Department of Cyber Security Engineering

Mason Competitive Cyber

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TTIP

Tech Talent Investment Program

Vijay Shah joins $2M NTIA-funded project on 5G cybersecurity

Teresa Donnellan — Thu, 08 Feb 2024 21:06:24 +0000

Vijay Shah joins $2M NTIA-funded project on 5G cybersecurity Teresa Donnellan Thu, 02/08/2024 - 16:06

��AV researcher Vijay Shah has joined a $2 million project to develop a system to secure 5G Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) architecture.

Funded by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the project "A Holistic Cybersecurity Testing Framework for 5G Radio Access Networks" is a collaboration with Virginia Tech, Penn State University, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Shah, who leads Mason’s NextG Wireless Lab, will be allocated nearly a quarter of the project’s budget and be working with Nishith Tripathi and Jeff Reed from Virginia Tech, Syed Rafiul Hussain from Penn State University, and Bo Tang from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Vijay Shah

Security vulnerabilities in O-RAN present a critical cybersecurity challenge in the era of 5G. The team aims to create “a holistic and automated cybersecurity testing framework for O-RAN,” per the project’s executive summary.

Shah will also receive funding from the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI) to investigate fingerprinting technology for 5G/NextG O-RAN supply chain risk management, additional funding that highlights the multifaceted approach taken by the NextG Wireless Lab to address 5G networks cybersecurity challenges.

As part of these initiatives, the NextG Wireless Lab is actively growing its research team, with opportunities for postdoctoral researchers and PhD students interested in O-RAN cybersecurity, testing, and supply chain management.

Those interested in contributing to cutting-edge research in this field should email Shah.

Topics

Department of Cyber Security Engineering faculty

Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI)

5G/6G Wireless Communications

Mason teams shine at three major hackathons

Teresa Donnellan — Thu, 22 Jun 2023 13:46:19 +0000

Mason teams shine at three major hackathons Teresa Donnellan Thu, 06/22/2023 - 09:46

The Mason Nation’s strength was undeniable at several hackathons in spring 2023. ��AV computer science, cybersecurity engineering, information technology, and mechanical engineering students won challenges on March 25 at the University of Virginia (UVA), on April 7-9 at the University of Maryland (UMD), and on April 29-30 at Drexel University.

What’s a hackathon?

Hackathons take place over a limited span of time, usually 24 hours. Teams comprising several students choose which “tracks” they want to compete in, with each track delineating a different challenge. Hackathons are generally free for participants, with travel, accommodation, and food provided, making them a relatively equitable opportunity for students.

At the outset of a hackathon, sponsoring or organizing bodies present on the different tracks and offer workshops on relevant tools for the challenges at hand. The events are thus valuable networking opportunities where participants meet not only industry professionals, but also like-minded entrepreneurial peers.

Over the course of the event, teams build a minimum viable product, submit their project through GitHub, and create a DevPost page to display their project before presenting to a panel of judges during an exhibition period. At the end of the event, prizes are awarded for many of the tracks.

HooHacks 2023 at the University of Virginia

HooHacks team. Photo provided

HooHacks, put on by a student group at the University of Virginia of the same name, comprises six levels of challenges and includes a special element sponsored by Fannie Mae. The event took place over 24 hours, starting at noon on March 25.

Two Mason teams, one comprising upperclassmen and one comprising freshmen, brought home wins including at least $500, respectively.

Seniors Jhonn Cardozo and Ronald Santos Garcia and junior Maya Crosby took home $500 and the pride of winning the primary challenge in one of the 50 biggest hackathons in the country. After being announced as winners, the team was approached by Fannie Mae staffers, who told them they were extremely impressed with their performance.

Snagging Best Overall prize at HooHacks was a team of Mason freshmen. Anthony Perry, Daniel Horvath, and Marco Zamora brought home more than $500 in prizes and an invitation to compete at Pinnacle, perhaps the most competitive collegiate hackathon worldwide. The team had been encouraged to participate in the event by their fellow Mason participants. Although only freshmen, the teammates had an existing relationship, as they had all been on a robotics team in high school.

