Dalal Alharthi

Dalal Alharthi is an Assistant Professor of Cybersecurity at the University of Arizona, affiliated with the Department of Computer Science in the College of Engineering. She holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of California, Irvine, and brings extensive experience from both academia and industry in cloud security, digital forensics, and cybersecurity architecture.

Her research focuses on critical areas in modern cybersecurity, including cloud and container security, penetration testing, digital forensics and incident response (DFIR), privacy, and human-computer interaction. She is particularly interested in interdisciplinary research that bridges cybersecurity with public administration, business administration, and education, aiming to enhance policy, governance, and training frameworks in these domains.

Dr. Alharthi's technical expertise spans AWS, Azure, GCP, automation, network security, ethical hacking, and cybersecurity strategy. She is also passionate about cybersecurity education and developing awareness training programs to strengthen organizational resilience.

She has been recognized with the Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation (DTEI) Fellowship from UC Irvine and holds professional certifications including CompTIA Security+ and AWS Solutions Architect.

• Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation (DTEI) Fellowship, University of California, Irvine

Dr. Alharthi has advised academic projects and mentored students in cybersecurity topics, though no formal advisees are listed in the provided text. Her industry background includes roles as a Cloud Security Engineer at Farmers Insurance, Resident Engineer at Palo Alto Networks, and Prisma Cloud Consultant at Dell, reflecting a strong applied research and practice orientation. She integrates real-world challenges into her teaching and research, particularly in cloud security and incident response.

She is actively involved in advancing cybersecurity practices through research, education, and interdisciplinary collaboration, with potential future work likely focusing on policy-informed security frameworks and AI-driven defense mechanisms.