High School Cybersecurity Fair and Expo: Registration Now Open

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN for Students, Adults and Volunteers for the High School CyberSecurity Fair and Expo in conjunction with the 7th Annual Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition

The first 200 students who register and attend will receive complimentary t-shirts and giveaways, and the high school that has the largest attendance will be honored with a plaque of outstanding participation!

WHO:  All high school students are encouraged to attend. Middle and elementary school students are also invited. Parents, teachers and community members are invited to attend or volunteer.

WHAT:  Through interactive sessions, discussions, speakers and demonstrations, participants will be immersed in an exciting learning environment with the goal of igniting interest in cybersecurity. CyberWatch partners, to include 2 and 4 year institutions with cybersecurity/information assurance programs and student organizations, and our sponsors will participate in an information fair for attendees to enjoy throughout the day.

WHEN:  Saturday, March 17, 2012 from 10:00 AM – 3:30 PM

WHERE:  John Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, Kossiakoff Center

BACKGROUND:  While similar to other cyber defense competitions in many aspects, the CyberWatch Mid-Atlantic Regional CCDC, as part of the National CCDC, is unique in that it focuses on the operational aspects of managing and protecting an existing network infrastructure. The teams are physically co-located in the same building. Each team is given physically identical computer configurations at the start of the competition. Throughout the competition, the teams have to ensure the systems supply the specified services while under attack from a volunteer Red Team. In addition, the teams have to satisfy periodic “injects” that simulate business activities IT staff must deal with in the real world.
The High School CyberSecurity Fair and Expo, will allow students to see the CCDC in action, and will enable students to learn more about careers in cybersecurity, certificate and college options, scholarships, and admission processes.

***This event is FREE and open to the public.***

For more information and to REGISTER, please visit: edtechpolicy.org/k12ccdc

We hope to see you at this exciting event on March 17th!

Conference Shares Critical Information and Best Practices on Cyber-related Issues

ARLINGTON, Va., Dec. 19, 2011 — /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The cyber domain presents endless opportunities but also unbounded threats. Maintaining secure networks and systems is vital. Identifying and addressing the limitations and challenges is imperative—eliciting the need for a national event for the cyber community to share critical information and best practices.

The Air Force Association’s 2012 CyberFutures Conference provides a unique platform for cyber security and technology professionals to convene, and fosters the development of strategies to approach this growing security threat. AFA’s second annual cyber conference will be held March 22-23, 2012, at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, minutes from downtown Washington, D.C.

This conference is a great chance to come together with military leadership, senior DOD professionals, intelligence services and cyber experts as they discuss the latest in the continuum of cyber defense and how it affects the nation and its security.

Read More…

AACC to launch cyber center

By TINA REED, Staff Writer
Capital Gazette Communications
12/14/11

To meet demand for cyber security training, Anne Arundel Community College is branching out near Arundel Mills mall.

The college’s new training location, 7556 Teague Road, will house computer labs, including secure space for cyber security exercises, as well as provide additional classroom space starting next fall.

“There really is nothing more important related to our vision,” said President Martha A. Smith.
The college would begin a 10-year lease starting next year.

Already, the community college has a satellite location off Arundel Mills Circle across from the mall. But those classrooms get full at peak times, officials said.

The new location would be across Arundel Mills Boulevard in a three-story building that already houses offices and retail, including The Greene Turtle Sports Bar & Grille.

The cyber security industry has been growing internationally. But with Anne Arundel County’s proximity to the National Security Administration and Fort George G. Meade, among other national security organizations, the regional demand has exploded.

This fall, AACC added five new certificates and one new associate degree in cyber security and has seen enrollment jump quickly, said AACC’s Vice President for Learning Andrew L. Meyer.
The new center would have 22,575 square feet of finished space and about 7,000 feet of additional unfinished space.

In 2007, the college’s board of trustees endorsed the need for a regional Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, or STEM, center and earned the support of the county executive and County Council at the time. Officials said they began looking for space in 2009.

They considered the classroom space AACC has at the Glen Burnie Town Center, but ruled out the location because it would not meet program needs, Smith said.

