Cyber Security Research

Sadik Chaganti
She is a Cyber Security Network Consulting Engineer at Cisco Systems India, preparing to apply to a Graduate program in the US.

Sadik is a Network Consulting Engineer at Cisco Systems India and she is preparing to apply to a Graduate program in the US. She has been fascinated with networking and security since the sophomore year of her university. She is interested to explore Routing and Switching, Network Automation, Network Simulation and Design, Information Security, Vulnerability Testing and Cyber Security.

Learning objectives

• Setting up a mini loT network lab (two RPI devices, one Ethernet switch, and her laptop);
• Creation of VPN channels based on different technologies (WireGuard, IPsec, OpenSSL, etc.);
• Measuring and comparing the efficiency/performance of these technologies in the loT environment;
• Writing a paper based on the results obtained.

What challenges did she face?

• Sadik started the mentorship program with a decent knowledge of the basics of computer networks and the practical application of existing solutions but lack of experience in scientific research.

How did our program help her?

• Sadik gained more experience in academic research, and is better prepared for Master’s program application in the US.
• Sadik expanded her knowledge in computer networks and information security.

Student Testimonial

“The mentorship experience has been a one-of-a-kind academic journey. Since the research objective was measuring the effectiveness of wireguard VPN in IoT networks, this study introduced me to a number of new technologies. Firstly, it introduced me to programming with Raspberry pi which I had never known before as a computer science student. Secondly, it helped me gain a deeper understanding of Linux commands and operating system processes which are core to the development of any security technology. Lastly, this mentorship program taught me how to deploy and administer VPN.

I enjoyed creating a mini network lab at my study and performing the throughput and energy efficiency experiments. Throughout this mentorship, I enhanced my skill of reading a research paper, summarizing it, and consequently drafting my own paper. All in all, I am honoured and thankful to [my mentor] for sharing his knowledge and expertise with me which will definitely help me get a kickstart in this field.

Sadik Chaganti

Matched mentor

The mentor is a Computer Science guest lecturer at Harvard University. He also serves as an External Consultant at American Public University System and a Researcher at University of Belgrade. He’s a representative of Serbia at Technical Committee on Human–Computer Interaction.

“She is very disciplined, hardworking, and ambitious. Also, she was very motivated, so she invested more time and effort than initially planned. I’m satisfied with the results Sadik obtained. My impression is that she improved her knowledge of cybersecurity significantly“

Mentor from Harvard University