Cybersecurity Workforce

Software development is a complex and manual process, in part because typical software programs contain more than hundreds of thousands lines of computer code. If software programmers fail to perform critical checks in that code, such as making sure a user is authorized to update an account, serious security compromises ensue. Indeed, vulnerable software is one of the leading causes of cyber security problems. Checking for security problems is very expensive because it requires examining computer code for security mistakes, and such a process requires significant manual effort.

This proposal will develop an educational link between the Yakama Nation and the University of Washington at Bothell to enhance Cybersecurity education for Native students using virtual laboratories. The laboratories will use scenarios to provide hands-on experience in the practical aspects of Cybersecurity. The project will use a new approach to Cybersecurity education that focuses on established success indicators for Native students. The project will focus on an educational design that appeals to the students in areas that are defined as key indicators of academic success.

This project establishes a multimedia-based virtual classroom with a virtual lab teaching assistant for the education of cyber physical system (CPS) security. Such a virtual classroom helps college students in resource-limited rural areas to learn the latest CPS security knowledge via an on-line peer-to-peer learning environment with other students from larger schools.

This research applies anthropological methods to study cybersecurity analysts working in Security Operation Centers (SOC). These analysts process large amounts of data while handling cyber threats. The job requires intelligence and high levels of skills but has many mundane/repetitive aspects. Adequate tool support is largely lacking and many of the skills and procedures involved are uncodified and undocumented resulting in a large body of "tacit knowledge." This project places researchers trained in both cybersecurity and anthropology into SOCs, working side by side with the analysts.

Malware, especially botnets, have become the main source of most attacks and malicious activities on Internet. Bots communicate with each other and Command & Control servers to coordinate their malicious activities. This project is developing new techniques and tools to detect malicious activities and botnets through analyzing their communication channels.