海角社区 Selected to Apply for National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cyber Operations
October 29, 2021
BATON ROUGE, LA 鈥� The National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cyber Operations
(CAE-CO) program recently selected 海角社区 as the sole university allowed to apply for
the CAE-CO designation in 2021. This designation is currently held by only 24 other
universities across the nation. It鈥檚 an achievement that would not have been possible
were it not for 海角社区 Computer Science and Engineering Professor Golden G. Richard III,
who is also the associate director for 海角社区鈥檚 Center for Computation & Technology (CCT)
and director of 海角社区鈥檚 Applied Cybersecurity Lab.
鈥満＝巧缜� not only gets the opportunity to try to get designated, but also has the chance to help NCAE debug its application process, which will allow for other schools to apply for this program,鈥� Richard III said.
Richard III, who is a GIAC/GCFA Gold Certified Digital Forensics Investigator, has received multiple grants related to cybersecurity while at 海角社区, including a $3.35 million National Science Foundation grant to fund 21 scholarships in cybersecurity training over a five-year period. He says that the cybersecurity field is growing exponentially each year.
鈥淲e recently tripled the size of my research lab at CCT because of the incredible explosion of students we鈥檝e had,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he number of undergrads with a concentration in cybersecurity in the fall of 2019 was 19. This year, it鈥檚 99.鈥�
Not only is the number of students increasing, but so are cybersecurity jobs.
鈥淭here are 465,000 unfilled cybersecurity jobs in the U.S. today, and there is a zero percent unemployment rate among cybersecurity graduates,鈥� he said. 鈥淥ne of my PhD students just started writing her dissertation and has already been hired for a job.鈥�
While having more students take interest in cybersecurity is a good thing, it鈥檚 still a field most wish didn鈥檛 have to exist. A poll by The Pearson Institute and The Associated Press shows that nine out of 10 Americans are somewhat concerned about hacking that involves their personal information, financial institutions, government agencies and certain utilities. Other data shows that the number of data breaches publicly reported so far in 2021 has already exceeded the total for 2020.
Richard III says the best thing people can do to protect their private information is what they鈥檝e been told to do for years.
鈥淵ou can protect yourself against random attacks by not clicking on things in an email, not going to websites you don鈥檛 recognize, and not using the same password for different accounts,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he problem is if it鈥檚 a targeted attack, it鈥檚 hopeless. You lock your doors at your house assuming that a very motivated person isn鈥檛 coming after you. A non-motivated person will shake the gate, see that it鈥檚 locked and leave, but a motivated person will leap over the gate [and try to forcefully] enter your home. We don鈥檛 have solutions for that kind of situation.鈥�
A big question many people ask is why the police aren鈥檛 always able to find out where these hackers are.
鈥淭he reason ransomware is hard to attribute to people is that people use overlay network software that essentially bounces network traffic across a bunch of sites globally and scrambles their origin,鈥� Richard III said. 鈥淭he first ransomware attack on record occurred at an AIDS conference in Panama in the 1980s. They chose this location because Panama was a non-extradition country, so they wouldn鈥檛 be brought to the U.S. to face charges. Now, your geographic location is so hidden by cryptography that the ransomware will actually set up a chat channel where they can talk to someone and negotiate terms.
鈥淭he motivation back in the day was hacking prowess and getting street cred for your abilities, but now it鈥檚 monetized, which always results in something being more sophisticated. It鈥檚 a booming illegal business.鈥�
For those interested in 海角社区鈥檚 cybersecurity program, visit the newly redesigned website at .
Like us on (@lsuengineering) or follow us on and (蔼濒蝉耻别苍驳颈苍别别谤颈苍驳).鈥�
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