Science of Security and Privacy

Abstract:

The Science of Security & Privacy Initiative at the National Security Agency Research Directorate promotes foundational cybersecurity and privacy science that is needed to mature the cybersecurity discipline and to underpin advances in cyberdefense. Beginning in 2012, one part of the initiative is to fund foundational research at "Lablets." With emphasis on building a community, each lablet created partnerships with other universities called "Sub-Lablets." Science of Security researchers often freely collaborated with researchers in other institutions worldwide. In 2014, the SURE project was founded to investigate cybersecurity in the cyber-physical systems realm. Since 2012, the initiative also promotes rigorous research methods through its annual best paper competition by highlighting the best example of scientific cybersecurity research contribution.

Bio:

Heather Lucas is a program director within the Trusted Systems Research Group and is the current program lead for NSA's Science of Security Virtual Organization effort. Ms. Lucas received a BA from University of Maryland Baltimore County, where she graduated magna cum laude. She is passionate about providing a useful collaborative environment for researchers to share their work, and hopes to one day see open science as a reality. She finds the TEDxWaterloo talk by Michael Nielsen on Open Science to be truly inspirational.

Outside of work, Ms. Lucas loves to travel to warm climates to soak in the sun and play in the water. Locally she enjoys her free time rock climbing, and being creative making peep dioramas.