The UMBC Cyber Defense Lab presents

Human Factors in Cyber Security

Dr. Josiah Dykstra

Cyber Security Researcher, US Department of Defense

12:00–1:00pm Friday, 13 April 2018, ITE 229, UMBC

Humans play many roles in the effectiveness of cyber security. While users are often blamed for security compromises, human strengths and weaknesses also affect people who perform design, implementation, configuration, monitoring, analysis, and response. The fields of human computer interaction generally, and usable security specifically, have drawn attention and research to some aspects of human factors, but many opportunities remain for future work.

In this talk, I describe several of my research projects related to human factors in cyber security. The first was a study of how individual differences affect cyber security behavior, and active follow-on research to predict users who might become victimized. The second was a study of stress and fatigue in security operations centers, including a new survey instrument for collecting data in tactical environments. The third was a research prototype using augmented reality to assist humans in cyber security analysis, and an analysis of preliminary results.

Finally, I will present and invite discussion about a new idea for improving security by making it “disappear.” Despite decades of tools and techniques for secure development, and valiant work at adoption and usability, it is clear that many users cannot or will not avail themselves of appropriate cyber security options. It may be time to rethink the amount of interaction required for most users, and if hands-off, behind-the-scenes cyber defense should be the norm.

Josiah Dykstra serves as a Senior Executive Service government civilian and Subject Matter Expert for Computer Network Operations research in the Laboratory for Telecommunication Sciences within the Research Directorate of the National Security Agency. His research includes human augmentation, cyber risk assessment, and cyber effects. He is an active collaborator with academic, industry, and government researchers around the country. Dykstra earned the PhD degree in computer science at UMBC in 2013 studying under Alan T. Sherman. Dr. Dykstra is the author of the 2016 O’Reilly book, Essential Cybersecurity Science, Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, and winner of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.

Host: Alan T. Sherman, *protected email*

The UMBC Cyber Defense Lab meets biweekly Fridays. All meetings are open to the public.

The post 🗣️ talk: Human Factors in Cyber Security, 12-1 Fri 4/13, ITE 229, UMBC appeared first on Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.

CHMPR Distinguished Lecture

Challenges and pitfalls in big data analysis

Yoav Benjamini, Tel Aviv University

3:30-5:00 Thursday, 12 April 2018, ITE 325b, UMBC

I shall warn about the pitfalls resulting from the false assurance that “we have all data at hand”, and discuss the challenges that are not commonly recognised such as the validity and replicability of the analysis results. Examples will be given from our work on the Health Informatics part of the European Human Brain Project, as well as from our studies in neuroscience and genomics.

Yoav Benjamini is the Nathan and Lily Silver Professor of Applied Statistics at the Department of statistics and operations research at Tel Aviv University. He holds B.Sc in physics and mathematics and M.Sc in mathematics from the Hebrew University (1976), and Ph.D in Statistics from Princeton University (1981). He is a member of the Sagol School of Neuroscience, and of the Edmond Safra Bioinformatics Center both at Tel Aviv University. He taught as a visiting professor at Wharton, UC Berkeley and Stanford and is currently visiting Columbia University. Prof. Benjamini is a co-developer of the widely used and cited False Discovery Rate concept and methodology. His current research topics are selective and simultaneous inference, replicability and reproducibility in science, model selection, and data mining. His applied research fields are Biostatistics, Bioinformatics, Animal Behavior and Brain Imaging, and as a member of the European Human Brain Project he is involved in health informatics research. Prof. Benjamini served as the president of the Israel Statistical Association, He received the Israel Prize for research in Statistics and Economics at 2012, and is an elected member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

The post 🗣️ talk: Challenges and pitfalls in big data analysis, 3:30 Thr 4/12 ITE325 appeared first on Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.

STEM BUILD at UMBC is an undergraduate success initiative and research study at UMBC funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). UMBC is investigating ways to enhance the success and persistence of students who have the goal of pursuing baccalaureate degrees in the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

The STEM BUILD at UMBC Initiative is looking for Peer Mentors to assist with the a six-week summer internship program on the UMBC campus (June 11-July 20, 2018) for non-UMBC students from local community colleges and four-year institutions.  

Position Description:

• Setting up and maintaining laboratory spaces, equipment, and supplies
• Supporting students in the laboratory 
• Providing constructive feedback to students on activities and assignments
• Supporting STEM BUILD co-curricular and extra-curricular summer programming

Minimum Qualifications:

• 3.00+ cumulative UMBC GPA 
• Undergraduate majoring in the STEM fields
• Genuine interest in helping new students get to know UMBC 
• Availability from June 4-August 17, 2018 
• Available a minimum of 20 hours per week 

Compensation: $10/hour (20 hours min/ 40 hours max)

Deadline: Friday, April 30, 2018

Questions?:  Email: Lucie Blauvelt at blauve@umbc.edu

Join us for a week of activities to highlight the Baltimore refugee populations and learn more about how YOU can get involved. Students are welcome at all of the week's events. FREE Snacks and Food are provided!

Monday, April 23: Eritrean Teatime in the Breezeway

Tuesday, April 24, 5-7pm: Guest lecturer                                                        Dawit Gebremichael Habte  Apartment's Community Center

Wednesday, April 25, 6-8:30pm: Across the World in 9 Plates!                Skylight Room

Thursday, April 26, 5-7pm: Get Involved! Advocacy Event                          Lower Flat Tuesdays

Friday, April 27, 6-8:30pm: Cultural Exposé                                                Sports Zone

The 11th Annual Service-Learning & Civic Engagement Conference (SLCE) draws together students, faculty, staff, and community partners from the Campus Compact Mid-Atlantic network and beyond for a series of workshops and transformative discussions around civic and community engagement.  This year, on Saturday, April 7th, the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore hosts "Get Engaged, Be the Change." The event begins at 10am and concludes at 4:30 pm.

FREE REGISTRATION & TRANSPORTATION - THE GOOGLE FORM HAS IT ALL!
The Shriver Center continues to sponsor this regional event. We will cover the cost of registration, but you must use a special code provided in the Google Form (see the link below). UMES is just under 3 hours from UMBC. Towson University colleagues coordinated a bus that will stop at UMBC along the way to UMES. In order to get to the conference on time (and to get breakfast), the bus will arrive at UMBC @ 7 am.

The weather prediction has greatly improved for Saturday. The SLCE Conference Planning Committee is keeping an eye on it. Colleague Alexis Logan-Brown is riding the bus and will be the most informed about delays and/or cancellation. Her contact info is in the Google Form https://goo.gl/forms/5kDj2UtPafcvZ6rm1

To learn more about the history of SLCE involving UMBC and the Shriver Living Learning Community, visit: