Trainee in Security: Data Privacy Research
This position focuses on developing novel statistical and machine learning approaches to data privacy, with a data and statistical-centric focus (as opposed to a purely legal/ethical one).
Data Privacy is a difficult and ill-defined concept, usually centered around the legal needs of non-reidentification of individuals, among others. At Nokia Bell Labs, we have developed frameworks and mathematical tools to address some of these concerns in very specific and narrow use cases.
Our current research makes use of information theory, statistics and linear algebra, to overcome some of the problems related to measuring privacy and data usability. One of the main long term goals lies in establishing a use case specific metric for privacy and balance it against another data usability metric, for example. This in order to establish what is a sufficient (but not too high) data anonymization “threshold”, again in a very specified context and use case. See for example recent publication at https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-018-9604-7 .
We are looking toward extending such aspects to other use cases, as well as generalising the concepts we have developed. Also, tackling the problem of multiple data sources and cross-referencing entries for re-identification of individuals (or devices…).
This work is mostly theoretical research driven, with potentially advanced group/set theory mathematics and statistics needs. We strive to demonstrate concrete use cases applications of our theoretical work, though, and demonstrators on real data are a must in this work.
You have (or are working towards) a Master degree (ideally a doctorate or working towards one) in Mathematics, Statistics, Machine Learning or a similarly relevant field, with strong experience (academic or industry) in performing research along uncertain directions but with a clear, concrete goal in sight.
You have a good knowledge of Information Theory, with notions on non-Euclidean geometry and metric spaces.
You can program prototypes and working implementations of your theoretical work and research, for example in languages such as Python, and are ready to create such demonstrators of your work.
You are willing to share your expertise with your colleagues. You meet deadlines, identify risks and make an alternative plan accordingly to ensure the outcome of your tasks. You are comfortable in a complex, global product development environment where security development is one key success factor. In addition to being technically skilled you are an effective communicator. To express ideas effectively in our multicultural environment, it is essential that you speak and write English with confidence. As an individual, you are independent-minded yet supportive of your peers. Always ready to take responsibility for your actions and ready to make decisions when needed, you strive for quality in your work. You understand the security needs in the industry of today. You want to work as a researcher in a word-leading research unit at Nokia Bell Labs.