Oculis Labs Joins Northrop Grumman Cync Program

BALTIMORE, Nov 29, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Oculis Labs, a developer of data privacy software that protects mobile and desktop computers from visual eavesdroppers, today announced its acceptance into the Northrop Grumman Cync Program. This program, part of the Cyber Incubator at bwtech@UMBC, evaluates and supports product-based companies that develop new tools to protect the cyber and technology related security systems that our nation relies upon on a daily basis. In addition to its current office space in Hunt Valley, MD, Oculis Labs will now have a presence in the Cyber Incubator at the bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park enabling the company to access business, technical, and financial advisory resources from both bwtech@UMBC and Northrop Grumman.

There are nearly 400M mobile business and government workers worldwide and three quarters of workers in the U.S. are mobile, working in shared or public spaces, often reviewing and utilizing confidential information. 89% of all people admit to reading over someone else’s shoulder, the easiest way to compromise data. To address this ongoing problem Oculis Labs offers two products — PrivateEye and Chameleon:

– PrivateEye is a data privacy software solution that protects mobile and desktop computers from visual eavesdroppers. This new desktop security application employs computer vision, facial recognition and detection algorithms with a standard webcam to actively protect information displayed on computer screens.

Read More…

Cyber security must focus on users, not just attackers

Computer security experts have long pointed out that human beings are often the weak link allowing cyber attacks to succeed. Now, researchers at the Maryland Cybersecurity Center have reaffirmed that security measures must aim at users, not just attackers. ”Users expose the network to attacks,” one said.

In a unique collaboration, an engineer and a criminologist at the University of Maryland, College Park, are applying criminological concepts and research methods in the study of cybercrime, leading to recommendations for IT managers to use in the prevention of cyber attacks on their networks.

Michel Cukier, associate professor of reliability engineering at the A. James Clark School of Engineering and Institute for Systems Research, and David Maimon, assistant professor of criminology and criminal justice in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, are studying cyberattacks from two different angles – that of the user and that of the attacker. Both are members of the Maryland Cybersecurity Center.

Read More…

Maryland’s Cyber Warriors Compete in Inaugural Cyber Challenge

Maryland is home to thousands of companies that are working on the cutting edge of cybersecurity, and eight were represented on teams that reached the finals of the inaugural Maryland Cyber Challenge and Conference (MDC3) in Baltimore last month. All told, more than 300 of Maryland’s best and brightest cyber warriors – on 52 high school, college and professional teams – competed in two qualifying rounds for a spot in the finals. Eight six-person teams competed in each category for more than $100,000 in cash prizes and scholarships.

On Friday, Oct. 21, the talents of cyber professionals were on display during the finals competition. As is so often the case with cyber warriors – and cyber hackers – the competitors prefer to remain anonymous. That’s “anonymous” with a small “A” – not the international hactivist Anonymous. The finalists in the professional competition included:

•    175 Network Warfare Squadron
•    Byte the Dust
•    General Dynamics AIS – Cyber
•    Prime Solutions
•    pwning yeti
•    Team ICF
•    Team Pr3tty
•    Will Virus Scan For Food

The winner? Team ICF, which won each member $2,000 in prize money. Members of second-place finishers Team Pr3tty will each receive a $1,000 cash award.

Maryland’s high schools and colleges are preparing the next generation of cyber warriors. On Saturday, Oct. 22, nearly 100 of these students competed in the MDC3 finals. The college team finalists included:

•    Capitol College Cyber Warriors – Capitol College
•    Cyberdawgs – University of Maryland Baltimore County
•    Cybersecurity Club – University of Maryland, College Park
•    Goucher Gold – Goucher College
•    Towson University – Towson University
•    UMUC Cyber Padawans – University of Maryland University College
•    UMUC CyberDragons – University of Maryland University College
•    Unallocated Space – student collective

First place in the college competition went to Towson University’s team, followed by UMCP’s Cybersecurity Club in second place. Each member of the winning team will receive a $5,000 scholarship from the National Security Agency (NSA), as well as a paid internship position with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), a founding partner of MDC3. Second place team members won $2,000 scholarships from NSA.

