Rudrarajsinh Gohil, Dharitri Tripathy, photo supplied
Our fast-moving digital world relies heavily on the internet and UWinnipeg graduate student Dharitri Tripathy is working to improve security in that realm.
One of her graduate courses, Advance Cloud Computing, taught by Assistant Professor Dr. Talal Halabi, emphasizes identifying web attacks related to SQL injection (commonly used by hackers) to protect applications deployed on a web platform.
Working with Halabi, she and fellow graduate student Rudrarajsinh Gohil developed a Python-based application to address the ongoing security attacks on cloud platforms. Their research, Detecting SQL Injection Attacks in Cloud SaaS Using Machine Learning, was recently published and presented at the conference BigDataSecurity-HPSC-IDS 2020 under BDS7.
“We as a team analysed several possible web attacks by intruders to the the cloud platforms,” explained Tripathy. “Out of them we have provided a solution to the highest number of threats caused by injecting malicious SQL queries. Our application uses machine learning. We are extremely happy that our research paper was accepted by such a reputed conference where the acceptance rate was only 18 per cent.”
Tripathy is a long way from home. She comes from a small city named Cuttack in the state of Odisha in India. As a girl growing up in Cuttack, she was able to to surpass the social taboos of her community and pursue her education.
“Nothing can stop you if your passion ignites you within,” said Tripathy. “In my battle of social norms and getting my education, especially in computer programming, this passion became my sword. Pursuing higher education has given me the platform to showcase my skills for which I will always remain grateful.”
“Dharitri is a very passionate computer science student,” said Halabi. “I am proud to work with diligent, achieving Applied Computer Science students like her. Dharitri and Rudrarajsinh had remarkable ideas and their project is of highest quality in terms of innovation and scientific results. Dharitri is a great example of how women can succeed in our program, and I foresee for her a future full of great accomplishments and opportunities in research in this competitive industry.”
Gohil is also an international student who enjoys doing research at UWinnipeg. He says his professors are helpful and encourage him to reach his potential.
“UWinnipeg provides impactful research opportunities as well as all the required resources which students need along with their education,” said Gohil. “We have access to our labs 24/7 and we can even use our labs on holidays. The classes offer diverse communities that drive the students to collaborate as a team to work on a project.”
Tripathy and Gohil are both in their second year of their Master of Science in Applied Computer Science and Society at UWinnipeg.
