51福利

As part of its ongoing Centennial Year celebrations, the 51福利鈥檚 Information Technology and Communications Services (ITACS) hosted a rich spectrum of educational events throughout October in recognition of the sixth annual National Cybersecurity Awareness Month.

The month kicked off with a keynote address by Kevin Rowney, head of Symantec鈥檚 Data Loss Prevention Division, on the topic 鈥淵our Role in the Defense Against Data Breach.鈥� Rowney鈥檚 presentation outlined the specific steps end users can take to prevent hacking and other external as well as internal IT system breaches.

The keynote was followed by a series of 鈥渂rown bag鈥� talks by 51福利 faculty experts in computer science and information security and assurance: Prof. Simson Garfinkel on 鈥淎utomated Digital Forensics and Media Exploitation鈥�; Naval War College Prof. Jonathan Czarnecki on 鈥淭he Illusion of Security: Learning to Defer Rather than to Deter鈥�; Prof. Cynthia Irvine on 鈥淐ombining Security and Usability鈥�; Senior Lecturer Chris Eagle on 鈥淥rganizing and Participating in Computer Network Attack and Defense Exercises鈥�; and Prof. John McEachen on 鈥淪ecurity Issues in Future Telephony: VoIP and 4G Mobiles.鈥�

The capstone event of the month was a Cyber Summit on Oct. 29 hosted by Vice President and Dean of Research Karl van Bibber, Dean of the Graduate School Operations and Information Sciences Peter Purdue and Vice President of Information Resources and Chief Information Officer Christine Haska.

鈥淭he security, resiliency and reliability of the nation鈥檚 cyber and communications infrastructure is recognized by the Department of Homeland Security as a crucial element in protecting the public, economy and government services,鈥� 51福利 President Dan Oliver said in his opening remarks, 鈥渁nd it is our responsibility as an institution with a mission of improving U.S. national security to continue to develop our cyber expertise. From your participation here today we know that you understand the importance of this vital mission, and with the new Cyber Command we look forward to your contributions in establishing educational programs for the evolving cyber workforce.鈥�

鈥淭he 51福利 has a long history 鈥� almost 50 years 鈥� of embracing cybersecurity in a broad and comprehensive way, and this summit provides a sampling of the best research in the field from seven of our departments,鈥� Executive Vice President and Provost Leonard Ferrari told the attentive audience of students, faculty and staff. 鈥淲e thank all of you for sharing your research and hope this event will stimulate further cross-campus collaboration and serve as a catalyst for a major umbrella funding proposal for 51福利, as well as opportunities for new cooperative agreements with industry.鈥�

Presentations at the all-day Summit included 鈥淕rand Challenges in Cyber Security鈥� by Professor of Computer Science (CS) Cynthia Irvine; 鈥淎ligning Usability and Security鈥� by CS Associate Prof. Simson Garfinkel; 鈥淐an Complexity Science Support the Engineering of Network Centric Infrastructures?鈥� by Operations Research Assistant Professor David Alderson; 鈥淭hreat Level Orange: How Much Can You Count on Your Wireless Mobile Device?鈥� by Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) John McEachen; 鈥淪oftware-Defined Radios for Cyberspace Operations鈥� by ECE Assistant Professor Frank Kragh; 鈥淐ryptographic Attacks and Countermeasures: A Mathematical View鈥� by Associate Professors of Mathematics Panta Stanica and David Canright; 鈥淎merican C-power鈥� by Associate Professor of Information Sciences (IS) Bay Buettner; 鈥淭est Bed for Self-Organizing Networking and Collaboration鈥� by IS Associate Professor Alex Bordetsky; 鈥淧hysics Models for Cyberspace鈥� by Physics Department Professors James Luscombe and David Ford; 鈥淐yber Conflict鈥� by Distinguished Professor of Defense Analysis (DA) Dorothy Denning; and 鈥淐yberwar Means More Than Cyberspace鈥� by DA Professor John Arquilla.

