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Realities & Dilemmas in Cyber Security & Privacy

Greg Shannon ( Carnegie Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute )

We discuss evolving yet persistent technical, philosophical, and policy challenges in cyber security and privacy.  We contend that the persistence is driven by un/under-acknowledged realities and dilemmas that are amplified in cyberspace. 

For example:

  • Many issues are “dual” in that a solution to one issue represents the essence of the challenge for another issue.  
  • Some persistent failures in security and privacy can be traced back to proven theoretical results and unresolved epistemological questions.
  • The human element often confounds policy and technical solutions; these confounds continue to be conveniently ignored in “the real world”.

We’ll close with a sampling of current work that seeks to clarify, resolve, or mitigate these realities and dilemmas.

Speaker bio

Dr. Greg Shannon is the Chief Scientist for the CERT® Division at Carnegie Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute, a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC). In this role, he works with CERT management and staff to expand the division's research results, impact, and visibility. Outside of CERT, he works to influence national and international research agendas by promoting data-driven science for cybersecurity.

Shannon is the Chair of IEEE's Cybersecurity Initiative and co-organizer for the forthcoming DIMACS Workshop on Scalable Energy-efficient Algorithms for Security (SEAS).

Prior to joining CERT, Shannon was Chief Scientist at two startups working on statistical anomaly detection in sensor streams, the science of cybersecurity, and insider threats. In earlier positions, he led applied research and development in cybersecurity and data analysis at Lucent Technologies, Lumeta, Ascend Communications, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Indiana University, and his own startup company.

Shannon received a BS in Computer Science from Iowa State University with minors in Mathematics, Economics, and Statistics. He earned his MS and PhD in Computer Sciences at Purdue University, on a fellowship from the Packard Foundation. He is a member of ACM and a Senior Member of IEEE.

 

 

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