I am an associate professor at Gjøvik University College (GUC). I hold a master of science degree in mathematics from the University of Joensuu, Finland and a PhD within information security from the University of Oslo, Norway.

Currently I am teaching chemistry and mathematics at Gjøvik University College (GUC). My research interests lies within field of information security, especially within personnel authentication. 

PhD dissertation: Authentication in Health Services, 24^th August 2010, Oslo, Norway.

Speaker in Conferences:

• NordSec 2011, 26-28.10.2011, Tallinn, Estland
• Password^11, 7-8.6.2011, Bergen, Norway
• e-Me fagseminar, 23.3.2011, Oslo, Norway
• Security Divas, 20.-21.1.2011, Gjøvik, Norway
• Password^10, 8-9.12.2010, Bergen, Norway

Publications:

• Kirsi Helkala and Nils Kalstad Svendsen. Security and Memorability Analysis of Passwords Generated by Using Association Element and Personal Factor. To be published in NordSec 2011, LNCS 7161, pp.114-130. Springer, Heidelberg, 2012.
• Kirsi Helkala. Password Education Based on Guidelines Tailored to Different Password Categories. Journal of Computers, Vol. 6, Nr 5, Academy Publisher, Finland, 2011
• Kirsi Helkala and Einar Snekkenes. Password Generation and Search Space Reduction. Journal of Computers, Vol. 4, Issue 7, pp. 663-669, Academy Publisher, Finland, 2009
• Kirsi Helkala and Einar Snekkenes. Formalizing the Ranking of Authentication Products. Information Management & Computer Security - Special Issue, Vol. 17, Issue 1, pp. 30-43, Emerald, 2009
• Kirsi Helkala. An Educational Tool for Password Quality Measurements. In Proceedings of Norwegian Information Security Conference (Norsk Informasjonssikkerhetkonferanse) (NISK2008 ) , pp. 69-80, Tapir Akademisk Forlag, 2008
• Patrick Bours and Kirsi Helkala. Face Recognition Using Separate Layers of the RGB Image. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Intelligent Information Hiding and Multimedia Signal Processing, Special Session on Biometrics - From Sensors to Standardization, August 15-17, 2008, Harbin, China, pp. 1035-1042, IEEE Press, 2008
• Kirsi Helkala and Einar Snekkenes. A Method for Ranking Authentication Products. In Proceedings of the International Symposium on Human Aspects of Information Security & Assurance (HAISA 2008), July 8-9, Plymount, UK, pp. 80-93, 2008
• Kirsi Helkala. Authentication in Norwegian Health Services. In Proceedings of the International Symposium on Health Informatics and Bioinformatics, Turkey ’07, 2007
• Davrondzhon Gafurov, Kirsi Helkala, and Torkjel Søndrol. Gait Recognition Using Acceleration from MEMS. In Proceedings of The First International Conference on Availability, Reliability and Security (ARES 2006), pp. 432-439, 2006
• Davrondzhon Gafurov, Kirsi Helkala, and Torkjel Søndrol. Biometric Gait Authentication Using Accelerometer Sensor. Journal of Computers Vol.1, Issue 7, 2006
• Davrondzhon Gafurov, Kirsi Helkala, and Nils Kalstad Svendsen. Security Models for Electronic Medical Records. Telektronikk, 101 (1), 2005