Cybersecurity research at FIT in Taiwan: our students not only at the HITCON conference

In August 2026, a group of three young researchers from the Faculty of Information Technology at Brno University of Technology set off on a study trip to Taiwan. As part of a packed programme, our students visited leading Taiwanese universities, research institutions and technology companies. The main aim of the trip was to attend the major cybersecurity conference Hacks in Taiwan Conference (HITCON), this year’s theme being ‘When AI Acts: Hacking the Age of Agentic Systems’.

The trip was organised by the Czech Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei with the support of the CzechInvest agency. Whilst in the past such trips were mainly attended by experienced academics and established experts, this time the opportunity was given to three young researchers from FIT VUT. The aim was to familiarise themselves with one of the most dynamic cybersecurity ecosystems in Asia, present their own research and establish contacts for potential future collaboration. Representing the Security@FIT research group, Matej Olexa, a Master’s student (currently in his fifth year), who has been part of the group for several years, was nominated for the trip. Representing the NES@FIT research group were Nelson Makau Mutua, a PhD student at our faculty, and Michal Novák, who began his PhD studies in September.

Matej Olexa has been collaborating with the Security research group since his second year of study, which is unusual. “A lot of people probably don’t know this, but even at bachelor’s level we have the option to enrol in the ‘Project Practice’ module. Some research groups approach talented students with good results to ask if they might be interested in collaborating. I learnt about this opportunity from older friends and contacted Associate Professor Malinka myself to ask if I could get involved in their work,” says Olexa, reflecting on his early days. During his master’s degree, he moved on from his original topic of Bluetooth Low Energy monitoring to the security of large language models, in collaboration with Red Hat. Specifically, he is currently interested in model integrity checking – Olexa is focusing on methods for identifying so-called ‘fact injection’, i.e. the targeted insertion of factual information into a model or its context in order to influence the resulting reaction or response.

Global Centre for Cybersecurity

During their visit to Taiwan, Matej Olexa, Nelson Makau Mutua and Michal Novák presented the activities of their groups as well as the research focus of the entire Faculty of Information Technology. Their participation, incidentally, demonstrates that FIT students can engage in cutting-edge research and international collaboration at all stages of their studies. The original motivation for their trip was to attend the aforementioned HITCON conference. Thanks to the initiative of Dominika Urhová, Head of the Scientific and Technical Section at the Czech Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei, this was complemented by a series of meetings with representatives from universities, research centres and technology companies. Among other places, the trio visited the Panasonic Cybersecurity Lab, Taiwan AI Labs, TeamT5, the National Institute of Cyber Security and National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University. Our representatives also held talks with representatives from Academia Sinica, National Taiwan University, BaaS Innovation and other organisations. In many cases, they had the opportunity to discuss matters directly with professors, chief technology officers or senior researchers. “For me, the highlight was probably the visit to the National Institute of Cyber Security in Taipei – essentially a counterpart to our NÚKIB – where we also held talks with the institute’s president. Overall, the trip offered us several meetings at a level I had previously thought was beyond my reach,” recalls Olexa. The technical discussions focused, for example, on the security of artificial intelligence, the integrity and forensic analysis of large language models, the forensic analysis of cryptocurrencies, and the security of industrial control systems. A great deal of attention is being paid to a number of these topics in Taiwan, partly due to the geopolitical situation in the region. “The country is heavily focused on semiconductor manufacturing, and the subject cuts across many disciplines. A deep understanding of hardware is typical among local students and researchers,” adds Olexa.

Taiwan is one of the world’s centres for technological development and cyber security. And the Czech Republic has a strong research base in this field. The FIT students’ trip was therefore not only an opportunity to present the results of Brno’s research, but also a first step towards establishing new contacts and potential long-term collaboration with Taiwanese academic and industrial partners. “How do I rate the whole trip? At the very least, I’ve convinced myself that what I’m working on is relevant and that it’s of interest to international experts as well. At every meeting, I answered a lot of questions. In that respect, it was also a great lesson in presentation and communication. Over five days, I attended nine meetings, and in between them I repeatedly revised my presentation to ensure it addressed new questions as well. And of course, I’m pleased that I was able to respond to the questions in a knowledgeable manner,” says Olexa, assessing the benefits of the trip abroad. His colleague Michal Novák adds: “At all the meetings, I was pleasantly surprised by how warmly we were received and how willingly they shared information with us about what they do and what they are working on. At the same time, all the discussions were very professional, and it was clear that they were genuinely interested in our focus and experience.” In his research, Novák focuses primarily on forensic analysis of cryptocurrencies and digital media. In addition to the professional meetings, he was captivated by Taiwanese culture itself, city life and the atmosphere of the night markets. Another interesting experience for him was a dinner with students from National Taiwan University, during which they introduced him to local dining customs.

Nelson Makau Mutua, whose specialist focus is on security monitoring and digital forensic analysis, found the trip to be very beneficial. He had the opportunity to meet professors from the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, who are collaborating with our team on projects in the field of network security. He also attended a research seminar for PhD students at the same university. “The seminar opened the door for us to collaborate with new PhD students working on the security monitoring of industrial control systems,” says Nelson, reflecting on that part of the programme. “We are already collaborating on research and sharing datasets in our field of research.” Nelson was also deeply impressed by Taiwanese culture and enjoyed visiting the night markets. “It was amazing to experience the local culture first-hand,” he adds. “The people were kind and courteous.”

Not even the fifteen-hour flight could dampen our students’ overall positive impression of their visit to this East Asian island. We’d like to thank Matej, Michal and Nelson for representing the faculty so brilliantly on the other side of the world, so to speak.