PISCES 2019: Partnership in Securing Cyberspace Through Education and Service: Renewal

George Washington University, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

This project seeks to continue George Washington University (GWU) participation in the CyberCorps®: Scholarship for Service (SFS) program to prepare highly-qualified Cybersecurity professionals for entry into the government workforce. The project takes advantage of at least 50 courses in eight departments covering various aspects of Cybersecurity. The students enter the workforce with knowledge of Cybersecurity obtained from their disciplinary course material and from their interactions with fellow students and guest lecturers from several disciplines. In the past, this CyberCorps® SFS project graduated students with degrees in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering Management, Business Administration, Forensic Sciences, National Security Studies, and Public Policy. This interdisciplinary approach produces graduates with both technical knowledge and a broader understanding of Cybersecurity. The Principal Investigators described this holistic approach to cybersecurity education in their 2012 paper in IEEE Security & Privacy Magazine. The NSF?s CyberCorps® SFS program funds projects that address cybersecurity education and workforce development. The Scholarship Track provides funding to award scholarships to students in cybersecurity. In return for their scholarships, recipients will work after graduation for a Federal, State, Local, or Tribal Government organization in a position related to cybersecurity for a period equal to the length of the scholarship. The Capacity Track seeks innovative proposals leading to an increase in the ability of the United States higher education enterprise to produce cybersecurity professionals. To date, the GWU project has graduated 61 CyberCorps® SFS students with at least 36% of women and 27% of declared ethnicity minority. The current project plans dissemination of their Signature Seminar to all CyberCorps® SFS schools. In addition, CyberCorps® SFS students will also teach cybersecurity, risk analysis, and privacy to all senior design students in computer science. They will also speak to local community groups such as neighborhood associations, condominium associations and senior citizen groups on cybersecurity ?hygiene? - how a simple precaution can protect them from many cyber attacks. Approximately 25% of the time in the class will be spent in laboratory projects such as Optical Mouse Spy Device, Honey Pot Experiments, Intrusion Defense System ? Installing and Experimenting with Snort and Metasploit, Hardening Linux, testing top web security vulnerabilities, social engineering with QR codes, spear phishing, Border Gateway Protocol, Bluetooth Security, incident response platform development, and secure mobile messaging.