Gain a competitive advantage in your field!

Programming and problem-solving skills are musts for today’s college graduates!

Enroll in a special section of CMSC 201 Computer Science I that emphasizes programming topics applicable to the social and biological sciences and other majors. Sample topics include statistical analysis, working with large data sets, and data visualization using the popular Python programming language. You will also receive more individual attention in this smaller CMSC 201 section!

This section fulfills any major’s requirement for CMSC 201 and is open to all non-CS, non-engineering majors.

No programming experience is required. Click here for more details about this unique opportunity.

The Gender and Women’s Studies Program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor to begin in August 2019. The successful candidate should have demonstrated experience teaching core gender and women’s studies courses at the undergraduate level, a sub-specialty in Latinx or Indigenous sovereignty, human rights, and/or violence, a promising research agenda, a commitment to and experience in fostering inclusive excellence, and a Ph.D. in Gender/Women’s Studies or a closely related interdisciplinary field at the time of appointment. The position is fully funded through the Gender and Women’s Studies Department, with the possibility of teaching courses cross-listed with other campus units. The teaching load is 3/2.

UMBC is a dynamic mid-sized public research university that values undergraduate teaching and student mentoring. With over 13,500 undergraduate and graduate students, the campus reflects the wealth of ethnic and cultural diversity of the Baltimore-Washington region. The Gender and Women’s Studies Department at UMBC is an interdisciplinary academic unit committed to transnational and intersectional understandings of how gender and its intersections with race, nation, class, religion, and sexuality make a difference in individual lives and in the practices and institutions of human societies and cultures. The program has five faculty lines and more than 30 affiliate faculty. It enrolls approximately 70 undergraduate students divided among its undergraduate major, certificate, post-baccalaureate certificate, and critical sexuality studies minor programs and is one of eight participating departments and programs in the Language, Literacy and Culture Ph.D. program. UMBC is especially proud of the diversity of its student body and we seek to attract an equally diverse applicant pool for this position. Underrepresented groups (e.g., racial, ethnic, sexual minorities), women, veterans, and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply. The campus and department are committed to increasing faculty diversity.

Applicants should be addressed to Dr. Carole McCann and be submitted through Interfolio (https://apply.interfolio.com/51253). Applications should include a 1) letter of interest, 2) CV, 3) a statement of experience with and commitment to inclusive excellence, 4) a writing sample, and 5) sample syllabi and teaching evaluations if available. Review of applications will begin November 19, 2018 and will continue until the position is filled. UMBC is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.

Details and Registration for this FREE event can be found HERE

The Washington DC Idealist Grad Fair October 1, 5:00 - 8:00 PM

• Learn about admissions requirements and application deadlines for graduate programs in social work, public policy, nonprofit management, international affairs, public interest law, social entrepreneurship, and many more

• Speak with graduate admissions advisors from local, national and international universities

The fair is free and open to anyone considering graduate school. Watch these two short videos to see why you should attend the fair and what it looks like.

Visit IdealistGradSchool.org for additional resources to assist you in planning for grad school.

***Parking Information***

There are over 3000 public parking spaces in a three block radius of the facility. These spaces are available on a first come, first serve basis. Visit this page to view the parking map + metro map.

The National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students (NISTS) offers a great opportunity for students to become "ambassadors" and participate in NISTS annual conference in Atlanta (February). 

Outstanding transfer students who meet the following criteria are encouraged to submit an application. 

Selection Criteria: 
 

The selection committee focuses on bringing together a Transfer Student Ambassador group that reflects a broad range of transfer experiences. As such, applications should include evidence of the following: 
 

• A powerful transfer story  

• Leadership and student advocacy experience  

• Strong public speaking skills

• Potential for sharing meaningful insights with higher education professionals who work with transfer students

• Willingness to learn more about the transfer landscape and the factors that shape transfer policies, practices, programs, and processes  

Application Link: 

https://www.nists.org/transferstudentambassadors

Weaponized information seeks a new target in cyberspace: Users’ minds

Richard Forno, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

The Russian attacks on the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the country’s continuing election-related hacking have happened across all three dimensions of cyberspace – physical, informational and cognitive. The first two are well-known: For years, hackers have exploited hardware and software flaws to gain unauthorized access to computers and networks – and stolen information they’ve found. The third dimension, however, is a newer target – and a more concerning one.