The team’s project, Dangerous Audio Detection (DAD), is an Alarm System Network that uses machine learning algorithms to accurately identify the sound of gunshots and alerts community members.

“The idea for our project, DAD, stemmed from our desire to answer [Mason President] Gregory Washington’s call to solve the grand challenges in our world,” the team said.

“We are especially excited about participating in Pinnacle, often referred to as the Olympics of collegiate-level hackathons, as we have received a prestigious invitation. This experience has solidified our commitment to continuous learning and participation in hackathons as a means to push our boundaries and contribute to our community’s grand challenges,” the team said.

Bitcamp at the University of Maryland

The BitTales team. Photo provided

An undergraduate and a graduate team garnered acclaim at the University of Maryland’s Bitcamp hackathon, the largest collegiate hackathon on the east coast. The event had five primary tracks, varying from machine learning to quantum computing, and included more than 1,000 students, packed into the Xfinity Center on the College Park campus.

The upperclassmen team from HooHacks—with the addition of Mason alum Katherine Horvath, a information technology graduate and freshman Daniel’s sister—was one of two teams to win awards in two different challenges, including taking first in the Bloomberg Industry Group challenge. The Bloomberg project involved using any public/government data to showcase a specific application highlighting data insights and intelligence. The team’s solution elicited praise from Bloomberg representatives, with the sponsors noting how impressed they were with the product.

A team of international graduate students studying computer science also won two tracks with their project BitTales, a natural language processing-based web application that turns meaningful conversations into personalized bedtime stories. Master’s students Janit Bidhan and Aabha Bothera and doctoral candidate Saurabh Srivastava won both the Best Use of CockroachDB Serverless and the Best Machine Learning Hack awards at the event, bringing home more than $400 in prize money.

DragonHacks 2023 at Drexel University.

Perfect Application for Plant Assistance (PAPA) team. Photo provided

Two members of the victorious HooHacks 2023 freshmen team, Daniel Horvath and Anthony Perry, joined a member of the successful upperclassmen team from the same event, Jhonn Dalton Cardozo, to participate in DragonHacks 2023 at Drexel University. The hybrid team won Best Environmental Hack for their project Perfect Application for Plant Assistance (PAPA). The project “aimed to help solve food insecurities through encouraging sustainable botany practices,” said Horvath and Perry. Mason’s Patriot Pantry inspired the team to use competition as a means of incentivizing efforts to end food insecurity, the team wrote in the project description.

“Our decision to pursue the best environmental hack track at Dragon Hacks stemmed from a desire to explore new territories, engage in a hardware–software integration project, and the enticing prospect of winning some TVs,” Cardozo recalled. “But beyond the prizes, our team was fueled by a genuine commitment to make a difference and create a solution that would contribute to the well-being of the environment.”

Reflections on Three Hackathons

Jhonn Dalton Cardozo gleaned lessons from his experience in each of these hackathons.

“During the UVA hackathon, I discovered that teamwork is the backbone of any successful project,” he noted.

“At Bitcamp, I realized that commitment and dedication to a project can take you far,” he added.

“At Dragon Hacks, the importance of team management became even more apparent,” he said. “Having a talented team is fantastic, but knowing how to leverage their strengths and expertise is the real key to success. Recognizing the value of different perspectives, interests, and potential within each team member was a crucial aspect of creating our final project. While this might sound like common knowledge, I never fully appreciated the challenge and gratification of managing a team while doing the actual work. I am truly grateful for the exceptional group of individuals in my team and deeply appreciate their efforts in bringing our collective vision to life.”

