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VIDE - Vault App Identification and Extraction System for iOS Devices

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A conversation with women in cybersecurity and healthcare

Gokila Dorai, PhD, is an assistant professor in the School of Computer and Cyber Sciences at Augusta University. Dorai’s area of expertise is mobile/IoT forensics research. She is passionate about inventing digital tools to help victims and survivors of various digital crimes.

Artifical Intelligence

System Security

Digital Forensics

Digital Crimes

Software Development

Mobile Computing

loT forensics research

Faculty Profile Augusta University - Gokila Dorai

Protecting your data on even the most unlikely devices

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Dr. Dorai’s area of expertise is mobile/IoT forensics research and developing a targeted data extraction system for digital forensics.

Assistant Professor

  Artificial Intelligence is dominating the news cycle. There's a lot to know, a lot to prepare for and also a lot of misinformation or assumptions that are making their way into the mainstream coverage.

Recently, Augusta University's Gokila Dorai, PhD, took some time to answer some of the more important question's she's seeing being asked about Artificial Intelligence.

 Gokila Dorai, PhD, is an assistant professor in the School of Computer and Cyber Sciences at Augusta University. Dorai’s area of expertise is mobile/IoT forensics research. She is passionate about inventing digital tools to help victims and survivors of various digital crimes. View her profile here Q. What excites you most about your current research in digital forensics and AI?  "I am most excited about using artificial intelligence to produce frameworks for practitioners make sense of complex digital evidence more quickly and fairly. My research combines machine learning with natural language processing incorporating a socio-technical framework, so that we don’t just get accurate results, but also understand how and why the system reached those results. This is especially important when dealing with sensitive investigations, where transparency builds trust."

 

Q. How does your work help address today’s challenges around cybersecurity and data privacy?  "Everyday life is increasingly digital, our phones, apps, and online accounts contain deeply personal information. My research looks at how we can responsibly analyze this data during investigations without compromising privacy. For example, I work on AI models that can focus only on what is legally relevant, while filtering out unrelated personal information. This balance between security and privacy is one of the biggest challenges today, and my work aims to provide practical solutions."

 Q. What role do you see artificial intelligence playing in shaping the future of digital investigations?  "AI will be a critical partner in digital investigations. The volume of data investigators face is overwhelming, thousands of documents, chat messages, and app logs. AI can help organize and prioritize this information, spotting patterns that a human might miss. At the same time, I believe AI must be designed to be explainable and resilient against manipulation, so investigators and courts can trust its findings. The future isn’t about replacing human judgment, but about giving investigators smarter tools."

 

Q. What is one misconception people often have about cybersecurity or digital forensics?  "A common misconception is that digital forensics is like what you see on TV, instant results with a few keystrokes. In reality, it’s a painstaking process that requires both technical skill and ethical responsibility. Another misconception is that cybersecurity is only about protecting large organizations. In truth, individuals face just as many risks, from identity theft to app data leaks, and my research highlights how better tools can protect everyone."

Are you a reporter covering Artificial intelligence and looking to know more?  If so, then let us help with your stories. Gokila Dorai, PhD, is available for interviews. Simply click on her icon now to arrange a time today.







Ask an Expert: Augusta University's Gokila Dorai, PhD, talks Artificial Intelligence

can-you-be-hacked-while-using-your-mobile-device-in-a-word-yes-heres-how-to-protect-your-data

 October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month and being aware of all your devices is as important as ever before. Most people are online every day, which opens themselves up to a threat of being hacked. Whether it be a mobile device, laptop, or personal computer, everyone needs to have cyber awareness.

Steven Weldon, director of the Cyber Institute at Augusta University’s School of Computer and Cyber Sciences said many straightforward things that can be done to protect devices, such as having lock screens, making sure operating systems are up to date and simply recognizing how, when and where devices are being used.

“Smart phones today are probably the most capable computing device that we have and we have it on us all the time,” said Weldon.    “The data that can be extracted from these devices can be put together to build a pattern of life on us: where we go, what we do and when we do it. All of this data is potentially at risk if we’re not being careful about who gets access to our smart phones. That’s a great reason to lock the screen and require at least a password or pin to unlock the phone.”  Gokila Dorai, PhD, assistant professor in the School of Computer and Cyber Sciences, suggests using biometrics to enhance security.

“I would strongly recommend for women, young adults even teenagers, if it’s possible for you to have biometrics as a way to unlock your device, then go for that. These unique ways of unlocking a device would add a layer of protection,” said Dorai.   Dorai is one of the growing experts in the field of mobile forensics and her research projects are federally funded. In addition, several SCCS faculty are mentoring undergraduate and graduate students working on cutting edge research related to mobile device security and digital forensics.

She also suggested adding a two-factor authentication or multi-factor authentication to add an extra layer of security.

When out in the public, it’s easy to connect a mobile device to an unprotected Wi-Fi network. Doing so could open up sites you visit to a hacker. Weldon suggests people should be careful of what apps are used when on public Wi-Fi, since they may expose a lot of personally identifiable information. His suggestion is to use a virtual private network to help protect data that’s being transmitted and received.

