Dr Richard Thomas PhD, BSc. (Hons), MSc., MBCS

Dr Richard Thomas

School of Computer Science
Honorary Senior Research Fellow

Contact details

Address
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Richard Thomas is a UKRRIN  Industrial Fellow in Data Integration and Cybersecurity.

His Ph.D. Thesis reviewed the cybersecurity for some of the UK and European railway standards, identifying the challenges and proposing solutions to ensure future security. His research interests include the security of the ‘industrial internet-of-things’ and how we can leverage the wealth of data available from the rail sector. He also takes an interest in general cybersecurity topics including cybersecurity education and consumer issues, featuring on the BBC’s Rip Off Britain programme in mid-2018.

Richard was part of the Research Institute in Threats to Industrial Control Systems and is now a member of the Research Institute in Trustworthy Interconnected Cyberphysical Systems, receiving a grant to address the challenges the rail sector faces when moving towards compliance with the EU Network and Information Systems Directive.

Qualifications

  • Ph.D. in Computer Science, University of Birmingham, 2019
  • MSc. in Computer Security, University of Birmingham, 2015
  • BSc. (Hons) in Computer Science, University of Birmingham, 2014

Biography

Richard Thomas qualified with a BSc. (Hons) in Computer Science from the University of Birmingham in 2014, with a MSc. in Computer Security in 2015. He went on to study for a Ph.D. in Computer Science in 2018, with a particular focus on cybersecurity threats to the incoming European Rail Traffic Management (ERTMS) standard.

In 2018, he joined the UK Rail Research and Innovation Network (UKRRIN) as an Industrial Fellow in Data Integration and Cybersecurity in the UKRRIN Centre for Excellence in Digital Systems, based at the University of Birmingham.

Research

Richard’s research interests lie in the areas of: cybersecurity of railway systems; assurance of industrial supply chains, data analytics; and cybersecurity issues associated with the ‘internet of things’.

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Bearfield, G, Van Gulijk, C & Thomas, RJ 2022, 'Redefining rail systems verification and validation: the safety/security STAIRCASE model', Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part F: Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit. https://doi.org/10.1177/09544097221102292

Chapter

Chothia, T, Novakovic, C, Radu, AI & Thomas, RJ 2019, Choose Your Pwn Adventure: Adding Competition and Storytelling to an Introductory Cybersecurity Course. in Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics). Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), vol. 11345 LNCS, Springer Verlag, pp. 141-172. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-59351-6_12

Conference contribution

Bearfield, G, van Gulijk, C, Parkinson, S & Thomas, RJ 2023, Transformation of cyber security/safety assurance. in World Congress on Railway Research 2022. WCRR Papers, SPARK, 13th World Congress on Railway Research, Birmingham, United Kingdom, 6/06/22. <https://www.rssb.co.uk/spark/sparkitem/pb029338>

Preece, J, Samra, M, Thomas, RJ & Easton, J 2022, A video game-inspired approach for a pedestrian guidance system within a railway station. in Y Chen, H Ludwig, Y Tu, U Fayyad, X Zhu, X Hu, S Byna, X Liu, J Zhang, S Pan, V Papalexakis, J Wang, A Cuzzocrea & C Ordonez (eds), 2021 IEEE International Conference on Big Data (Big Data)., 9671420, IEEE International Conference on Big Data, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), pp. 2919-2924, 2021 IEEE International Conference on Big Data (Big Data), 15/12/21. https://doi.org/10.1109/BigData52589.2021.9671420

Thomas, RJ, Gardiner, J, Chothia, T, Samanis, E, Perrett, J & Rashid, A 2020, Catch me if you can: an in-depth study of CVE discovery time and inconsistencies for managing risks in critical infrastructures. in CPSIOTSEC'20: Proceedings of the 2020 Joint Workshop on CPS&IoT Security and Privacy. Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), pp. 49-60, CPSIOTSec: The Joint Workshop on CPS & IoT Security and Privacy, 9/11/20. https://doi.org/10.1145/3411498.3419970

Thomas, RJ & Chothia, T 2020, Learning from Vulnerabilities - Categorising, Understanding and Detecting Weaknesses in Industrial Control Systems. in S Katsikas, F Cuppens, N Cuppens, C Lambrinoudakis, C Kalloniatis, J Mylopoulos, A Antón, S Gritzalis, W Meng & S Furnell (eds), Computer Security - ESORICS 2020 International Workshops, CyberICPS, SECPRE, and ADIoT, 2020, Revised Selected Papers. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), vol. 12501 LNCS, Springer, pp. 100-116, 6th International Workshop on Security of Industrial Control Systems and Cyber-Physical Systems, CyberICPS 2020, 2nd International Workshop on Security and Privacy Requirements Engineering, SECPRE 2020, and 3rd International Workshop on Attacks and Defenses for Internet-of-Things, ADIoT 2020, held in conjunction with 25th European Symposium on Research in Computer Security, ESORICS 2020, Guildford, United Kingdom, 14/09/20. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64330-0_7

Chothia, T, Ordean, M, De Ruiter, J & Thomas, RJ 2017, An attack against message authentication in the ERTMS train to trackside communication protocols. in ASIA CCS '17: Proceedings of the 2017 ACM on Asia Conference on Computer and Communications Security. Association for Computing Machinery , New York, NY, USA, pp. 743-756, ASIA CCS '17, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 2/04/17. https://doi.org/10.1145/3052973.3053027

Chothia, T, Holdcroft, S, Radu, A-I & Thomas, RJ 2017, Jail, Hero or Drug Lord? Turning a Cyber Security Course Into an 11 Week Choose Your Own Adventure Story. in 2017 USENIX Workshop on Advances in Security Education (ASE '17). USENIX Association, Vancouver, BC, 2017 USENIX Workshop on Advances in Security Education, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 15/08/17. <https://www.usenix.org/conference/ase17/workshop-program/presentation/chothia>

Thomas, R, Ordean, M, Chothia, T & De Ruiter, J 2017, TRAKS: A Universal Key Management Scheme for ERTMS. in ACSAC 2017 Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Computer Security Applications Conference. Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), pp. 327-338, 33rd Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC 2017), Orlando, Florida, United States, 4/12/17. https://doi.org/10.1145/3134600.3134631

Chothia, T, De Ruiter, J & Thomas, RJ 2016, A Formal Security Analysis of ERTMS Train to Trackside Protocols. in Reliability, Safety, and Security of Railway Systems. Modelling, Analysis, Verification, and Certification., Chapter 4, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 9707, Springer, pp. 53-68, RSSRail 2016, First International Conference, Paris, France, 28/06/16. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33951-1_4

Paper

Thomas, RJ, Chothia, T & Ordean, M 2022, 'Cyber security in the rail sector - an integrated approach', Paper presented at 13th World Congress on Railway Research, Birmingham, United Kingdom, 6/06/22 - 10/06/22.

Thomas, RJ, Easton, J, Preece, J, Samra, M & Nonyelu, F 2022, 'Developing a 5G-enabled crowd management and passenger navigation solution for post-COVID-19 multi-modal travel', Paper presented at 13th World Congress on Railway Research, Birmingham, United Kingdom, 6/06/22 - 10/06/22.

View all publications in research portal