This three-dimensional view of cyberspace comes from my late mentor, Professor Dan Kuehl of the National Defense University, who expressed concern about traditional hacking activities and what they meant for national security. But he also foresaw the potential – now clear to the public at large – that those tools could be used to target people’s perceptions and thought processes, too. That’s what the Russians allegedly did, according to federal indictments issued in February and July, laying out evidence that Russian civilians and military personnel used online tools to influence Americans’ political views – and, potentially, their votes. They may be setting up to do it again for the 2018 midterm elections.

Some observers suggest that using internet tools for espionage and as fuel for disinformation campaigns is a new form of “hybrid warfare.” Their idea is that the lines are blurring between the traditional kinetic warfare of bombs, missiles and guns, and the unconventional, stealthy warfare long practiced against foreigners’ “hearts and minds” by intelligence and special forces capabilities.

However, I believe this isn’t a new form of war at all: Rather, it is the same old strategies taking advantage of the latest available technologies. Just as online marketing companies use sponsored content and search engine manipulation to distribute biased information to the public, governments are using internet-based tools to pursue their agendas. In other words, they’re hacking a different kind of system through social engineering on a grand scale.

Old goals, new techniques

More than 2,400 years ago, the Chinese military strategist and philosopher Sun Tzu made it an axiom of war that it’s best to “subdue the enemy without fighting.” Using information – or disinformation, or propaganda – as a weapon can be one way to destabilize a population and disable the target country. In 1984 a former KGB agent who defected to the West discussed this as a long-term process and more or less predicted what’s happening in the U.S. now.

The Russians created false social media accounts to simulate political activists – such as @TEN_GOP, which purported to be associated with the Tennessee Republican Party. Just that one account attracted more than 100,000 followers. The goal was to distribute propaganda, such as captioned photos, posters or short animated graphics, purposely designed to enrage and engage these accounts’ followers. Those people would then pass the information along through their own personal social networks.

Starting from seeds planted by Russian fakers, including some who claimed to be U.S. citizens, those ideas grew and flourished through amplification by real people. Unfortunately, whether originating from Russia or elsewhere, fake information and conspiracy theories can form the basis for discussion at major partisan media outlets.

As ideas with niche online beginnings moved into the traditional mass media landscape, they serve to keep controversies alive by sustaining divisive arguments on both sides. For instance, one Russian troll factory had its online personas host rallies both for and against each of the major candidates in the 2016 presidential election. Though the rallies never took place, the online buzz about them helped inflame divisions in society.

The trolls also set up Twitter accounts purportedly representing local news organizations – including defunct ones – to take advantage of Americans’ greater trust of local news sources than national ones. These accounts operated for several years – one for the Chicago Daily News, closed since 1978, was created in May 2014 and collected 20,000 followers – passing along legitimate local news stories, likely seeking to win followers’ trust ahead of future disinformation campaigns. Shut down before they could fulfill that end, these accounts cleverly aimed to exploit the fact that many Americans’ political views cloud their ability to separate fact from opinion in the news.

These sorts of activities are functions of traditional espionage: Foment discord and then sit back while the target population becomes distracted arguing among themselves.

Fighting digital disinformation is hard

Analyzing, let alone countering, this type of provocative behavior can be difficult. Russia isn’t alone, either: The U.S. tries to influence foreign audiences and global opinions, including through Voice of America online and radio services and intelligence services’ activities. And it’s not just governments that get involved. Companies, advocacy groups and others also can conduct disinformation campaigns.

Unfortunately, laws and regulations are ineffective remedies. Further, social media companies have been fairly slow to respond to this phenomenon. Twitter reportedly suspended more than 70 million fake accounts earlier this summer. That included nearly 50 social media accounts like the fake Chicago Daily News one.

Facebook, too, says it is working to reduce the spread of “fake news” on its platform. Yet both companies make their money from users’ activity on their sites – so they are conflicted, trying to stifle misleading content while also boosting users’ involvement.

