Prof. Dr. Ir. Harald Vranken (1969) completed several studies at Eindhoven University of Technology in the field of information and communication technology and obtained his PhD there in 1998. From 1998 to 2005 he worked as a senior scientist at the renowned NatLab of Philips Research, where he conducted research looked at methods and techniques to efficiently test complex digital chips, including through self-testing. He has worked at the Open University since 2006 and his focus is on cyber security. He has also been seconded to the Digital Security group of Radboud University since 2014.
Vranken was appointed professor of Cyber Security at the Faculty of Science of the Open University in 2023. He leads the research line that analyzes vulnerabilities in modern ICT technologies in the field of security and privacy and proposes solutions to resolve them. A focus of this research is the application of AI to improve security and privacy, as well as the security and privacy of AI-based systems. The research focuses on technical aspects of cyber security within the field of information science, and also makes a connection with research at the Open University in the field of information security management in the field of information science.
In recent years, Vranken has taught at the Open University and Radboud University in the field of network security, web security and software security. He has also given numerous training courses and lectures. Vranken has conducted research into, among other things, the application of virtual labs in security education, administrative aspects of information security, internet security and the user-friendliness of security measures. In 2017, he was one of the first scientists to publish on the excessive energy consumption associated with securing cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, which led to global media attention. In the last five years, his research has mainly focused on the application of AI for cyber security. He investigates how AI can be applied to detect traces of malicious activities, such as botnets, in internet traffic and how AI can help find security vulnerabilities in the source code of software.
