Dear prospective PhD student. We are looking for a PhD student who wishes to apply for our PhD position in Applied Informatics/Applied Computer Science with the possibility of funding.

PhD Project Title: Detection of phishing web pages.

Tutor: Assoc. Prof. doc. Ing. Jan Bohacik, PhD.

Place of Studies: Department of Informatics, Faculty of Management Science and Informatics, University of Zilina, Zilina, Slovakia.

The University of Zilina is a public university in Zilina, Slovakia established in 1953. It has 231 accredited fields of study in all forms and degrees of university studies. In the field of science and research, University of Zilina participates in 200 national and 41 international scientific projects and organizes about 60 scientific and professional events annually. The University has signed bilateral cooperation agreements with more than 150 foreign partners and it belongs to the most successful universities within the Erasmus Programme, both in the number of seconded staff and students. Students study in modern and well-equipped classrooms and laboratories centralized on the complex and modern university campus at Velky Diel, located in quiet surroundings nearby a forest park but at a reasonable walking distance from the accommodation facilities as well as the historical center of Zilina. University of Zilina has a burning ambition to continue in dynamic growth, to provide high quality education, to educate well-prepared and demanded graduates, and to develop international cooperation both in science and education.

Compulsory Study Units:

Mathematical Principles of Applied Informatics

Theory and Methodology of Applied Informatics

Subject of Specialization

Problem Area Description:

Currently there are millions of web pages on the internet which lead to giving away the personal information, payment and other data of their users. Because of that, various ways of their detection such as methods based on the machine learning algorithms are being developed. Some of them are black boxes providing only detection while others also provide us with interpretable knowledge.

The goal of the project is to design new or improved methods for the detection of phishing web pages and to implement a related software tool. During the development of the methods, it will be important to test the accuracy of the detection of phishing web pages.

The proposed methods will be validated on available or collected data about legitimate and phishing web pages.

Expected Scientific Contributions:

Development of new methods and algorithms for the detection of phishing web pages. Experts will also be helped with understanding the properties of phishing web pages and the decision-making of users during their use of particular visited pages will be improved as well.

Recommended Methods:

Study of available literature, implementation of known techniques for the detection of phishing web pages, development of new or improved algorithms on the basis of available or collected data about legitimate and phishing web pages, and testing of the detection accuracy.

Type of Research: Applied research and experimental development.

Related Results Achieved at the Place of Studies Till Now:

Research and development in the area of algorithms for the detection of phishing has been started within solved tasks [1]. A software tool providing cutting-edge machine learning algorithms is being implemented [2], [3], [4].

[1] J. Bohacik, A. Fuchs, M. Benedikovic, “Detecting compromised accounts on the Pokec online social network,“ in International Conference on Information and Digital Technologies, IEEE, 2017, Slovakia, pp. 56-60.

[2] J. Bohacik, D. N. Davis, “Fuzzy rule-based system applied to risk estimation of cardiovascular patients,“ Journal of Multiple-Valued Logic and Soft Computing, vol. 20, no. 5-6, 2013, pp. 445-466.

[3] J. Bohacik, “Discovering fuzzy rules in databases with linguistic variable elimination,“ Neural Network World, vol. 20, no. 1, 2010, pp. 45-61.

[4] J. Bohacik, M. Zabovsky, “Fuzzy Rule Miner: A software library used in project based teaching of topics related to knowledge discovery in databases“, in IEEE 16th International Conference on Emerging eLearning Technologies and Applications, IEEE, Slovakia, 2018, pp. 75-80.

Application Deadline: 31 May 2019.

Application Fee: 20 EUR (both electronic and traditional).

Entrance Exam: 24 June 2019, 25 June 2019.

Beginning of Studies: 01 September 2019.

Standard Duration of Studies: 3 years for full-time students and 4 years for part-time students.

Study Program: Applied Informatics/Applied Computer Science.

Eligible Countries: Citizens of all nationalities are eligible to apply.

Scholarship Award: Full-time students with permanent stay in any European Union country studying in Slovak or English receive a stipend of 8100 EUR per annum before the Draft of PhD thesis is successfully submitted (at about the end of the first year) and 9438 EUR per annum after it until the end of the standard duration. Full-time students without a permanent stay in any European Union country do not have right to get a stipend but the faculty can decide to give it (it can be a different amount to 8100 EUR/9438 EUR). There are no tuition fees for full-time students studying in Slovak. Part-time students studying in Slovak pay a tuition fee of 2000 EUR per annum. A tuition fee of 3500 EUR is paid by both full-time and part-time students studying in English, but a waiver of this tuition fee might be possible for full-time students by the rector of the university if the tutor recommends it. The stipend is not taxed in Slovakia and it is not subject to any other deductions. Please discuss your specific situation with the faculty so that your options are confirmed exactly.

Email Contact:

Jan.Bohacik(at)fri.uniza.sk [change (at) for @].

Phone: +421-41-513 4187.

Electronic Application Form:

https://vzdelavanie.uniza.sk/prijimacky

Terms & Conditions of the Faculty of Management Science and Informatics, University of Zilina:

https://www.fri.uniza.sk/uploads/files/1554384222-TermsAndConditionsPhD-2019.pdf

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE TERMS & CONDITIONS MAY DEPEND ON YOUR LANGUAGE SKILLS, PERMANENT RESIDENCE AND NATIONALITY. THEREFORE, IT IS RECOMMENDED TO CONTACT US SO THAT THE TERMS & CONDITIONS FOR YOUR SPECIFIC SITUATION COULD BE CONFIRMED.