Topics

computer science

information sciences and technology

mechanical engineering

Hackathon

Firefighters get an assist from 5G-equipped drones developed at Mason

Tama Moni — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 20:34:23 +0000

Firefighters get an assist from 5G-equipped drones developed at Mason Tama Moni Tue, 10/18/2022 - 16:34

A team of firefighters ascend the stairs in a high-rise engulfed in flames. The team disperses to put out the fire and search for survivors. Drones hover around the burning building and identify with pinpoint accuracy the location of each firefighter, who is wearing a sensor, sending this information back to a commander who has an “eye in the sky” vantage point.

The commander communicates with the firefighters, directing their movements, keeping them safe, and helping them extinguish the flames. If one member of the team hasn’t moved in several minutes, the system sends an alert to check on that person’s status.

Photo by iStock

You can imagine this scenario in a big-budget movie, but Vijay Shah, an assistant professor in the Cyber Security Engineering Department in the College of Engineering and Computing at ��AV is working to make it a reality. If all goes well, firefighters will have a new, important tool like this within five years.

Funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Shah is collaborating with colleagues at Virginia Tech and the Arlington, Virginia, County Fire Department on a 5G Indoor Positioning System that may someday be used by fire departments nationwide. Firefighters in Arlington will be testing the technology in a facility starting in 2025.

Advances in 5G network technology allow for this research because compared to other legacy wireless communications, 5G provides much greater accuracy and does not rely on equipment within the building, which may be damaged during a fire. A key development Shah and colleagues are exploiting is called “network slicing,” sending certain pieces of information over portions of the 5G network.

“The critical information, such as location of the firefighter, is sent in one ‘slice’ and in a much smaller packet, allowing for virtually no delay in information relay," says Shah. "Transmitting audio/video information requires more data, but any information lost there simply reduces the quality of the audio/video, which is not as important as losing someone’s location. That information would be put in another slice.”

Shah notes that 5G has key capabilities, such as support for various timing and angle-based techniques, device-to-device communication, and edge computing, which can be leveraged to locate users precisely and enable reliable communication infrastructure. Together this allows for much greater situational awareness of firefighters—and victims—by knowing their precise location and allowing for seamless communication among the firefighting team.

The drones add another level of complexity, and at least three will be needed around a building to guarantee high levels of accuracy. The team is working to ensure drone communications are synchronized precisely, as even delays as short as milliseconds may result in improper readings. Shah says that getting the independently flying drones synced up is one of the project’s biggest challenges.

Cybersecurity at Mason

Topics

firefighters

Drones

5G/6G Wireless Communications

Cyber Security Research

Mason students build drones as part of Commonwealth Cyber Initiative

Colleen Rich — Tue, 31 May 2022 14:11:38 +0000

Mason students build drones as part of Commonwealth Cyber Initiative Colleen Rich Tue, 05/31/2022 - 10:11

In This Story

Mohamed Gebril

��AV Cybersecurity Engineering associate professor Mohamed Gebril led a team of students to the first-ever BattleDrone competition, an exercise coordinated through the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative.

Learn about Mason's Cybersecurity Engineering Bachelor's

In April, Mason professor Mohamed Gebril (center in green) took a team of students to Commonwealth Cyber Initiative's BattleDrones Competition at Virginia Tech’s Drone Park. Photo by Peter Means/Virginia Tech

In April, Mohamed Gebril, an associate professor in ��AV’s Cyber Security Engineering Department, took a team of students into “battle.” The team traveled to Blacksburg, Virginia, for a BattleDrones Competition that was hosted by the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI) at Virginia Tech’s Drone Park.

Gebril emphasized that the inaugural battle was not really a competition but a learning experience. CCI began working on this competition in 2020, but the pandemic halted its progress. This was the first time the event was held.

“It was not a competition per se. All the teams worked together to get this project off the ground,” said Gebril, who teaches in Mason’s College of Engineering and Computing. “CCI-VT ran into some issues with some of the computer vision tools, but overall it was a great learning experience.”

The main objective of the competition, according to Gebril, was to have student teams assemble their own drones with materials provided by CCI-VT research group, as well as promote interest in these kinds of activities among younger students.

