Events

Cyber Byte Newsletter

William Shepard Additional Activities

The Cybersecurity Student Working Group has published the first issue, of what is hoped to become a long and enduring club publication.  The newsletter’s aim is to share with club members the current activities. e.g. upcoming speaker series, discussion groups, and many others.  It will also include articles related to past speaker events and op-eds from club leadership on key cyber-security events shaping cyber policy.  All club members will receive future offerings through email distro and CSWG Facebook group.  Stay tuned as the forthcoming issue is slated for this fall.

 

2017 Cyber 9/12 Competition

William Shepard Additional Activities

MIIS students attended the annually held Atlantic Council’s Cyber 9/12 Competition in Washington, DC.  The competition brings coach-led student teams from around the country, both undergraduate and graduate, to compete against one another in what is considered the competition for students studying cyber-security.  In competing, teams are given a hypothetical scenario whereby crafting a relevant cyber policy memo and accompanying brief.  There are a total of three rounds, each harder than the previous. Unfortunately, the “MIIS Takes” did not move onto the next round.  The competition was a great experience for all those who attended.  There were breakout sessions, a career panel, live hacking demo, and a job fair.  For further information on the competition, follow the link below.

http://www.miis.edu/about/newsroom/stories/node/46317

PhD Candidate Bill Marczak of UC Berkeley, 11 October 2016

William Shepard Events, Speaker Series

 

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The Speaker Series explored how increasing use of encryption has forced authoritarian governments to innovate in the field of information controls.  No longer able to easily block undesirable information outright, governments turn to novel controls such as Internet disruptions targeted at certain areas or individual users, attacking overseas websites sharing undesirable information, and the use of targeted electronic surveillance to identify and arrest users who share undesirable information.  Bill Marczak’s presentation identified the various actors involved in these new types of information controls, including governments, cyber mercenary groups, cyber militias, commercial vendors, and the tools and technology they use.

Dr. Levent Ertaul of CSU East Bay, 17 September 2015

Kim Speaker Series

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Dr. Levent Ertaul provided an overview of five vulnerabilities in cyber and discussed whether privacy is really possible in cyberspace. He discussed secure mail, file and hard disk encryption, password management, cloud storage and deleting files. Dr. Ertaul is a Professor of Computer Science at California State University East Bay. He is actively involved in security projects nationally and internationally. He has over 25 years for experience in the military and private security industry and has more then 80 publications in security issues. His current research interests are cyber security, privacy, wireless security and cryptography. He is a member of IEEE, ACM, IACR and the Bay Area Council. He was awarded his Ph.D. from Sussex University, UK.

Dr. Gabrielle Horosanu of the Romanian Ministry of Health, 4 September 2015

Kim Speaker Series

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Dr. Horosanu presented her research investigating the links between medical research, bioterrorism, and cybercrime, titled: “Connecting the Dots: Germs and Pixels.”  Dr. Horosanu is currently the adviser to the State Secretary in the Romanian Ministry of Health.  In addition, she is the Security and Defense Advisor to the VP of International Affairs in the Security and Defense Group of the European Parliament.  She has served as both a Political Officer and Research Fellow in the Science for Peace and Security Progamme of NATO’s Emerging Security Challenges Division. She also holds positions as a Researcher in the Bucharest University of Medicine and Pharmacy as well as a Lecturer at the National Defense College of Romania.

Cyber Initiative Fosters Closer Ties with NATO Center of Excellence on Strategic Communications

Kim Key-Leader Engagement

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Dr. Itamara Lochard took part in the inaugural event, “The Riga StratCom Dialogue: Perception Matters,” of the new NATO Center of Excellence (CoE) on Strategic Communications in Riga, Latvia, MIIS was the only civilian U.S. academic institution represented and is seeking to foster closer research ties. This center prioritizes the nexus of communications, conflict and cyber for both Alliance and Partnership for Peace countries. Participants included the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence CoE in Estonia, three U.S. Senators, ambassadors and ministry officials, NATO and SHAPE staff as well as the president of Latvia. Presentations will be published in their new journal.

MIIS Cyber Conducts Crisis Management Training in the Balkans

Kim Events, Executive Education

Ita1MIIS Cyber director, Dr. Itamara Lochard, was the only U.S. university instructor among colleagues from the Marshall Center, International Red Cross, U.S. National Guard and other militaries to provide post-conflict stabilization training to an international cadre of nearly 180 cadets and civilian university students at the International Summer Campus. She provided classes on technical tools available in crisis management (humanitarian assistance / disaster relief) efforts. This sixth annual event, sponsored by MIIS partner Mihailo Apostolski Military Academy in Macedonia aimed to train next-generation leaders with inter-cultural awareness, academic and field-exercise skills that will allow them to excel at interoperability needed for regional and international engagements in crisis management. Participants from Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States gathered in Macedonia during 29 June – 9 July 2015.

 

 

 

Geekout Session on Data Security for NGOs

Elizabeth Berger Additional Activities, Events
Geekout Session on Data Security for NGOs

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Tuesday, April 7th, MIIS Cyber Graduate Research Assistant Dan Gifford led a session on introduction to Data Security, particularly as it pertains to NGOs. The session covered the basic mathematical theory behind encryption, as well as practical examples of how to encrypt your data and how to send encrypted messages. One big take-away of the day: don’t store information that you don’t need.

Guest Lecture by Brian Steckler of NPS

Elizabeth Berger Events, Speaker Series

MIIS Cyber Speaker Series, March 12

Topic: “Hastily Formed Networks (HFNs) for Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief“

Brian Steckler, Director of Hastily Formed Networks (HFN) Research Group,  Associate Chair for Special Programs and Lecturer of Information Operations and Wireless Networking Technologies, the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS), addresses the issues arising in emergency response to crises such as the 9/11 attacks and natural disasters such as the Indian Ocean tsunami, Pakistan earthquake and Hurricane Katrina.