Nawigacja po nowych granicach: Podróż Strahinji Janjusevic w dziedzinie cyberbezpieczeństwa morskiego

Have you ever wondered where an academic journey might possibly take you? For Strahinja (Strajo) Janjusevic, a young scholar from the small Balkan nation of Montenegro, this journey took him from his homeland to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, where he paved his academic and professional path studying cyber operations and computer science. Now, he’s walking another exciting academic path, pursuing a master’s degree at the acclaimed MIT’s Technology and Policy Program (TPP) within the MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS).

On Academic Paths and Research Interests

As a part of his ongoing educational saga, Janjusevic is deeply immersed in research aiming to enhance maritime cybersecurity. Collaborating with the MIT Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS) i MIT Maritime Consortium, his venture aims to employ artificial intelligence in safeguarding critical maritime infrastructure, all too often targeted by cyberattacks.

“I’m particularly interested in how AI can be applied the cybersecurity sphere, especially within the maritime domain,” shares Janjusevic. “Representing Montenegro at some of the world’s finest educational institutions has certainly provided me a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities in cybersecurity.”

Janjusevic’s academic voyage to the U.S. began when he was selected through a program that welcomed students from allied nations to attend the U.S. Naval Academy. Following his graduation with dual degrees, valuable experience was gained through partnerships with not only the U.S. military but also the National Security Agency. His journey included internships at prestigious organizations like Microsoft and NASA, where he developed tools for cloud incident response and visualized solar data.

Risk Mitigation and Further Ventures

Recognizing the need to delve deeper into the intricacies of AI and cybersecurity, Janjusevic found the TPP program perfectly aligned with his industry interests. Broadening his skills across multiple research domains has been an invigorating shift from the U.S. Naval Academy environment. “My TPP experience has been extraordinary,” he says. “We’re a small, close-knit cohort working on diverse, significant problems.”

Janjusevic’s ambitious thesis seeks to secure maritime cyber-physical systems from potential threats, focusing closely on large legacy ships whose network hacking could engender national security and economic instability. As Saurabh Amin, the Edmund K. Turner Professor in Civil Engineering elucidates, “Strajo has been instrumental in advancing our work on threat modeling and attack detection. His approach blends physics-based trajectory models with deep learning to pinpoint threats that otherwise can’t be detected.”

Diving Deeper into the Industry and Future Plans

Not confined to the academic sphere, Janjusevic’s research is also refined by his industry experience, notably from his internship at Vectra AI, an AI cybersecurity firm. There, he studied the potential threats arising from the evolving technology, paving the way for the development of anomalous detection models in his research.

Committed to bridge the gap between Europe and the U.S. in addressing AI, cybersecurity, and national security issues, Janjusevic remains actively engaged in the cybersecurity efforts of the Maritime Consortium. His policy-driven approach to tackling cybersecurity concerns earned him the admiration of Fotini Christia, the Ford International Professor of the Social Sciences.

“In my experience, policy forms an integral part of AI cybersecurity, as the field evolves quickly and the implications of hacking can be severe,” emphasizes Janjusevic. In the end, his ultimate objective remains steadfast – to drive forward in this rapidly evolving field, while fostering transatlantic collaboration and innovation.

Learn more about Strahinja Janjusevic’s impressive work on MIT News.