CSI Professor, Raquel Hill, Speaks at Cyber Security Panel
Panel Included Congressman Hamilton, Professor Hill, and Jacob Abbot and Jerry Reichard of the FBI.
2/10/17
In a full room of students, teachers and staff, a four person panel spoke on the present and future of cybersecurity in the United States and the world. Held at IU's SPEA, the esteemed panel members spoke on a variety of issues including the direct security concerns that we face in the world and our nation, the lack of robust and current policies and knowledge our leaders need, and the strong need for students to graduate with security education.
Congressman Hamilton called to both history and civic duty in his words. Drawing a parallel between the 1950's situation with US nuclear regulation and international agreements and today's situation in cybersecurity, he made clear that our task is monumental and will not happen overnight, while at the same time being immediate in need. Impassioned, he called for everyone who has training and knowledge in the field to go and speak to their government representatives who are in desperate need of understanding and expertise.
Agents Abbott and Reichard spoke about the pernicious and constant level of attacks and the challenge this presents to both industry and government. Mentioning the places malicious machines have been captured in Indiana alone, from barns to bathrooms, Reinchard impressed upon the audience the level of sophistication and dedication that faces us today.
In her presentation, Professor Hill emphasized the importance of addressing the real dangers, both personal and communal, that lax cybersecurity presents. From attacks on individual finances and records, to clear concerns about the nation's power grid, she made crystal clear that our dependence on technology makes us a target and that we can work to reduce our vulnerability. She also encouraged all students to take security courses and not turn away due to fears that security informatics is "hard." "I will make the course material accessible to you and will adjust so that you can understand it, always."
Several students presented questions that ranged from work in cybersecurity offense rather than defense, cyber law and concerns about the grey line where business and national security overlap; as when a sitting President uses Twitter as a national megaphone and what chaos could follow if his account were hacked.
Raquel Hill is an Associate Professor in the Center of Security Informatics at Indiana University. She is a Ph.D. graduate of Harvard University, whose primary research interests are trust and security for distributed computing environments and data privacy. Her research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
