Cybersecurity Protecting the information systems of a broad array of organizations and supporting the nation’s infrastructure.
M A r k e r S A n d M i l e S to n e S 1990 Center for Secure Information Systems is established 2014 BS in Cyber Security Engineering approved by SCHEV 2015 Dean Ball signs MOA with U.S. Army Reserve for P3I funding and Mason designated as a lead partner
Cybersecurity of Physical and Information Systems Massimiliano “Max” Albanese, assistant professor in the Department of Information Sciences and Technology, grew up in Ariano Irpino, a small town nestled in Italy’s Apennine Mountains. He received his PhD from the University of Naples Federico II, one of the oldest academic institutions in continuous operation in the world. Albanese acquired his frst personal computer in his second year of high school, and immediately began to teach himself programing, which fueled his passion for fnding algorithmic solutions to all sorts of problems. These days he is the associate director of Mason’s Center for Secure Information Systems and is playing a major role in a $6.25 million, four-university, joint 10
|
V SE . GMU.E DU
research project on “Moving Target Defense,” funded by the Army Research Ofce. An expert in computer security, Albanese spends a good deal of his time pondering the sort of security threats the rest of us have yet to imagine. Security strategy has made seismic shifts on a regular basis since 9/11. The focus has shifted from a Cold War defense. Today concerns about a nuclear holocaust score lower on national security-threat radar than possible cyber attacks on high-level intelligence from hostile nations or terrorist groups. A new generation of technology opened a Pandora’s Box of possible threats. Albanese explained that the ubiquitous cloud-based technology that connects everything from smartphones to aircraft changed everything. “If you are working on your own computer at home, that’s one thing, but the minute you connect to the Internet, you let in the whole world,” says Albanese. Among other projects, Albanese’s team is currently working on research that aims to secure the
