School of Information Sciences

Cybersecurity Seminar Series

This Seminar Series brings researchers and practitioners to Pittsburgh to explore emerging developments and research in the area of Information Assurance. The field of Cyber Security faces new challenges and demands on a daily basis: the iSchool hosts these seminars to expose students, faculty, and business leaders to leading edge issues, both theoretical and applied. 

Professionals and investigators who would like more information on this series, or have an idea for a topic, are invited to contact James Joshi, Lead Faculty for the Laboratory for Education and Research on Security Assured Information Systems (LERSAIS). These seminars are open to the public.

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Tuesday, October 11, 2016Patrick McDaniel

3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Information Sciences Building, 3rd floor
Light refreshments will be served

Patrick McDaniel, Penn State University

"The Importance of Measurement and Decision Making to a Science of Security"

Sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh School of Information Sciences and the Laboratory for Education and Research on Security Assured Information Systems (LERSAIS)

Abstract: Adaptive defenses alter the environment in response to adversarial action and perceived threats. Such defenses are a specific example of a broader class of management techniques called system agility. In its fullest generality, a science of agility is based on a reasoned modification to a system or environment in response to a functional, performance, or security needs. This talk highlights the activities surrounding the investigation of this science within the recently launched Cyber-Security Collaborative Research Alliance. In this context, the talk identifies questions of when, what, and how to employ changes to improve the security of an environment, as well as consider how to measure and weigh the effectiveness of different approaches to agility.

Bio: Patrick McDaniel is a distinguished professor in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Penn State University, co-director of the Systems and Internet Infrastructure Security Laboratory, and fellow of IEEE and ACM. Dr. McDaniel is also the program manager and lead scientist for the Army Research Laboratory's Cyber-Security Collaborative Research Alliance. Dr. McDaniel’s research efforts centrally focus on a wide range of topics in security technical public policy. He was the editor-in-chief of the ACM journal Transactions on Internet Technology (TOIT), and served as associate editor of the journals ACM Transactions on Information and System Security, IEEE Transactions on Computers, and IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering. Dr. McDaniel’s was awarded the National Science Foundation CAREER Award and has chaired several top conferences in security including the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy and the USENIX Security Symposium. Prior to pursuing his PhD at the University of Michigan, Dr. McDaniel’s was a software architect and project manager in the telecommunications industry.

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Friday, March 25, 2016

2:00 p.m.
Information Sciences Building, 3rd floor
Light refreshments will be served

Roy Maxion, Carnegie Mellon University

"Science and Cybersecurity"

Sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh School of Information Sciences and the Laboratory for Education and Research on Security Assured Information Systems (LERSAIS)

Abstract: Science of (or in) cybersecurity -- there has been more heat than light on this topic in the past two to three years. If you ask N people what "doing science" in cybersecurity means, you will likely get N different answers, which is part of the problem. In this talk I will present one of those N answers, but with an emphasis on what constitutes good science, irrespective of discipline. Examples will be given to show how bad science contaminates the literature (often for years) and impedes progress in the field.

Bio: Roy Maxion is a research professor in computer science and machine learning at Carnegie Mellon University. His recent work has focused on keystroke biometrics and forensics. He is currently on the editorial boards of IEEE Security & Privacy, and the International Journal of Biometrics. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Future Research Goals and Directions for Foundational Science in Cybersecurity.

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Friday, January 29, 2016

11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Information Sciences Building, 3rd floor
Light refreshments will be served

Rasu Shrestha, MD, MBA, Chief Innovation Officer, UPMC Executive Vice President, UPMC Enterprises

"Life Changing Innovation: Data to actionable insights to impactful change"

Sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh School of Information Sciences and the Laboratory for Education and Research on Security Assured Information Systems (LERSAIS) & the Big Data Colloquium Series

Abstract: Today, we are data rich and information poor in healthcare. This talk aims to discuss some of the challenges, trends and opportunities in healthcare, as UPMC looks to work with entrepreneurs, academia, clinicians and the industry to transform how healthcare is being delivered. The presentation will outline the key focus areas for UPMC Enterprises and highlight the processes that have been put in place. This will be presented amidst the backdrop of key challenges/opportunities in healthcare, such as data interoperability, population health, big data, and analytics.

Bio: As chief innovation officer for UPMC, Shrestha plays a leading role in driving UPMC’s innovation strategy, serving as a catalyst for transforming the organization into a more patient-focused and economically sustainable system. Shrestha also serves as the executive vice president of UPMC Enterprises, the innovation and commercialization arm of UPMC. He works to facilitate new health care intelligence, technology expertise and entrepreneurial drive to solve complex health care challenges.

Shrestha has served as the vice president of medical information technology and medical director of interoperability at UPMC. He previously served as the informatics director at the University of Southern California (USC), where he was also a professor of radiology research at the Keck School of Medicine. He serves as the chair of the Informatics Scientific Program Committee at the Radiological Society of North America and is a board member of several innovative organizations, including Omnyx, a UPMC/GE joint venture. He is also a longtime member of the Advisory Board of KLAS Research. “Life Changing Innovation: Data to actionable insights to impactful change”

1Friday, January 8, 2016

1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Information Sciences Building, 3rd floor
Refreshments will be served prior to the colloquium

Heiko Ludwig, Research Staff Member and Manager Almaden Research Center, IBM

"Measuring and Managing Quality of Service in a Cloud Environment"

Abstract: Today’s application environments combine Cloud and on-premise infrastructure platforms and services from different providers enable the quick development and delivery of solutions to their intended users. The ability to use Cloud platforms to stand up applications in a short time frame, the wide availability of Web services, and the application of a continuous deployment model has led to very dynamic application environments. In those application environments, managing quality of service has become more important. The more external service vendors are involved the less control an application owner has and must rely on Service Level Agreements (SLAs). However, SLA management is becoming more difficult. Services from different vendors expose different instrumentation.

This talk will analyze the issues of defining service quality metrics, measuring them, and implementing them in a multi-layer Cloud environment from a service customer and a service provider's point of view. Standard approaches to measure and manage service quality will be revisited and the novel rSLA language and service for quality management will be introduced.

Bio: Dr. Heiko Ludwig is a Research Staff Member and Manager with IBM’s Almaden Research Center in San Jose, CA. Leading the Platform and Mobile Research group, Ludwig is currently working on topics related to Platform as a Service (PaaS) as well as mobile applications. He had published more than 100 refereed articles, conference papers, and book chapters, as well as technical reports. Prior to the Alamaden Research Center, Dr. Ludwig held different positions at IBM in the TJ Watson Research Center, the Zurich Research Laboratory, and IBM’s South American Delivery Centers in Argentina and Brazil.

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Colloquia

It is part of the School's mission to disseminate research ideas and findings through Colloquia. New students and faculty enjoy this vibrant intellectual community.