Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Professional Studies: Digital Forensics

UMBC’s cybersecurity graduate program has added a new 12-credit post-baccalaureate certificate in professional studies focused on digital forensics.

The Digital Forensics certificate program is intended for early and mid-career IT and law- enforcement professionals who want to learn basic and advanced concepts and develop skills in the field of computer forensics. Students will understand the role of digital/computer forensics as a subspecialty of cybersecurity. Through firsthand experience using industry-standard forensic tools, techniques, and procedures in the digital forensic process, students will understand the incident-handling process, the special rules of evidence that apply to cybercrime investigations (i.e., chain of custody, search and seizure, forensic imaging), and the relevant state, federal, and/or regulatory frameworks governing such activities within different industry sectors (such as defense, healthcare, and financial services). The four-course, 12-credit certificate can be applied toward obtaining the MPS in Cybersecurity degree.

• CYBR 620 Intro to Cybersecurity or CMSC equivalent (i.e., CMSC 626, CMSC 687)
• CYBR 641 Computer Crime Investigations
• CYBR 642 Introduction to Digital Forensics
• CYBR 643 Advanced Digital Forensics

The post Post-Bac Certificate in Digital Forensics appeared first on Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.

CSEE students at UMBC’s 23nd Annual Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day

• Devon Adams | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Development Of An Autonomous Vehicle For The Micromouse Competition
  Mentor(s): E F Charles LaBerge
  UC Ballroom | 1 – 2:30 p.m.
• Aileiwaer Airexiati | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Development Of An Autonomous Vehicle For The Micromouse Competition
  Mentor(s): E F Charles LaBerge
  UC Ballroom | 1 – 2:30 p.m.
• Rashed Mohamed Salem Ali Alhefeiti | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Development Of An Autonomous Vehicle For The Micromouse Competition
  Mentor(s): E F Charles LaBerge
  UC Ballroom | 1 – 2:30 p.m.
• Ahmed Ali Almehrzi | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Micromouse-X : UMBC Capstone Project
  Mentor(s): E.F. Charles LaBerge
  UC Ballroom | 10 – 11:30 a.m.

• Trevor Ancona | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  UMBC Game Developers Club 2018-2019 Game Projects
  Mentor(s): Marc Olano
  UC Ballroom Lounge | 10 – Noon
• Ryan Apt | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Development Of An Autonomous Vehicle For The Micromouse Competition
  Mentor(s): E F Charles LaBerge
  UC Ballroom | 1 – 2:30 p.m.
• Courtney Bohn | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Creating A Quadruped Robot With Walking And Wheeled Capabilities
  Mentor(s): Fow-Sen Choa
  UC Ballroom | 1 – 2:30 p.m.
• Cameron Blomquist | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  UMBC Game Developers Club 2018-2019 Game Projects
  Mentor(s): Marc Olano
  UC Ballroom Lounge | 10 – Noon
• Maxwell Breitmeyer | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Virtual Reality And Photogrammetry For Improved Reproducibility Of Human-Robot Interaction Studies
  Mentor(s): Don Engel
  UC Ballroom | 10 – 11:30 a.m.
• Elwin Brown | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Thirst: A Quest To Restore The Oasis
  Mentor(s): Marc Olano
  UC Ballroom Lounge | 10 – Noon
• Elwin Brown | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Toward The Application Of SVM’s For Text-Based Replication Of CATME Peer Evaluations
  Mentor(s): Don Engel
  UC Ballroom | 1 – 2:30 p.m.
• Erin Cannon | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Thirst: A Quest To Restore The Oasis
  Mentor(s): Marc Olano
  UC Ballroom Lounge | 10 – Noon
• Noah Carver | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Modular Solvers For Partially Continuous Abstract Markov Decision Processes
  Mentor(s): Cynthia Matuszek
  UC Ballroom | 1 – 2:30 p.m.
• Dan Castellano | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Brain Guitar-Pedal Interface
  Mentor(s): E. F. Charles LaBerge
  UC Ballroom | Time

