Cyber Security Education in a Time of Change

The call is out and it is vast. Across the board, personnel are being sought for the cyber security workforce. Academe is faced with the tremendous challenge of meeting this demand. Yet there are many questions, among them: Is cybersecurity an academic subject or an art form requiring apprenticeship? Where will we find students in the face of the dearth of STEM students? How will we attract them to the field? How do we attract underrepresented groups? Can programs balance training and education? Do we teach constructive or reactive security? How important are labs? This talk will summarize our progress and explore prospects in cyber security education.

Cynthia E. Irvine is the Chair of the Cyber Academic Group at the Naval Postgraduate School, one of four National Security Agency designated Centers of Academic Excellence in Cyber Operations. She is Director of the Center for Information Systems Security Studies and Research (CISR) and is a Professor of Computer Science. Her research centers on high assurance developmental and multilevel security. She is an author on over 160 papers and reports and has supervised the research of over 140 Master's and PhD students. Dr. Irvine is a recipient of the Naval Information Assurance Award and the William Hugh Murray Founder’s Award from the Colloquium for Information Systems Security Education.