This Wednesday, Georgia Tech hosts its 13th annual Cyber Security Summit to spark community discussion and defenses against the latest cybersecurity threats.

The summit is part of a long-standing partnership between the College of Computing and Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), when researchers from both entities disclose new, emerging threats to information security. The event is widely attended by executives, entrepreneurs, military and government representatives as well as the Georgia Tech community.

The need for stronger partnership among academia, government and business has never been greater, says Mustaque Ahamad, professor in the CoC whose research interests include operating systems and middleware support.

“The message that everyone is hearing is ‘IT is everywhere’ and not just in the online world,” Ahamad says. “The problem is that ‘IT everywhere’ also requires the need to safeguard IT everywhere, and for that, we need the people.”

Efforts by the CoC, GTRI and others across campus have led to the creation of cutting-edge cybersecurity solutions such as BlackForest and Apiary, and the commercialization of research discoveries through Atlanta-based start-ups Damballa and Pindrop. More work remains to be done, researchers say.

Threats to be discussed at the Summit include the “digital dust” that consumers unknowingly leave behind or are forced to give up without compromise under rigid terms of service; the shortfall of skilled information security workers that is now prevalent on three continents; security and trust in the age of the “Internet of Things,” and unrelenting cyber-espionage.

"Nations are not just going after the data anymore; they are trying to affect functionality,” says GRTI’s Lee Lerner, a researcher with the Cyber Technologies and Information Security Lab (CTISL). “How much can you subtly disrupt physical infrastructure without it amounting to an act of war?"

Event Details

Wednesday, Oct. 28

GTRI Conference Center

250 Fourteenth St. NW, Atlanta

8:30 a.m. - Registration and Breakfast
9:00 a.m. - Welcome
9:30 a.m. - Tom Noonan, Morning Keynote / Imlay Lecture
10:30 a.m. - Break
10:45 a.m. - Panel Discussion
11:45 a.m. - Lunch
12:30 p.m. - Dr. Phyllis A. Schneck, Afternoon Keynote
1:30 p.m. - Announcements
1:45 p.m. - Break
2:00 p.m. - Birds of Feather Breakout Sessions
3:00 p.m. - Student Posters
4:30 p.m. - Closing