• Caroline Cocca | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Investigating Teamwork Quality Through Neural Networks And Text Analysis
  Mentor(s): Don Engel
  UC Ballroom | 10 – 11:30 a.m.
• Adam Der | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Fabrication Of A Wearable Temperature Sensing System For CIPA Patients
  Mentor(s): Gymama Slaughter
  UC 312 | 3:45 – 4 p.m.
• Debora Diaz Diestra | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Micromouse-X : UMBC Capstone Project
  Mentor(s): E.F. Charles LaBerge
  UC Ballroom | 10 – 11:30 a.m.
• Anthony Ellis | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  UMBC Game Developers Club 2018-2019 Game Projects
  Mentor(s): Marc Olano
  UC Ballroom Lounge | 10 – Noon
• Carllie Foley | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Escape To Planet Earth
  Mentor(s): Marc Olano
  UC Ballroom Lounge | 10 – Noon
• Charles Fox | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Investigating Teamwork Quality Through Neural Networks And Text Analysis
  Mentor(s): Don Engel
  UC Ballroom | 10 – 11:30 a.m.
• Jaylan Hall | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Creating A Quadruped Robot With Walking And Wheeled Capabilities
  Mentor(s): Fow-Sen Choa
  UC Ballroom | 1 – 2:30 p.m.
• Edward Hanson | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Brain Guitar-Pedal Interface
  Mentor(s): E. F. Charles LaBerge
  UC Ballroom | 10 – 11:30 a.m.
• Brian D. Hanson, Jr. | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Fabrication Of A Wearable Temperature Sensing System For CIPA Patients
  Mentor(s): Gymama Slaughter
  UC 312 | 3:45 – 4 p.m.
• Kit Heckman | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  UMBC Game Developers Club 2018-2019 Game Projects
  Mentor(s): Marc Olano
  UC Ballroom Lounge | 10 – Noon
• Phillip Hilliard | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Annotating And Predicting Contextual Sentiment In Text
  Mentor(s): Frank Ferraro
  UC Ballroom | 1 – 2:30 p.m.

• Mark Horton | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Brain Guitar-Pedal Interface
  Mentor(s): E. F. Charles LaBerge
  UC Ballroom | 10 – 11:30 a.m.
• Mark Horton | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Autoencoder Implementation For Embedded Reinforcement Learning
  Mentor(s): Tinoosh Mohsenin
  UC Ballroom | 10 – 11:30 a.m.
• Ben Ireland | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  UMBC Atmospheric Lidar Group DATA: Distributed Systems & Cyber-Security Of Remote Sensing Profiling Network Testbed
  Mentor(s): Ruben Delgado
  UC 312 | 4 – 4:15 p.m.
• Zachary Jones | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Brain Guitar-Pedal Interface
  Mentor(s): E. F. Charles LaBerge
  UC Ballroom | 10 – 11:30 a.m.
• Thomas Kohler | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Micromouse-X : UMBC Capstone Project
  Mentor(s): E.F. Charles LaBerge
  UC Ballroom | 10 – 11:30 a.m.
• Alex Leger | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  UMBC Game Developers Club 2018-2019 Game Projects
  Mentor(s): Marc Olano
  UC Ballroom Lounge | 10 – Noon
• Josh Ludlow | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  UMBC Game Developers Club 2018-2019 Game Projects
  Mentor(s): Marc Olano
  UC Ballroom Lounge | 10 – Noon
• Lucas McCullum | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Development Of An Autonomous Vehicle For The Micromouse Competition
  Mentor(s): E F Charles LaBerge
  UC Ballroom | 1 – 2:30 p.m.
• Andrew McLamb | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Escape To Planet Earth
  Mentor(s): Marc Olano
  UC Ballroom Lounge | 10 – Noon
• Stephanie Milani | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  A Hierarchical Framework For Norm-Aware Planning And Reinforcement Learning
  Mentor(s): Marie desJardins
  UC Ballroom | 10 – 11:30 a.m.
• Shawn Oppermann | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  UMBC Game Developers Club 2018-2019 Game Projects
  Mentor(s): Marc Olano
  UC Ballroom Lounge | 10 – Noon
• Nicholas Potteiger | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Archiving Workflows In Cloud Based Storage
  Mentor(s): Douglas Thain
  UC Ballroom | 1 – 2:30 p.m.
• Ben Przysucha | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  UMBC Game Developers Club 2018-2019 Game Projects
  Mentor(s): Marc Olano
  UC Ballroom Lounge | 10 – Noon
• Zhou Qin | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Micromouse-X : UMBC Capstone Project
  Mentor(s): E.F. Charles LaBerge
  UC Ballroom | 10 – 11:30 a.m.
• Brendan Robison | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Wizards
  Mentor(s): Marc Olano
  UC Ballroom Lounge | 10 – Noon
• Shea Sandifer | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  UMBC Game Developers Club 2018-2019 Game Projects
  Mentor(s): Marc Olano
  UC Ballroom Lounge | 10 – Noon
• Matthew Schweiss | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Creating A Quadruped Robot With Walking And Wheeled Capabilities
  Mentor(s): Fow-Sen Choa
  UC Ballroom | 1 – 2:30 p.m.
• Danielle Sherrod | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Creating A Quadruped Robot With Walking And Wheeled Capabilities
  Mentor(s): Fow-Sen Choa
  UC Ballroom | 1 – 2:30 p.m.
• Levan Sulimanov | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Virtual Reality Mirror Therapy Rehabilitation For Post-Stroke Patients
  Mentor(s): Marc Olano
  UC Ballroom Lounge | 10 – Noon
• Danilo Symonette | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Toward The Application Of SVM’s For Text-Based Replication Of CATME Peer Evaluations
  Mentor(s): Don Engel
  UC Ballroom | 1 – 2:30 p.m.
• Jordan Troutman | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Understanding Machine Learning Bias Without A Ground Truth
  Mentor(s): Anand Sarwate
  UC Ballroom | 10 – 11:30 a.m.
• Liam Upton | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  UMBC Game Developers Club 2018-2019 Game Projects
  Mentor(s): Marc Olano
  UC Ballroom Lounge | 10 – Noon