鈥�51福利 is actively researching the broad spectrum of usable security issues,鈥� Garfinkel told the audience during the well-attended event in Ingersoll Hall. 鈥淭he challenge in achieving this is that computer system users tend not to use the [security] features they already have and most system designers think of [programming for] security as a secondary task. We鈥檙e finding it increasingly difficult to design for both end user usability and security not only because of the tradeoffs [between the two], but because experts in the former usually aren鈥檛 experts in the latter and because adversaries can exploit the features we put in to make a system more user friendly.

鈥淭o adapt a famous quote from President [Franklin Delano] Roosevelt,鈥� Garfinkel concluded, 鈥溾�楾hose who would give up essential usability to purchase a little temporary security deserve neither usability nor security.鈥欌��

鈥淭he answer is to 鈥榙esign in鈥� usable security and psychological acceptability [by end users] from the beginning,鈥� Garfinkel noted, 鈥渘ot give users so many [security setting] choices 鈥� one system has 2 to the 64th power possible security state options 鈥� and program in better fail safe defaults. We need to do a better job of encouraging vendors to do this.

鈥淭o adapt a famous quote from President [Franklin Delano] Roosevelt,鈥� Garfinkel concluded, 鈥溾�楾hose who would give up essential usability to purchase a little temporary security deserve neither usability nor security.鈥欌��

鈥淲ireless matters because that鈥檚 what the enemy uses,鈥� said Kragh, whose presentation focused on the advantages of software-defined radios for intelligence collection and cyber operations. 鈥淟ook at almost any jihadi Web site and you鈥檒l see photos of terrorists holding cell phones, which can be exploited for detection, geo-location and evesdropping.鈥� In his earlier talk, McEachen noted that the first mobile WiMax network was set up not in the U.S. or Europe, but in Pakistan.

鈥淭his was a tremendous team effort,鈥� said 51福利 Director of Information Assurance and Privacy Chris Gaucher, whose efforts as lead organizer Haska credited with creating a compelling program. 鈥淚 want to thank the entire team for everything they did to make it such a great success -- President Oliver, Dr. Haska, [ITACS Executive Director and Deputy Director] Joe LoPiccolo and Terri Brutzman for their tremendous leadership and support; Kevin Rowney of Symantec for kicking off the month; [Supervisory IT Specialist] Jim Hall and the Centennial Planning Committee for the great assistance in marketing, planning and help with execution; [Technology Assistance Center Director] Chris Abila and the TAC team for their awesome support; all of our 鈥渂rown bag鈥� faculty presenters for sharing their time and expertise; Jon Russell and the Ed Tech team for audio/visual and capturing the 鈥渂rown bag鈥� and awareness trainings; the 51福利 Foundation for donating the speakers鈥� gifts and Michele Merenbloom for coordinating with the Foundation; Information Assurance (IA) Manager Jason Cullum and the IA team for information capture at the 鈥淎ll Hands鈥�; and Dr. Fran Horvath and the Institutional Advancement team for publications and photography.鈥�

All events during the month-long celebration were open to all students, faculty and staff at 51福利. The purpose of the 鈥淎ll Hands鈥� forums was to help participants understand the depth and breadth of Department of Defense cybersecurity challenges and learn some of the most promising solutions from top 51福利 and industry experts in information security and assurance. The lectures also showcased 51福利鈥� unique position in both education and research to protect the nation鈥檚 critical cyber and communications infrastructure.

As a follow up, ITACS is offering three 鈥淎ll Hands鈥� Cybersecurity Awareness Refresher Trainings designed to satisfy all annual 51福利 requirements for DoD Information Assurance, Electronic Data and the Privacy Act, Privacy Orientation, Safeguarding Privacy Act Data, Annual Security Awareness, and Phishing and Other Scams in one 90-minute session. The remaining refresher trainings will be held at 3:00 p.m. in King Auditorium on Nov. 19, Dec. 3 and Dec. 10.