“We should recognize the data on our smart phones and protect them accordingly,” added Weldon. “Recognizing the value and sensitivity of the data on our smart phones can guide us in how we protect these devices. We may not think as much about the security and privacy of our smart phones as we do about our laptops and desktops. When we think about everything we use our smartphones for, how ubiquitous they are in our lives, we come to realize just how central they are to today’s lifestyle in the digital age.”  It’s tough to identify when a mobile device has been hijacked, so both Weldon and Dorai suggest paying close attention to any unusual behavior, even small things such as a battery draining faster than usual. Both are indicators you may need to take corrective actions.

 Dorai added the government can do more to protect a person’s privacy.

“With the introduction of more and more Internet of Things devices in the market, with several different manufacturers, there’s a lot of user data that’s actually getting exchanged. These days, the most valuable thing in the world is data. So stricter measures are required,” she said.  She indicated it needs to be a collaborative effort between industry, academia, government, and practitioners to come together and work on ideas to strengthen security.


“Yes we want security. We are willing to put up with a little bit of friction for additional security. We want it easy and we generally want it free,” said Weldon. “We don’t read licensing agreements, but we would generally be willing to take certain actions, make certain tradeoffs, to be more secure.”  One other major concern are apps in general. While Google Play Store and Apple routinely remove some apps that may be out of date or have security vulnerabilities, they may still be running on a user’s device.

“Mobile applications may also hide from you in plain sight in the sense the app icons may not be showing up on the screen, but still they are running in the background,” added Dorai.   In essence, the device user is the first line of defense. Taking all the necessary steps to prevent a third party from getting your information is of the utmost importance in the digital age.

“I believe a big part of it this discussion is about user awareness. We want that free app but that app is asking for a lot of permissions. There’s an old saying in cybersecurity: if you are not paying for the product, you are the product. There’s also another saying: if it’s smart, it’s vulnerable,” said Weldon.  Are you a reporter covering Cybersecurity Awareness Month? If so - then let us help with your stories.

Steven Weldon is the Director of  Cyber Institute at the School of Computer and Cyber Sciences at Augusta University and is an expert in the areas of cellular and mobile technology, ethics in computer science, scripting and scripting and automation.

Gokila Dorai is an Assistant Professor in the School of Computer and Cyber Sciences at Augusta University and is an expert in the areas is mobile/IoT forensics research.

Both experts are available for interviews - simply click on either icon to arrange a time today.
 


Can you be hacked while using your mobile device? In a word, yes — here’s how to protect your data

"Believe in you! You will win!". Gokila chose Florida State University to pursue a graduate degree since it is one of the top research institutions with high values, excellent infrastructure and exceptional faculty. As a woman in the field of computer science and as a gold medalist from the university in India where she pursued her undergraduate degree, she felt how wonderful things could be if she pursued a graduate degree.
Her research aims at producing highly efficient tools to Law Enforcement for Digital Forensics using AI and Machine Learning. Gokila aims to become a Tenure-Track Faculty at a reputed research institution and establish a digital forensic lab with a welcoming environment for highly motivated students who are interested in cyber security and forensics. She states that there are no barriers to success if you keep aiming for the sky with passion and perseverance! 

Interview and Video Credit - Samantha Klupchak and Enrique Toledo

Gokila Dorai - FSU Doctoral Student (Computer Science) - Digital Narratives

In this Tech N' Talk, Gokila Dorai (FSU) and Eleanor Mehlenbacher (Red Hat) share their best practices for deploying TensorFlow on OpenShift and demo doing linear regression analysis using Jupyter Notebook as a jumping off point. This collaboration on TensorFlow started as part of the OpenShift Hackathon for Humanity that the Red Hat Consulting team hosted and mentored participants in the hands-on portion of the Open Source track at the 2017 Grace Hopper Celebration in Orlando, Florida.

TensorFlow is helping to accelerate machine learning research and make technology work better for everyone. There has been an amazing amount of activity around the project: More than 480 people have contributed directly to TensorFlow and we are pleased to have Gokila Dorai as our guest to talk about her work testing and deploying TensorFlow on OpenShift.

Tech N' Talk # 6: Tensorflow on OpenShift with Gokila Dorai and Eleanor Mehlenbacher

For the talk details see: https://the-au-forml-lab.github.io/colloquium_talks/Dorai.html

Paper mentioned in the video: https://rb.gy/ctrynp

Identification and Extraction of Content-hiding iOS Applications by Dr. Gokila Dorai

It's Women's History Month, Angela Taylor, an Augusta University College of Nursing student shares her inspiring journey of becoming a healthcare provider. From being a mother and wife to previously serving in the Army, her ambition has led to her success in everything she does. 

Gokila Dorai, PhD, assistant professor for the School of Computer and Cyber Sciences, advises women students to stay motivated and expand further into the male dominated field. She also shares the growing impact artificial intelligence will on education, and how it currently being taught in classrooms. 

Cierra Williams, our reigning Miss Augusta University and a soon to be graduate from cybersecurity, joins Dorai to share her undergraduate experiences  and the impact teachers have made on her career-based decisions.

Stream more episodes of In the Wild on Apple, Spotify and Google Play.

Catch up with Raysean Ricks, an Augusta University alumnus, as he discusses "wild" topics across campus — everything from university news and events to candid, entertaining interviews with members of the AU community.
 
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