Experts from academia and industry discuss how they keep systems safe
The University of Delaware’s Cybersecurity Initiative hosted an International Workshop on Cyber-Physical Systems and Cyber-Resilience on March 20, 2019 at the STAR Tower Audion.
The goal of the workshop: bringing together public, private and international partners to discuss interdisciplinary cybersecurity and resilience strategies across our critical cyber-physical systems. This is believed to be the first workshop ever to connect cyber-physical systems and cyber resilience.
In his opening remarks, President Dennis Assanis noted that the experts in UD’s Cybersecurity Initiative work across disciplines, bringing together engineering, business, health sciences and public policy, including working with the Biden Institute.
“Of course, it’s not enough to just be knowledgeable about a topic like cybersecurity. What really matters — and what UD really prides itself on — is being deeply and actively engaged with people and issues on a day-to-day basis,” said President Assanis. “At UD, we see it as our mission to be this kind of intellectual intersection — where academic research meets real-world challenges to create sustainable and socially responsible solutions.”
Other opening remarks were given by Vice President of Research, Scholarship and Innovation Charles Riordan; Kenneth Barner, the Charles Black Evans Professor and Chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; and Professor and Chair of Computer and Information Sciences Kathy McCoy.
The conference was chaired by Nii Attoh-Okine, interim academic director of the Cybersecurity Initiative. He is collaborating with researchers from Johns Hopkins University; Ohio State University; Morgan State University; University of Tsukuba, Japan and Kyushu University, Japan on cybersecurity for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The Japanese government has proposed a super smart society, Society 5.0, that involves connected devices and systems. The upcoming Tokyo Olympics can provide real data to validate, for example, cyber models that can be used on a global level.
Attendees of the International Workshop in Cyber-Physical Systems and Cyber-Resilience learned from six sessions on smart cities and cyber-environments, cyber-physical and Internet of Things systems, cybersecurity aspects of critical infrastructure and protection, blockchain, cybersecurity education and applications. The sessions included speakers from UD; the University of Tsukuba; Lockheed Martin; Argonne National Laboratory; Middlesex Water Company; Kyushu University; Potter Anderson & Corroon, LLP; Lincoln University; the State of Delaware; Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering; and Lyons Companies. The luncheon speaker was Kevin Kornegay, professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Morgan State University, who spoke about the Cybersecurity Assurance and Policy (CAP) at Morgan State University.
The International Workshop on Cyber-Physical Systems and Cyber-Resilience was sponsored by the University of Delaware Cybersecurity Initiative, American Society of Civil Engineers, JP Morgan Chase & Co., and the University of Tsukuba, Japan.