4th Annual Data Forum Tackles Cybersecurity, Hacking

The 4th Annual President's Forum on Data will be held on March 2, 2017. The focus of the forum will be on cybersecurity and data analytics.

ALBANY, N.Y. (February 7, 2017) – Whether it’s election fraud or hacked emails, the threats posed by cybercriminals has been at the forefront of U.S. news throughout the presidential election cycle. A group of national and international cybersecurity leaders will gather at the University at Albany on March 2 to discuss these issues at the 4th Annual President’s Forum on Data: The New Game in Cybersecurity: Security Analytics.

“As our information technology landscape grows more complex security becomes increasingly difficult,” said Professor of Information Technology Management and forum chair Sanjay Goel. “A key challenge we face is the fundamental asymmetry between hackers and defenders; while hackers need to find only a single vulnerability to exploit, defenders need to protect against all vulnerabilities. This is compounded by the fact that technology continues to evolve at a lightning pace, while the security solutions to protect the technology lag behind.”

Goel and his colleagues will discuss how the exploitation of human vulnerabilities is enabling intrusions into organizational networks to such a degree that the new operational assumption of any business is that their security will be breached. Consequently, the security paradigm is shifting from the concept of perimeter defense to gaining network visibility, whereby organizations can both detect and respond to intrusions promptly.

“Security analytics is the key to visibility in computer networks,” said Goel, who directs the digital forensics program at UAlbany’s School of Business.

In security analytics, logging information is collected from servers, routers, applications and computers across the network to gain insight into operations through data analytics, machine learning, and visualization. Open-source intelligence and threat information from malware companies is often used in conjunction with the organizational data to deduce intrusions and their sources.

The forum, which begins at 8 a.m., will be held in the Campus Center Ballroom of the uptown campus. The event is free and open to the public, and registration is available online.

“This seminar will cover the challenges faced in the field of security analytics today, as our need for network visibility increases,” said Goel.

This year’s forum will be divided into 3 sessions:

• Data Analytics and Internet of Things: Will the data deluge from IOT necessitate a rethink of the entire information infrastructure?
• Cyber Security / National Security: Managing Security Data and Role of Educational Institutions in Training Students?
• Digital Forensics / Security Analytics: What are the limits and challenges to Forensics in intelligence, cyber security, and law enforcement?

Through a series of interactive and dynamic conversations, the President’s Forum on Data brings together national leaders and scholars in advanced data analytics (ADA) with UAlbany’s ADA network and partners. Previous topics included data management, health analytics, and emergency management and homeland security.

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