For the competition, Gebril pulled together a team of Mason cyber security engineering majors interested in hands-on opportunities, which included senior Kylie Amison, senior Corrado Apostolakis, senior Brandon Henry, junior Casey Cho, sophomore Zaid Osta, and Mahmoud Zaghloul, an area high school student.

By all accounts, it was a successful trip.

“The team did really well,” Gebril said. “They were able to assemble the drone successfully. We are also working on continuing this project by adding cybersecurity features to enhance this learning experience.”

Will they compete again?

“Yes, indeed,” he said. “Our students love this project and how it applies concepts learned in classrooms toward this hands-on activity.”

CCI is a network of Virginia industry, higher education, and economic development partners dedicated to cybersecurity research, innovation, and workforce development. Mason leads the Northern Virginia Node of the network.

Topics

Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI)

high-tech talent

Mason Momentum

For this Mason senior, timing was everything

Colleen Rich — Wed, 20 Apr 2022 18:21:08 +0000

For this Mason senior, timing was everything Colleen Rich Wed, 04/20/2022 - 14:21

Ahna Mohiuddin. Photo by DeRon Rockingham/Creative Services

It was 7 p.m. in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, and Ahna Mohiuddin was just beginning her school day at ��AV.

It was the 2020 Fall semester, and Mohiuddin, a cyber security engineering major, was back in her hometown because Mason had pivoted to online learning during the early stages of the pandemic.

The problem was the 10-hour time difference, which meant that when her classes began at Mason, it was nighttime in Bangladesh, and that meant taking classes sometimes all night until 8 a.m., and sleeping during the day.

“It was definitely challenging,” said Mohiuddin, who is also a member of Mason’s Honors College. “I figured if I slept during the day and woke up at night it would be okay. But, I guess, it’s just that if everything is dark outside, I sometimes felt drowsy, and it was definitely hard to concentrate.”

“It shows her perseverance and her drive,” said Peggy Brouse, associate chair for undergraduate studies in the Cyber Security Engineering Department. “She wants to be very successful in her field, and she probably will be.”

Mohiuddin was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, though she was mostly raised in Bangladesh, moving there with her family. She and her parents returned to the United States in 2016 to investigate colleges, including Mason.

Mohiuddin said she liked Mason’s cybersecurity program and the challenge of the Honors College, and her family liked the Fairfax, Virginia, area. Now a senior, Mohiuddin is one of the top students in the cyber security engineering program.

She also has become a project leader, a persona Brouse said Mohiuddin did not immediately put forward. But over time Mohiuddin found her voice, in class and in group projects.

“I just love when that happens,” Brouse said. “She has a way of making other students feel comfortable and taking on a natural leadership role. She incorporates everybody and gets them involved and gets the most out of everybody on the team.”

That is important, Brouse said, because cybersecurity employers want team players.

“They figure they’re all going to know the technical stuff,” Brouse said. “But they want people who can work with other people and be ethical. She encompasses all of that.”

She is also self-sufficient.

Consider the end of her Spring 2020 semester, when Mohiuddin not only had to pack up her dorm room before flying home to Bangladesh because of the pandemic, but had to take a final exam the day before she left. She then flew 24 hours to Dhaka just in time to take another final that began at 3 p.m. at Mason, which was 1 a.m. in Bangladesh.

“I guess I relied on a lot of coffee to stay awake,” Mohiuddin said of managing the time difference.

It’s all easier now, living with her parents in Fairfax, despite her busy schedule that is also giving her real-world, hands-on experience.

Mohiuddin is a data analyst undergraduate research assistant in a project using data analytics to help disrupt illicit supply chains of personal protective equipment and opioids such as fentanyl. The five-year, $650,000 project, funded by the National Science Foundation, is spearheaded by Louise Shelley, director of Mason’s Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center, and Edward Huang, an expert on supply chain network design in the Volgenau School of Engineering.

