Olusogo Popoola: Internet of Things (IoT) Security and Ethics pertaining to Smart Home Wellbeing Monitoring

Olusogo gained an extensive background in Computer Engineering as a research fellow and has recently become a lecturer. From then on, they decided to continue their research when they were invited by their passionate supervisory team to AWRC.

What is your PhD research focused on?

Developing an authorisation framework that could secure ethical disclosure of private data in a smart home setting using permission blockchain as a service.

Why is it an important area of study?

In the Smart Home setting, data security and user privacy remain an unresolved challenge, mainly due to the vast scale and distributed nature of IoT networks.

In proffering a viable solution that could ensure privacy preservation in a smart home ecosystem, the factors such as fine-grained access control and data ownership scheme, benefits of data transparency, traceability and audibility which supports privacy preservation, and tamper-resistant data storage are being investigated by exploiting features of blockchain enabling technology. Furthermore, a privacy model will be used to construe a decision-making model for the proposed data security implementation in the blockchain.

Confidentiality is a strong factor of privacy in ensuring information is only accessible to those with a proven need to see it, and a resilient authorisation framework is expected to tackle the adversarial model of data interception and modification.

The authorisation framework will be developed based on the concept of privacy by design (default), and the focus is on secure/authorised data acquisition, storage, monitoring, and the benefits of data transparency to the data owner, publisher, and consumer in a smart home setting (though application-agnostic).

Tell us about your career/academic journey so far

I achieved my BEng in Electrical/Electronics Engineering in Nigeria in 1995, and my MSc Eng. in Computer and Network Engineering from Sheffield Hallam University in 2017. I was employed in the facilities engineering department of ExxonMobil in Q.I.T-Eket, Nigeria from 1995 to 1998 as a trainee/contract engineer. I worked on a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) and Electronic Gas Metering (EGM) project on twenty-six UBIT and ASABA wellhead offshore facilities. Remote Terminal Units (RTUs), Master Terminal Units and Power Systems were installed to monitor and control the flow of crude oil for efficient acquisition, storage and production of crude oil extracts.

Upon joining the services of the ICT directorate of the University of Ilorin, Nigeria in November 1998 in a bid to obtain a master’s degree in Electrical/Electronics, I was part of the team (and head of Unit) that progressively deployed a comprehensive campus area network and web presence which can be seen here. After my MSc CNE programme at Hallam, I moved to the Department of Computer Engineering as a research fellow and was recently promoted to lecturer. I was sponsored by my home university/employer for my MSc and am now benefitting from the same sponsorship for my ongoing research degree in I2RI-SHU.

Why did you choose to study with the AWRC/SHU?

Sheffield Hallam provided the enabling research environment that I have longed for, and my earlier contact during my MSc degree made the offer for a research degree irresistible. In addition, AWRC has a wonderful atmosphere and collaborative academic environment where I get adequate support on my ongoing research domain in privacy preservation. My passionate supervisory team have invited me over to AWRC and I have attended some workshop there as well, thus, testifying to the great academic research environment it presents.

What’s it like being a PhD student at the AWRC? What do you enjoy most?

AWRC has a wonderful atmosphere and collaborative academic environment where I get support on my ongoing research domain in privacy preservation. It also has an environments that augments research “alertness” through the promotion of physical activity and wellbeing.

What do you hope to do after your PhD?

Return to my home university and keep a strong research (collaborative) tie with Sheffield Hallam and AWRC.

See Olusogo’s publication record on Google Scholar.

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