URI leader in cyber security research, ed.

URI was named a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education by The National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security. / COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND
URI was named a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education by The National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security. / COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND

Several landmark developments in the University of Rhode Island’s efforts to remain at the forefront of digital-forensics education and training are pushing the South Kingstown institution toward potential new funding sources and collaborations that will enhance its academic reach in preparing students for what it sees as a burgeoning job marketplace.
The university announced on April 27 that it had been named a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education by the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security.
The designation, which came just as the university prepared to host its second cybersecurity symposium on May 2, establishes that URI coursework and degrees meet NSA/DHS industry certification standards and requirements.
“We were very proud. It’s probably the premier designation for cybersecurity academic programs in the country,” professor Victor Fay-Wolfe said. “A lot of federal programs, particularly anything having to do with training or academic development, unofficially treat this as a prerequisite before they’ll consider you [for funding].”
Fay-Wolfe, a professor of computer science who has been at URI since 1991, founded the Digital Forensics and Cyber Security Center in 2004 after getting a first-hand look at Sensei Enterprises, his cousin’s Washington, D.C., computer-forensics firm that, he said, was one of the first in the country.
The program was established with a $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. In eight years it has, through its course tracks, taught about 100 undergraduate and 100 graduate students.
In addition to minor concentrations in digital forensics, the DFCSC also runs research and service programs that have, among other things, developed a pornography-scanning tool that is used by law enforcement agencies nationwide.
The research program is funded by the U.S. Justice Department, while the service component, which Fay-Wolfe likens to a teaching hospital, charges, on a nonprofit model, companies and individuals for assistance on such things as hard drive investigations. Fay-Wolfe said that the “vast majority” of students who have come through the program entered in the workforce with jobs in related fields.
“Humbly, I would like to think we had some good foresight that [cybersecurity and digital forensics] was going to be very important,” he said. “At the time [the digital-forensics program started] we were pioneers.”
The formula for figuring out that the need for cybersecurity jobs will continue to grow is relatively simple.
As the cyber world’s presence in everyday life – professionally and personally – becomes stronger and new ways to tamper with the world emerge every day, more professionals are needed to combat those issues in almost every imaginable industry sector.
Market Research Media, a national market analysis firm in California, recently reported that the U.S. federal cybersecurity market will be cumulatively valued at $65.5 million from 2013-2018 and that its compound annual growth rate will be about 6.2 percent over the next six years.
A day after URI’s symposium, a conference on cybersecurity and international relations was held at Brown University in Providence. It was a byproduct of collaboration between the two institutions and the U.S. Naval War College in Newport which was begun late last year.
Still in its infancy stages, the collaboration is meant to foster a spirit of information sharing among the schools that possibly could lead to an academic partnership and ventures into joint funding as URI and Brown both look to advance their offerings in cybersecurity education.
“I believe there is a market for degree programs and short courses [at Brown] because the field has suddenly become so important,” said John Savage, a Brown professor of computer science who organized the conference there. “Those entering the workforce certainly could benefit from the types of courses we’re teaching. The problem is the consciousness of the [academic market] of cybersecurity has not been raised enough.” •

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