Mohiuddin is also a peer mentor in the College of Engineering and Computing and an office assistant in the Honors College.

She previously was an undergraduate teaching assistant in computer science and a learning assistant in mathematics.

“I’ve had a really great experience at Mason,” Mohiuddin said. “I’ve made a lot of friends, and the work I’ve done has always been a positive thing.”

“She’s very humble,” Brouse said. “But she doesn’t need to be.”

Topics

Graduation

��AV Professor Duminda Wijesekera wins CCI Impact Award

Tama Moni — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 18:54:36 +0000

��AV Professor Duminda Wijesekera wins CCI Impact Award Tama Moni Mon, 04/11/2022 - 14:54

In This Story

Duminda Wijesekera

The first winner of the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative Impact Award is Duminda Wijesekera, computer science professor and acting chair of the Department of Cyber Security Engineering at ��AV.

“I am delighted and honored to receive the award,” Wijesekera said. “CCI funding has made it possible to work on projects that could change our daily lives. These projects include autonomous vehicle security, 5G, and such 5G applications as connected transportation, smart building, and smart city initiatives. It’s exciting to help students learn about these advances in the excellent research atmosphere created by CCI.”

The CCI Impact Award recognizes an individual, group, or organization that has conducted breakthrough cybersecurity research or innovation or developed creative ways to improve the cybersecurity workforce opportunities for our industry partners or students. The winner was selected by a subcommittee of five members of the CCI Technical Advisory Board.

"The five nominees for this award have made incredible contributions to CCI's mission, including recognized research leadership, student mentoring, and entrepreneurship in cybersecurity,” said Luiz DaSilva, CCI executive director. “I am thrilled for their success, and in particular for the recognition of Duminda's impact on securing cyber-physical systems, from manufacturing to smart transportation."

Wijesekera has led or participated in more than 10 CCI research projects with dozens of faculty and numerous industry and government partners, secured or filed multiple patents, and attracted millions of dollars of new investment in Virginia's cybersecurity research enterprise, said Liza Wilson Durant, director of the CCI Northern Virginia (NoVA) regional node and associate provost at ��AV.

"The CCI NoVa Node community is proud to see Dr. Wijesekera recognized for the profound impact his collaborative leadership and expertise have had on the success and economic impact of CCI,” said Durant. “He has strategically built the CCI NoVa Node's Living Innovation Lab assets to advance the security of Next G across many Internet of Things applications and has been generous with his time to mentor and collaborate.”

"The efforts of Dr. WIjesekera and the several hundred other Virginia faculty who are working to advance cybersecurity research and innovation in Virginia are the secret sauce to CCI's success in elevating Virginia as a global leader in cybersecurity with more than $77 million of economic impact to date," Durant said.

Researchers nominated for the award include:

Adwait Nadkarni, an assistant professor in the department of computer science and director of the Secure Platforms Lab at the College of William & Mary.

Haiying Shen, an associate professor in the department of computer science, the department of systems and Information engineering, and the electrical and computer engineering department at the University of Virginia.

Sachin Shetty, the executive director of the Center for Secure and Intelligent Critical Systems at Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center, and holds a joint appointment as a professor of computational modeling and simulation engineering at Old Dominion University.

Danfeng (Daphne) Yao is a computer science professor at Virginia Tech, the Elizabeth and James E. Turner Jr. '56 Faculty Fellow, and a CACI Faculty Fellow.

Topics

Mason Core

Mason wins VMI Cyber Fusion event

Rena Malai — Wed, 02 Mar 2022 15:23:45 +0000

Mason wins VMI Cyber Fusion event Rena Malai Wed, 03/02/2022 - 10:23

In This Story

Jim Jones

The Mason team poses with the first place trophy after winning VMI's Cyber Fusion event.

Mason Patriots won Commonwealth Cyber Fusion, an event that combines a collegiate cyber competition with learning and career opportunities.