High school finalists represented five Maryland counties, with Montgomery County placing four teams among the eight competitors in the finals competition:

•    CSP CyberTeam – Chesapeake Science Point Public Charter School (Anne Arundel County)
•    gh0stsec – Centennial High School (Howard County)
•    Mustang Security – Bishop McNamara High School (Harford County)
•    PHS Defenders – Poolesville High School (Montgomery County)
•    PHS Falcons – Poolesville High School (Montgomery County)
•    Sherwood Cyber Warriors – Sherwood High School (Montgomery County)
•    Sherwood Firewalls – Sherwood High School (Montgomery County)
•    Xploiters – Harford Technical High School (Harford County)

Montgomery County’s Sherwood Cyber Warriors, representing Sherwood High School in Rockville, came in first. The team will split $25,000 in college scholarship funds from NSA and each team member will be offered a paid summer internship with SAIC. The Poolesville High School Falcons placed second in the high school competition, landing $12,000 in college scholarship money.

Winners will be recognized tonight at the MDC3 Awards Dinner in the University Center Ballroom on the campus of the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). Hosted by UMBC President Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski III, and Larry D. Cox, SAIC’s General Manager of Cyber and Information Solutions, the event features General Keith B. Alexander, USA, Commander of the U.S. Cyber Command and NSA Director, as guest speaker.

China, Russia Top List Of U.S. Economic Cyberspies

NPR
November 3, 2011

Privately, U.S. officials have long complained that China and Russia are out to steal U.S. trade secrets, intellectual property and high technology. But in public they’ve been reluctant to point fingers, and instead have referred obliquely to “some nations” or “our rivals.”

That changed Thursday, with the release of a new report by the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive to Congress titled “Foreign Spies Stealing U.S. Economic Secrets in Cyberspace.” The report names China as the world’s leading source of economic espionage, followed by Russia.

“China and Russia, through their intelligence services and through their corporations, are attacking our research and development,” said Robert Bryant, U.S. national counterintelligence executive, during an event at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., presenting the espionage report.

The report is explicit: “Chinese actors are the world’s most active and persistent perpetrators of economic espionage,” it concluded, while “Russia’s intelligence services are conducting a range of activities to collect economic information and technology from U.S. targets.”

Read More…

Mayor Rawlings-Blake Celebrates Baltimore Being Named One of the Top-10 Digital Cities in America

Mayor Rawlings-Blake Celebrates Baltimore Being Named One of the Top-10 Digital Cities in America

BALTIMORE, MD. (November 3, 2011) – Today, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake celebrated Baltimore being listed in the top 10 of the Digital Cities Survey conducted by the Center for Digital Government and Government Technology. The annual survey highlights municipalities throughout the country that are best using technology to make services more effective and efficient. This is the first year that Baltimore was ranked in the top 10.

“I am excited that our efforts to use information and communication technology to improve City services has received national recognition,” said Mayor Rawlings-Blake. “We challenged every agency head to work with the Office of Information Technology to find creative solutions to our challenges and bring all of our departments into the 21st century.”

In its eleventh year, the Center for Digital Government Digital Cities Survey is the first and only sustained assessment of city governments’ use of information and communications technology. The Center for Digital Government’s Digital Cities Performance Institute identifies and promotes best and emerging practices in the public sector IT community. The 2011 survey reflects the priorities of a uniquely challenging time, both in content and in form.

Read More…

BAE Systems Donates $150,000 to the UMBC to Support Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics Programs for Pre-High School Students

MarketWatch
October 25, 2011

ARLINGTON, Va., Oct 25, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) — BAE Systems is proud to announce a donation of $150,000 to partner with the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) to support Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) programs for elementary and middle school students. On Friday, October 21st, BAE Systems Vice President and General Manager of Information Technology & Cybersecurity Solutions (ITCS), Paul Falkler, presented UMBC president, Dr. Freeman A. Hrabawski, with a check during the Maryland Cyber Challenge & Conference (MDC3) held in Baltimore, Maryland.

“BAE Systems cybersecurity analysts protect and defend the United States from the onslaught of threats to our data, intellectual property and, ultimately, our national security,” said John Gannon, President of BAE Systems Intelligence & Security sector. “As part of this mission, we need to invest in our Nation’s young people to ensure we have the wide-range of science-based talent and expertise well into the future. There are great careers available in the STEM field and BAE Systems is really proud to partner with UMBC.”

Read More…

Online registration extended for Maryland Cyber Challenge (MDC3)

Online registration for the inaugural Maryland Cyber Challenge and Conference (MDC3) has been extended. For information or to register, visit www.mdc3.org