Real defense happens in the brain

The best protection against threats to the cognitive dimension of cyberspace depends on users’ own actions and knowledge. Objectively educated, rational citizens should serve as the foundation of a strong democratic society. But that defense fails if people don’t have the skills – or worse, don’t use them – to think critically about what they’re seeing and examine claims of fact before accepting them as true.

American voters expect ongoing Russian interference in U.S. elections. In fact, it appears to have already begun. To help combat that influence, the U.S. Justice Department plans to alert the public when its investigations discover foreign espionage, hacking and disinformation relating to the upcoming 2018 midterm elections. And the National Security Agency has created a task force to counter Russian hacking of election systems and major political parties’ computer networks.

These efforts are a good start, but the real solution will begin when people start realizing they’re being subjected to this sort of cognitive attack and that it’s not all just a hoax.

Richard Forno, Senior Lecturer, Cybersecurity & Internet Researcher, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

The post Weaponized information seeks a new target in cyberspace: Users’ minds appeared first on Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.

UMBC receives $5.4m in funding for new cybersecurity projects

NSF and NSA Fund Three Cybersecurity Projects by Prof. Alan Sherman 

Professor Alan Sherman and colleagues were recently awarded more than $5.4 million dollars in three new grants to support cybersecurity research and education at UMBC, including two from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and one from the National Security Agency (NSA).  Dr. Sherman leads UMBC’s Center for Information Security and Assurance which was responsible for UMBC’s designation as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity Research and Education.

This summer, NSF funded Sherman’s second CyberCorps Scholarship for Service (SFS) grant (Richard Forno, CoPI) that will fund 34 cybersecurity scholars over five years and support research at UMBC and in the Cyber Defense Lab (CDL). The $5 million award supports scholarships for BS, MS, MPS, and PhD students to study cybersecurity through UMBC degree programs in computer science, computer engineering, cyber, or information systems. SFS scholars receive tuition, books, health benefits, professional expenses, and an annual stipend ($22,500 for undergraduates, $34,000 for graduate students). In return, each scholar must engage in a summer internship and work for government (federal, state, local, or tribal) for one year for each year of support. The program is highly competitive and many of the graduates now work for the NSA.

A novel aspect of UMBC’s SFS program is that it builds connections with two nearby community colleges—Montgomery College (MC) and Prince Georges Community College (PGCC). Each year, one student from each of these schools is selected for a scholarship. Upon graduation from community college, the student transfers to UMBC to complete their four-year degree. In doing so, UMBC taps into a significant pool of talent and increases the number of cybersecurity professionals who will enter government service. Each January, all SFS scholars from UMBC, MC, and PGCC engage in a one-week research study. Working collaboratively, they analyze a targeted aspect of the security of the UMBC computer system. The students enjoy the hands-on experience while helping to improve UMBC’s computer security. Students interested in applying for an SFS scholarship should consult the CISA SFS page and contact Professor Sherman. The next application deadline is November 15.

With $310,000 of support from NSF, Sherman and his CoPIs, Drs. Dhananjay Phatak and Linda Oliva, are developing educational Cybersecurity Assessment Tools (CATS) to measure student understanding of cybersecurity concepts. In particular, they are developing and validating two concept inventories: one for any first course in cybersecurity, and one for college graduates beginning a career in cybersecurity. These inventories will provide science-based criteria by which different approaches to cybersecurity education can be assessed (e.g., competition, gaming, hands-on exercises, and traditional classroom). This project is collaborative with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

With $97,000 of support from NSA, Sherman is developing a virtual Protocol Analysis Lab that uses state-of-the-art tools to analyze cryptographic protocols for structural weaknesses. Protocols are the structured communications that take place when computers interact with each other, as for example happens when a browser visits a web page. Experience has shown that protocols are so complicated to analyze that there is tremendous value in studying them using formal methods. Sherman and his graduate students are making it easier to use existing tools including CPSA, Maude NPA, and Tamerin, applying them to analyze particular protocols, and developing associated educational materials.

The post UMBC’s Sherman receives $5.4m in funding for cybersecurity research and scholarships appeared first on Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.