Graduate Thesis at DAASI International: Interview with Gabriel Dimitrov

DAASI International offers students the opportunity to supervise their graduate thesis, so they can put their topic to work in a real-life business environment. Most recently, Gabriel Dimitrov wrote his bachelor thesis with DAASI International, in the following short interview he talks about his experiences.

Tell us something about you, who are you?

My name is Gabriel, originally I was born and raised in South Africa. My family came to Germany eight years ago. Since then I‘ve managed to finish secondary school in Germany and began pursuing a bachelor‘s degree. I first came in contact with computer science at school before graduating, hence my curiousity for this discipline. I also really enjoy mathematics. Everything seemed to align for me, so I made the decision to start studying computer science at Reutlingen University.

What is the topic of your graduate thesis and why did you choose it?

The topic of my graduate thesis is the implementation of a proof of concept for the support of the OAuth2 flow in Satosa. The purpose of the project is to increase the possibilities for authentication and authorisation for clients and users with the help of an OAuth2 framework. I chose this topic because I wanted to advance in the broad IT field of cybersecurity.

Why did you choose DAASI International as supervising company for your graduate thesis?

I looked into DAASI International because a good friend of mine had recommended them to me. I was happy when I found out that DAASI International works in the field of federated identity and access management. I ultimately made the choice to go with DAASI International to supervise my thesis because I perceived them to be very likable and knowledgable, and their suggested topic matched my personal interests. I thought DAASI International was a good fit because I wanted my thesis to address a technical topic related to IT security.

Tell us a bit about your experience with your supervisors at DAASI International.

I thought the collaboration with DAASI International worked really well. I appreciated the support I was offered by Peter Gietz and Daniel Hübner, which made it a lot easier for me to get started on my topic.

Which part of the collaboration did you enjoy the most?

I really enjoyed working with my mentor, David, he was always very transparent and met me at eye-level. Right from the beginning he gave me extensive literature and good advice which enabled me to quickly move forward with my working process.

Did you encounter any challenges, and if so how did you manage them?

About one month into working here, we suddenly were only allowed to work from home – that was quite the challenge. I couldn‘t just walk over to the next office to ask a quick question anymore. But thankfully, my supervisor David only ever was a quick message in our corporate chatroom away to help me out if I had a problem.

What‘s next for you? What are your plas for your future?

Until the end of september I will continue to work on my proof of concept with the goal to implement it into the didmos Authenticator. After that, all doors are wide open. Luckily, I‘ve been accepted for a Master programme at the HPI. However, I do want to gain more working experience in the field of IT security. I would particularly like to gain working experience in the field of penetration tests.

… and we wish you good luck with that! Gabriel, thank you very much for this interview, and for your great work for DAASI International.