Research Blog for Mark Vaszary

Google Scholar for Mark Vaszary

I'm a PhD engineering student at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Security specialization. My concentration is with cyber security, with my primary interests being with network security.

My research has been focused on radio frequency transmissions and security impacts to privacy and confidentiality of those transmissions. I started researching vehicle security with software defined radio (SDR) and CAN-BUS communications within vehicles. But have expanded my security research into satellite communications, starting with the Blockstream satellite receiver and Galaxy 18.

I received my bachelors degree and masters degree from the University of California, Davis, obtaining a BS in Computer Engineering and Masters in Business Administration (MBA). I also hold active/current certifications as a Project Management Professional (PMP), as well as Security+ from CompTIA. Other certifications I've obtained, include Microsoft Certified Database professional, Oracle Certified Professional Database Administration, Web Development certificate from University of California, Davis, and Project Management certificate from George Washington University.

Outside of my academic pursuits, I've dabbled in real estate investing in my spare time. As a result, I hold current real estate licenses at the employing broker level, in both California and Colorado. For several years, I did run my own independent real estate agency (Neighborly Realty) and employed Realtors as independent contractors, but I'm not currently practicing buying and selling real estate in either state with clients.

When I'm not busy with my day job as a product security lead at a global software development company, or busy with my "night job" for my PhD studies, my other interests include spending time with my wife, kids and our dogs, golfing (banner picture above was taken while golfing at Pine Creek golf course in Colorado Springs), mountain biking, off-roading and exploring the paths less traveled in my Jeep Wrangler with friends and local 4WD clubs.

I'm also a vehicle enthusiast and participate as time allows in the Colorado Springs Electric Vehicle club, volunteering and participating in club events throughout Colorado Springs and Colorado to help promote sustainability with electric vehicles and solar power generation (completed Solar Electric Design and Installation (Grid-Direct) training with Solar Energy International). Before I started the pursuit of my PhD, I was in the process of getting a series of automotive service technician certificates, which I did obtain from Pikes Peak Community College for: HVAC, Steering and Suspension. When more free time becomes available again, I'd like to go back and get my certification with Brake Systems next.

Meet My Mentors and Peers (Work in Progress...)

Dr. Sang-Yoon Chang Dr. Chang is my academic advisor and mentor, and has given me a lot of insights and direction toward writing and submitting academic papers for publication. Through his weekly lab seminars, I've been learning a lot about other research areas focused around security (such as blockchain, digital currencies, network security, memory hardware security, etc.) from the research that his other graduate students and post doctorates are doing in his lab. Dr. Chang's research is in the area of security of networked systems with a focus on wireless and mobile systems. He also has interests in bridging theoretical insights and systems implementation to design practical security solutions. I really appreciate his organization, attention to detail, and comprehensive understanding of his security domains, which I've also seen first hand from his CS 5920 course on Cryptography and Network Security.

Andreas Slovacek Andreas and I have worked together on research projects related to vehicular security and satellite communications, since we both started our graduate degrees at UCCS. Interestingly too, is that we both attended and graduated from the University of California, Davis. We started with researching security of vehicular CAN-Bus communications and have shifted to blockstream satellite communications and security concerns with jamming the receiving nodes.

Taniza Sultana Taniza and I both got accepted into the program at the same time and we become friends and teammates immediately. Taniza's research area focuses on Laser Optical Communications, as well as embedded system testing of mobile devices. She is conducting research on notification delays with wearable devices, as well as starting up additional research projects relating to machine learning and artificial intelligence. In our first semester at UCCS, we worked together on a survey paper in the vehicle security domain, titled "Security Risk in Connected Vehicles and Threats via Connected Mobile Devices". It was a combination of both our research areas for CS 6000: Research Methods.

There are additional people to be added, as I still need to build my dissertation review committee and add other peers to this list.