Rate My Professor Kavinga Yapa Abeywardena

Kavinga Yapa Abeywardena is a Lecturer in the Department of Computer Systems Engineering, Faculty of Computing, at the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT), a position he has held since January 2016. He earned his MSc (Hons) in Network and Information Security from Kingston University, UK, with distinction prior to joining SLIIT, and his BSc (Hons) in Computer Networks from the University of Hertfordshire, UK, with distinction in 2012. He also received the Academic Excellence Award from Thames Valley University, West London, in 2010. Before academia, he served as a Networks and Presales Engineer at Lanka Communications (Pvt) Ltd from 2012 to 2014, focusing on IPTV solutions for the hospitality sector in collaboration with SingTel, during which he obtained Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) and Cyberoam Certified Network Security Specialist (CCNSP) certifications. At SLIIT, Abeywardena has been Year Coordinator for the BSc in Information Technology (Cyber Security) program since 2016 and Program Coordinator from 2017 to 2018. He is a member of the British Computing Society and Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA), and a Certified CCNA-RS Instructor. Additionally, he has taught as staff for the ISEC2001 Fundamental Concepts of Data Security course at Curtin University Colombo.

His academic interests encompass computer security and reliability, enterprise risk management, privacy management in big data, social engineering, cryptography and applications, and computer communications networks. Abeywardena serves as co-investigator on the SLIIT grant project 'Enhancing Multifactor Authentication for Financial Services Using Location-Based Services.' Key publications include 'A Layered Defense Mechanism for a Social Engineering Aware Perimeter' (2018, IEEE SAI Computing Conference, London), 'R-Killer: An Email Based Ransomware Protection Tool' (2018, IEEE 13th International Conference on Computer Science & Education, Colombo), 'Intrusion Detection System with Correlation Engine and Vulnerability Assessment' (2018, International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, vol. 9, no. 9), 'iSAY: Blockchain-based Intelligent Polling System for Legislative Assistance' (2021, IJACSA, vol. 12, no. 1), 'VANGUARD: A Blockchain-Based Solution to Digital Piracy' (2021, Global Journal of Computer Science and Technology, vol. 20, no. 4), 'WANHEDA: A Machine Learning Based DDoS Detection System' (2021, IEEE ICAC), and more recent works such as 'Stealth Eye: Behavioral Analysis for Fileless Malware Detection' (2025) and 'Post-Quantum Single Sign-On Solution' (2024).