��AV students competed in the event last weekend and again claimed first place, a position Mason has maintained from the previous Cyber Fusion. Mason representatives at Cyber Fusion included Henry Coffman, member of the Virginia Cyber Range Executive Committee, and Jim Jones, Mason faculty advisor.

The students who competed in the event are a part of Mason’s Competitive Cyber club, sponsored by the Cybersecurity Engineering (CYSE) department and coached by Jones. A number of members in the club are also students in the CYSE program.

Peggy Brouse, CYSE professor, says she is very proud of the winners’ continuing efforts and their achievements as representatives of Mason.  

“Once again, our CEC students from both the Cyber Security Engineering and the Computer Science departments brought home the first place trophy from the Cyber Fusion conference,” says Brouse. “The students they competed against are from top-ranked cyber schools which makes the accomplishment even more noteworthy.”

The students self-formed the Mason Competitive Cyber club which plays a large part in their successes, she says.  

“Especially impressive is that the club welcomes all students to learn about and practice for competitions regardless of experience or academic year,” Brouse says. “I look forward to future competitions.”

Cyber Fusion is co-hosted by the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), Sen. Mark R. Warner, the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative, and the Virginia Cyber Range. According to VMI, Cybersecurity is one of the nation’s and Commonwealth’s top priorities. Cyber Fusion is the organized integration of data and tools from disparate sources of support for secure and resilient system lifecycles.

Topics

Events

Cyber Security

Secure manufacturing saves energy and protects businesses

Martha Bushong — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 16:36:05 +0000

Secure manufacturing saves energy and protects businesses Martha Bushong Thu, 04/15/2021 - 12:36

In This Story

Paulo Costa

Duminda Wijesekera

Paulo Costa (on right) with his team in the RARE Lab.

Cybersecurity experts from Mason’s College of Engineering and Computing are playing an important role in protecting American manufacturing automation and supply chains from cyber threats and designing better security into advanced manufacturing plants.

Through its membership with the Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CyManII, pronounced sī-man-ē), researchers will focus on developing an integrated cybersecurity architecture and achieving significant energy efficiencies in manufacturing.

The institute is led by the University of Texas at San Antonio and has an initial 5-year budget of $111 million, including $70 million from the U.S. Department of Energy. The remaining budget is comprised of cost-sharing, member contributions, and other factors that together will ensure the self-sustainability of CyManII after this initial period.

As a managing member, Mason is overseeing and operating CyManII’s East Coast headquarters on the Arlington Campus. The headquarters will house the institute’s primary offices, meeting space, and training facilities for the National Capital Region.

“The Arlington facility will house lab space and equipment to demonstrate, test, and validate CyManII’s emerging cybersecurity and advanced manufacturing technologies and products,” says Associate Professor and Vice President for Securing Automation and Supply Chain Paulo Costa. “Our proximity to the Department of Energy and Washington, D.C. will be useful to visitors when we return to in-person meetings and events.”

The 13,000-square-foot facility supports robotic platforms that evaluate security vulnerabilities, the impact of 5G on autonomous vehicles, the power grid, smart buildings and cities, and smart manufacturing. The space will also host a robotic smart manufacturing testbed and provide meeting and temporary office space for visiting researchers and staff.

Other benefits of filling the role of managing partner include representation on the governance board for leadership on strategic directions, planning, prioritization, and key programming.

Mason will participate in road mapping efforts and strategic decisions about investments, technical focus, and projects. Mason faculty will also gain complimentary access to CyManII events, tech showcases and meetings, and participate in annual RFP competition with extensive outreach promoting completed projects/technologies.

Mason researchers from the College of Engineering and Computing, who are setting up the lab, are playing key roles in CyManII’s first-year projects, finding ways to protect manufacturing automation and supply chains from cyber threats, and designing better security into advanced manufacturing plants.

