John Jolly Comments on General Dynamics and Virginia Tech’s Joint Cybersecurity Research Effort

General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems has joined Virginia Tech as an affiliate of the newest Security and Software Engineering Research Center, Industry and University Cooperative Research Center founded with the support of the National Science Foundation.

The S2ERC program is dedicated to software engineering with a recent focus in security. NSF awarded  Virginia Tech a five year grant…

Committee Approves Cybersecurity Bill

The Committee on Science, Space, and Technology unanimously approved a bill yesterday that enhances cybersecurity efforts across federal agencies.

The Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2011, introduced by Congressmen Michael McCaul and Dan Lipinski, primarily addresses efforts at the National Science Foundation and the National Institute…

University of Texas Receives $1 Million Cyber Grants

The University of Texas Dallas has received two grants worth $1 million from the National Science Foundation for data security and privacy research. Purdue University, UT Dallas’ partner, will receive half the amount.

The larger of the grants the increasingly common practice of cross-matching datasets to support various activities involving intelligence,…

NYU-Poly Launches New Cyber Grad Program

The Polytechnic Institute of New York University plans to launch a graduate program that will educate engineers and scientists in addressing the growing complexity of IT security and privacy issues. The program is funded through a $2.85 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

“Traditionally, engineers are taught to…

House Passes Cyber R&D Bill

The U.S. House of Representatives yesterday passed H.R. 4061, the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2009 by a vote of 422-5.

The bill reauthorizes the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) and the National Institute for Standards and Technology’s (NIST) unclassified network security and computer programs. The bill is designed to enhance cooperation on federal and private cybersecurity research and development projects.

“This is…

Innovative? NSF has the Challenge for You

The National Science Foundation is soliciting proposals for projects which will design innovative cyber infrastructure but is currently not receiving federal funding.

“Eligible projects include development, deployment, research, and education necessary to create cyber infrastructure, or creation of cyber infrastructure that will enable innovative science and education,” according to the announcement. …

Dr. José Muñoz Appointed as CTO of NSF’s Cyber Office

The National Science Foundation’s Office of Cyberinfrastructure has announced the appointment of Dr. José Muñoz as chief technology officer effective June 1, 2010.

Muñoz, who has been serving as acting director of OCI, will focus on relations with external communities on IT and cyber infrastructure, enhance the outreach activities of NSF units involved with…

Rutgers Researchers Demonstrate Smart Phone Hack

Two computer scientists from Rutgers University, Vinod Ganapathy and Liviu Iftode, along with support from the National Science Foundation, tasked graduate students with developing malware for smart phones that would escape the notice of the user.

The method used by the researchers is described below:

“The team decided to inject software components known as rootkits into the phone’s operating system. Rootkits are a particularly devious threat to…

Learn to Hack on the Government’s Dime

Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed HR 4061, the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act, which is the first major cybersecurity legislation to pass the House within the past year. The bill provides increased guidance for the role of NIST and NSF, looks to promote education and awareness efforts, coordinate R&D in the cyber realm and seeks to build…

NSF’s Jose Munoz on the Nation’s Cyber Infrastructure