Elena Sitnikova is Associate Professor of Cybersecurity and Networking, College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University. She leads her Critical Infrastructure and Digital Forensics (CI&DF) Lab to contribute to world-class research, leadership and teaching in Critical Infrastructure protection, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems resilience, and Industrial IoT. The CI&DF Lab’s Urban Village Testbed is a unique capability across South Australian universities, attracting funding and research collaborators from across the world.

Dr Sitnikova’s expertise allows her to lead research in technological and human interactions and implications for cybersecurity in critical infrastructure, with a focus on intrusion detection on human-machine interfaces (HMIs) and programmable logic controllers (PLCs). Her applied industry-relevant research is developing resilient and safety-focus interfaces for embedded, critical industrial and autonomous systems, enabling effective user experiences designed for success.

Her multiple research outputs include research grants with a research income of over AU$2.7 million, many publications in top-tier computing and security journals and multiple invitations as keynote speaker.

Her recognised award-winning expertise in higher education means she is contributing significantly to developing Australia’s future protective security workforce.

• Critical Infrastructure Protective Security
• SCADA Control Systems Cybersecurity
• Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) for Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS)
• Industrial Internet of Things
• Software and Systems Engineering Process Improvement
• Quality in Software and Systems Engineering
• Engineering, ICT and Cybersecurity Education

Completed HDR students

2026: Jessemyn Modini, PhD, The application of epidemiology to cyber security (Joint @UNSW Canberra)

2025: Stuart Fowler, PhD, Cybersecurity Test & Evaluation within Australian Gov Dept (Joint, UNSW Canberra)

2024: Ranji, Ramtin (PhD under re-examination) Secure trading of unlicensed spectrum in CPS (Joint, UNSW Canberra)

2023: Stewart, Harrison, PhD Strengthening Cybersecurity in Digital Transformation (Joint at Flinders)

2022: Hassan, Marwa, PhD Privacy-preservation for cyber-physical systems (UNSW) 

2021: Al-Hawawreh, Muna, PhD Targeted Ransomware intrusion detection for SCADA (Primary at UNSW).

Monks, Kimberley, MpH Intrusion Detection for SCADA systems cybersecurity (Primary at UniSA)

2020: Koroniotis, Nikolaos, Bot-IoT Forensics Framework (Primary UniSA) - recipient of the UNSW Dean’s award for outstanding PhD thesis

2012:  Virallikattur, Subramanian Dhenesh, Integrated Tool-Support for Small Team Meetings within Organisations (Primary at UniSA).

2012: Watt, Allan Charles, Development of a Framework for the Investigation into the Methods Used for the Electronic Trafficking and Concealment of Child Abuse Material (Joint at UniSA).

Honours / Final year Engineering Project Completions

2023:  Sebastian Hoey, Honours thesis:  Analysing and Investigating Utility Residential Solar Inverter Remote Control to Propose an LV Feeder Monitoring Solution Designed to Improve Resilience, Flinders University.

2020: Dominic Hill - final year engineering project: Anomaly Detection during Normal Operation of SCADA Systems using Machine Learning techniques, UNSW Canberra

2019: Kim Offner – Final year health science project with Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney:  Towards understanding cybersecurity capability in Australian healthcare organisations: A systematic review of recent trends, threats. (Offner et al 2020, Q1, cv, p.8)

2017: Thomas Marsden – final year engineering project:  Probability Risk Identification Based Intrusion Detection System for SCADA Systems. (Marsden et al, cv, p.11) UNSW Canberra

2016: Punett Muddu – final year engineering project: Discovering Cyber Vulnerabilities in SCADA Control System via Examination of Water Treatment Plant in Laboratory Environment. UNSW Canberra

2015: Matthew Gaudie – Honours project:  Towards enhancing Australian army capabilities in cybersecurity training. Achieved 1st-Class Honours. UNSW Canberra

Current PhD and Professional Doctorate students

• Soldini, Tanisha, full-time, started in 2024 Developing possible strategies for secure communication between SCADA systems, real data generated in an interconnected world, and critical infrastructure. (Primary at Flinders)
• Coull, Anne, part-time, started 2023 How Australian critical infrastructure organisations can predict and prevent potentially crippling cyber black swan situations. (Primary at Flinders)
• Mark Van Zomeren, part-time, Technical Assurance Models and Frameworks to Assure the Through-life Resilience of Cyber-capable Systems (Joint at UNSW Canberra)