Alina Torbunova

About me

Hi! My name is Alina. In autumn 2023, I began my doctoral studies at Åbo Akademi University. Prior to this, I completed my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Information Technology, majoring in Computer Science (kandidat- och magisterexamen i informationsteknologi med huvudämnet datavetenskap) at Åbo Akademi University.

My fields of interest in IT include cybersecurity, programming, education, UI/UX design, and addressing gender gaps. In my free time, I enjoy traveling, exercising, and learning new languages. Jag är glad att tala svenska ja puhun mielelläni suomea =)

My research

The topic of my doctoral thesis is “Improving Cybersecurity Education in Programming Courses at Universities”. Why did I choose it?

Programming is a discipline that demands both creativity and accuracy, with the job market’s needs constantly evolving. A critical skill in this field is secure programming, as developing software is strongly connected to defending systems against ever-changing cybersecurity threats. For universities, it means that students need to be taught these skills along with general programming practices. Future programmers must learn to identify security vulnerabilities in software and implement appropriate measures to safeguard systems from attacks, thereby preventing issues like unexpected code behavior.

In my doctoral thesis, I aim to enhance cybersecurity awareness in programming courses at universities. The objectives are to identify the cybersecurity concepts currently taught in these courses, assess how students apply this knowledge, and develop a checklist to help revise and improve course materials.

Research outputs

Torbunova, A., Ashraf, A., & Porres, I. (2024). A systematic mapping study on teaching of security concepts in programming courses. 2024 50th Euromicro Conference on Software Engineering and Advanced Applications (SEAA), 288–295. The pre-print is available here.

Contact details

alina.torbunova@abo.fi