Ms Carol Lo

Qualifications:

CISSP, CISA, CISM, CIA, FCCA, MSc (Distinction), BBA (First Class)

Position:

Postgraduate Researcher, Associate Lecturer in Cyber Security

Department:

College of Arts, Technology and Environment

Telephone:

+441173281948

Email:

Carol.Lo@uwe.ac.uk

Social media:

About me

My pursuit of knowledge brought me from Hong Kong to the University of the West of England, where I earned my MSc in Cyber Security. Alongside my studies, I have taken on teaching and research roles that support student learning and the development of future cybersecurity professionals.

My research focuses on detecting stealthy cyber threats in industrial cyber-physical systems (CPS), particularly attacks that exploit legitimate tools and system functions—known as Living-off-the-Land (LOTL) techniques. These threats are challenging to detect and can have serious real-world consequences.

My doctoral work uses simulation-based testbeds to study cyber-physical attacks and develop practical detection strategies. I am especially interested in designing interpretable security mechanisms that support human decision-making and improve early detection in complex operational environments.

Area of expertise

PhD thesis title:
Micro-, meso-, and macro-level detection of Advanced Persistent Threats in industrial cyber-physical systems: A focus on Living-off-the-Land techniques

This research investigates how stealthy, multi-stage cyber-physical attacks can be detected in industrial environments where traditional monitoring approaches often operate in isolation. It proposes a decision fusion framework that integrates evidence from process, network, and host domains to improve detection timeliness and reliability under conditions of partial observability.

The work is evaluated using simulation-based industrial testbeds and demonstrates that combining cross-domain evidence enhances situational awareness compared with single-layer detection approaches. The research contributes practical, human-centred monitoring strategies for industrial cyber-physical systems and supports safer experimentation through reproducible simulation environments.

Director of Studies:
Professor Phil Legg

Supervisors:
Dr Thomas Win (University of Sunderland)
Dr Zeinab Rezaeifar
Professor Zaheer Khan

Research interests:
Industrial cyber-physical system security; Living-off-the-Land attack detection; multimodal information fusion; operational technology security monitoring; interpretable security controls; cyber-physical resilience; integrated auditing; business and IT assurance; IT risk and control assessment; business process improvement.

Publications

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