DC and San Francisco. Laki worked at the Australian Embassy and was responsible for building commercial relationships with key multi-lateral organisations such as the World Bank and International Finance Corporation.  In San Francisco he worked with some of the world’s most innovative companies and startups to help them establish expand their presence to North America or Australia respectively.

Most recently, Laki was responsible for the strategic relationships of RMIT, leading a team overseeing the Universities most complex relationships.  He has held similar roles at the Australian Research Council funded National Centre for Groundwater Research & Training and at Flinders University’s New Venture Institute, judged the best university linked accelerator/incubator program in the Asia Pacific in 2018 and 2019.

Gabby Cincotta - Project Coordinator

Gabby is the Project Coordinator in Centre for Cyber Security Research and Innovation where she is responsible for coordinating projects, organising events and conferences and coordinating the operational aspects within the Centre. She has experience working with federal government, c-suite executives across the Australian university sector on the University Foreign Interference Taskforce (UFIT) Project – Enhancing Cyber Security Across Australia’s University Sector.

Gabby has previously held operational roles in the higher education sector relating to student experience strategy as well as program management in graduate employability initiatives.