Orange Cyberdefense is Sweden’s leading cybersecurity company. We are seeking students for multiple research projects in a wide range of topics. Both Bachelor and Master-level students are welcome to apply. You are welcome to conduct your project either alone or in pairs or groups of students. Our three main areas of interest are:

· Cybersecurity, information security, and related topics

· Management, organization, and ethics

· Artificial intelligence

We have identified some initial research suggestions within these areas. However, we leave it up to the students themselves to choose and propose the specific research question to explore within these areas.

Cybersecurity, information security, and related topics

Cybersecurity and information security sits at the core of our business. As such, these topics are particularly salient for us at Orange Cyberdefense – and we are eager to enable research in this field. Some of our initial research suggestions include:

· Analyze the relationship between different regulatory frameworks in relation to a security issue. For example, how current EU legislation affects third-party risk management.

· How employee awareness and security training influence susceptibility to phishing and social-engineering attacks.

· Cybersecurity risk in cloud environments. For example, examine common security risks associated with cloud services and how organizations can mitigate them.

Management, organization, and ethics

Orange Cyberdefense is an international company with 400 employees in Sweden and 3000 colleagues across the globe. As such, we are happy to enable research on management and organizational topics. A global research angle is also possible here. Research suggestions include:

· Studying organizational cultures, strategies, and characteristics of different Orange Cyberdefense business units in different countries. Possibly in terms of AI usage.

· Comparing our management strategies with those of other cybersecurity companies.

· Customer excellence research project which analyses customer needs in relation to the services provided by Orange Cyberdefense.

· Analysis of relevant regulatory, financial, organizational, technical and logistical characteristics which face different customers in different sectors.

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence is a key area of interest for us. We are very eager to proceed with a wide range of research projects on this topic. Some of our initial suggestions include:

· AI in phishing detection. Such as how phishing detection using linguistic and behavioral features compare to traditional classifiers.

· How attackers can manipulate inputs to evade AI-based intrusion detection systems.

· How large language models can identify and explain vulnerabilities.

Applying for a research project

Please apply by the ad. If you have more than one research idea, please include them all in one application. Make sure that your application reflects the following requirements:

· Include a short description of your proposed research, your area of interest, and clear suggestions for specific research question(s). It should be clear what you are interested in researching.

· Include initial suggestions for data collection- and analysis methods. Most importantly, describe what kind of data your project might need and from where you expect to collect it.

· Includes the full names of the participating student(s), what university you study at, if you are a bachelor or master’s student, and the approximate date your university expects you to start writing the thesis.

· The proposal does not exceed 1 page (or roughly 500 words) in length. If you want to propose more than one research idea, you may exceed this limit. However, please keep the length reasonably short.

· Make sure that everything is written directly in the email. Do not append your research proposal in a PDF or similar. Instead, write your text in the email itself.

· The subject/title of your email must begin with “Student Research Proposal:”, followed by the name of your project. Example: “Student Research Proposal: Strategies for ethical AI use”

What if I want to propose an entirely new research idea?

You do not have to base your research proposal on our existing research suggestions. We are very happy to receive your very own research idea. If you want to put forward your own project proposal, please follow the steps listed above.

Requirements and information about the research opportunity

Your profile and the specific skills required will vary greatly depending on the nature of your research project. However, all candidates must live up to the following requirements.

· You are a bachelor or master’s student enrolled in a program at a Swedish University.

· You are fluent in English and Swedish.

· You are capable and willing to take the initiative and drive your research project forward.

Students are assigned to a research mentor at Orange Cyberdefense. Your mentor will help you define your research project, check in with you at regular intervals, and act as your go-between for reaching resources and employees within Orange Cyberdefense. Please note that students will not be able to conduct research projects that involve data from our clients. Due to the sensitive nature of Orange Cyberdefenses business, students will not be able to fully carry out their projects on-premise. At the onset of your research project, you and other students writing their thesis at Orange Cyberdefense are invited to our office for a kickoff meeting.

Rights and ownership over research results will belong to Orange Cyberdefense. As such, students are expected to sign a research project agreement before starting their project. Orange Cyberdefense does not provide monetary compensation for student research projects. However, we view these research projects as an organic way to get to know candidates for future roles.

We are Orange Cyberdefense

Orange Cyberdefense is Sweden’s leading cybersecurity company. Our vision is to help secure the digital society. We provide our customers with services across a wide range of areas, from advanced technical solutions to strategic services such as security governance, risk management frameworks, and risk assessments. We are 400 colleagues in Sweden and 3,000 colleagues globally.