In one of the projects, Professor Duminda Wijesekera, CyManII’s Coordinated Vulnerability Awareness Lead, is working with Bo Yu, research assistant professor, and Matt Jablonski, a PhD candidate and research assistant, to study Smart Manufacturing Architecture (SMA).

SMA has the potential to make American manufacturing more productive, more energy-efficient, more competitive, and verifiably correct. “We hope our research in Smart Manufacturing Architecture provides the backbone for modeling that will speed up the adoption of these technologies and processes and help companies to create new, secure, integrated systems,” says Jablonski. “We know that the sooner we can identify risks, the better we can help manufacturers mitigate the risks.”

The team’s work addresses potential methods for formally analyzing safety and security risks in Automated Manufacturing Systems. They emphasize how to identify components and the communication interfaces and components that can be modeled using formal methods.

Recently the team used an automated manufacturing system that produces aluminum cans to show how these processes are modeled using a suite of formal methods that included Linear Time propositional Temporal Logic, Architecture Analysis, and Design Language, as well as fault and attack tree analysis.

“This work is some of the most exciting work I’ve ever done,” says Yu. “The real-world application of this knowledge has tremendous impact. This modeling and what it does can protect the reputation of a business by finding weaknesses early on.”

As CyManII’s work becomes more established, the research enterprise will expand and grow into additional areas, such as other cyber-physical systems that directly control physical processes such as machinery, vehicles, cranes, and other movable infrastructure.

“Formal guarantees are needed in secure manufacturing automation because, in their absence, there is no acceptable way to guarantee against failures that occur due to malice and natural faults,” says Wijesekera. “These failures can affect the operational safety of machinery, operators, and the equipment that uses manufactured parts, resulting in wasted material and energy.”

Topics

Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity Research

CyManII

Mason Momentum

Mason Engineering BS in cyber security engineering earns ABET accreditation

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 14:45:18 +0000

Mason Engineering BS in cyber security engineering earns ABET accreditation Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 01/19/2021 - 09:45

Mason Engineering’s bachelor’s degree program in cyber security engineering has been accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, the global accreditor of college and university programs in applied and natural science, computing, engineering, and engineering technology.  

ABET accreditation assures that programs meet standards to produce graduates ready to enter critical technical fields that are leading the way in innovation and emerging technologies and anticipating the welfare and safety needs of the public.

“ABET accreditation is important to all engineering programs. The BS in cyber security engineering being the first ABET-accredited cyber security engineering program, and the first accredited with the new cyber security program criteria, is an important achievement for the new Volgenau Department of Cyber Security Engineering, but it is only the beginning,” says Peggy Brouse, professor and associate chair for the department. “The department is launching the new MS CYSE degree this spring semester. In addition, we are in a great position to extend research that we already have with the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security. We are excited for the future.”

Students pursuing a BS in cybersecurity engineering learn from distinguished faculty in the classroom and gain hands-on experience through projects and a year-long senior design capstone where faculty, students, and even alumni come together to tackle real-world problems.

Alumnus turned senior design capstone advisor Matthew Wilkes, BS cyber security engineering ’18, says of the students he has mentored, “I want to ensure they’re encouraged to be successful in both their project and beyond. I won’t make it easy for them because if it was easy every student could do it.” Wilkes was among the first students to graduate from the program.

“Any student who graduates from Mason with a degree in cyber security engineering has very high expectations,” says Wilkes.

Students praise the program and the opportunities that Mason offers. “Mason’s cybersecurity program has helped me build a solid base of practice and theory to fuel extracurricular study,” says cyber security engineering student Zaine Wilson. “Professors Tom Winston, Jim Jones, Mohamed Gebril, and all the other professors in the department, you won't find a group of more caring, inspiring, and wise mentors anywhere else.”

ABET’s voluntary peer-review process is highly respected because it adds critical value to academic programs in the technical disciplines, where quality, precision, and safety are of the utmost importance.

Topics

Cyber Security

Cybersecurity

Accreditation