As part of the work on the INNOSOC research project, an interview was conducted with two of its key experts – Dominika Toman and Martin Mičiak from the Faculty of Management Science and Informatics, University of Žilina (FRI UNIZA).

The interview offers a deeper look at how academic research is connected with real-world practice in cybersecurity.

What is the goal of the INNOSOC project?

The project focuses on connecting research and innovation in the field of Security Operations Centers (SOC). Its main aims are to:

• Create technological solutions and designs for organisations that want to secure their cybersecurity.

• Provide an alternative to expensive commercial solutions by using and integrating suitable open-source components.

• Deliver usable outputs for public administration, businesses and the professional community.

The role of management in research

Although the project’s subject is distinctly technical, Dominika Toman and Martin Mičiak represent the Department of Management Theories. Their role lies above all in managing and coordinating the entire project.

In the interview, they stressed that the project is an excellent opportunity for them to apply project management knowledge directly in practice. They then bring their experience of managing technical experts and collaborating with a business partner (BRAIN:IT) into their teaching and lectures for students.

Challenges and risk management

Working on such a complex project brings several challenges, which were discussed:

• Partner coordination: aligning the academic environment with the business world and resolving communication noise.

• Timeline: one challenge, for example, was aligning mandatory university holidays with planned project team meetings.

• Scientific work: preparing indexed scientific outputs and publications is a lengthy process that requires planning well in advance because of peer review.

Benefits for practice and the professional community

According to the experts, the project’s most important output is the so-called “proof of concept” – verification that the proposed architecture built on open-source tools is genuinely applicable and sustainable.

For small businesses and public administration bodies, this means they can increase their protection against cyber threats without huge financial investments in licences or building their own expertise “from scratch”.

This article is an output of the project “Multitenant Cybersecurity Operations Center Delivered as an Open Cloud Service with Machine Learning Elements.”

Project code – 09I05-03-V02-00010.