Geir Olav Dyrkolbotn

Geir Olav Dyrkolbotn is an Associate Professor at NTNU's Center for Cyber and Information Security (CCIS) and a Major in the Norwegian Armed Forces, serving at the Norwegian Defence Cyber Academy (NDCA). He leads the NTNU Malware Lab and the cyber defence research group at CCIS. He holds a PhD in Information Security from Gjøvik University College and a MSc in Computer Science from NTNU. With over 25 years in the military, his work focuses on tactical communication systems, defensive cyber operations, and operational security. His research emphasizes cyber defence, reverse engineering, malware analysis, side-channel attacks, and machine learning applications.

Education:

• PhD in Information Security, Gjøvik University College (HiG)
• MSc in Computer Science, NTNU

Research Interests: Geir Olav's work bridges theoretical cybersecurity research and practical military applications. He explores innovative methods for hardware reverse engineering, malware detection/classification using low-level features, and forensic acquisition techniques. His contributions include analyzing USB power delivery vulnerabilities, NTFS cluster allocation behavior, and secure chip exploitation for digital forensics.

Teaching: Courses include IIKG6500/IMT4213 Cyber-taktikk, IMT4214 Cyber-etterretning, IIKG6501 Cyber Intelligence, and IMT4116 Malware Analysis & Reversing.

Labs & Teams: Heads the NTNU Malware Lab and leads the cyber defence research group at CCIS, collaborating on projects like the Digital Forensic Acquisition Kill Chain and hardware security vulnerability assessments.