Conference to Focus on Information Security

Fending off digital attacks by corporate spies, organized crime and foreign governments will be the focus of a conference next week hosted by the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at The University of Texas at Dallas.

“Today a large chunk of what had been crimes in the physical world – including money laundering, extortion, check schemes and pyramid games – has been converted and deployed in the digital world,” said Dr. Barbara Belón, manager of the 12th annual Colloquium for Information Systems Security Education, which will take place June 2-4 at the UT Dallas Conference Center. “Security education can go a long way to helping organizations protect their information crown jewels,” she added, “and these colloquiums have played a major part in doing just that.”

Twelve years ago only a handful of U.S. universities offered courses in information security, but organizers say their colloquiums have helped change that, resulting in a surge of two- and four-year undergraduate programs in the field.

“These graduates become the troops in the trenches of corporate America and U.S. government agencies,” said Belón, who is also president and CEO of Belón Research and Practice in Lehighton, Penn.

At UT Dallas, digital security education and research takes place at the Cybersecurity and Emergency Preparedness Institute, directed by Dr. Doug Harris. The institute is designated a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education by both the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security. Its faculty conduct research and provide education designed to enhance preparedness for emerging cyberthreats.

This year’s colloquium is attracting academicians from more than 100 colleges and universities as well as representatives of government and the security industry from as far away as Australia.

“The colloquium has been extremely successful in providing a venue where information assurance educators and practitioners can meet, exchange ideas and return to their jobs re-invigorated for working in this constantly changing risk-prone environment,” Belón added.