• Jenna Westfall | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Automatization Of Characterization Of Atmospheric Particles With Machine Learning
  Mentor(s): Ruben Delgado
  UC Ballroom | 1 – 2:30 p.m.
• Brendan Witt | Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
  Using Augmented Reality And Smart Home Devices to Better Sense Users
  Mentor(s): Reynold Bailey
  UC Ballroom | 1 – 2:30 p.m.

The post CSEE at Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day appeared first on Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.

Why are memory-corruption bugs still a thing?

The challenges of securing software at an assembly level

Doug Britton
CTO, RunSafe Security Inc.

10:30-11:30 Monday, 8 April 2019, ITE346

Methods to chip away at the danger of memory-corruption bugs have been available for some time.  Why has the going-price of memory-corruption-based exploits not spiked?  If the methods were have a broad-based result in mitigating exploit vectors, there would be a reduction in supply, causing an increase in prices.  Also, there would be a reduction in the pool of people qualified to develop zero-days, allowing them to push the prices up.  The data suggest that prices have remained generally stable and attackers are able to move with impunity.  What are the challenges to large-scale adoption of memory-corruption based mitigation methods. 

Doug Britton serves as Chief Technology Officer and Director of RunSafe Security, Inc. Mr. Britton Co-founded Kaprica Security, Inc., in 2011 and serves as its Chief Executive Officer. Prior to his leadership role in Kaprica, Mr. Britton was a cyber-security focused research and development manager at Lockheed Martin. He has an MBA and MS from University of Maryland and a BS in Computer Science from the University of Illinois.

The post talk: Why are memory-corruption bugs still a thing?, 10:30am Mon 4/8, ITE325 appeared first on Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.

SFS cyberdefense scholarship applications due Noon Monday, April 15

The next application deadline for SFS cyberdefense scholarships at UMBC is 12:00 noon Monday, 15 April 2019, for possible scholarships beginning in the fall of 2019. See the Center for Information Security and Assurance site for details and application forms.

These major scholarships include tuition, generous stipend, and more, in return for government employment. Applicants must have at least junior status in fall 2019. BS, MS, MPS, PhD in any cyber-related field may apply (CS, CE, EE, IS, Cyber, and possibly others). SFS applicants must be citizens or lawful permanent residents capable of obtaining a secret clearance at federal, state, local, or tribal government. The annual stipends are $25,000 undergraduate and $34,000 graduate; in addition, each scholar will receive $6000 per year in professional development funds.

The scholarships are highly competitive (e.g., the median GPA of current SFS scholars at UMBC is 3.8) and favor students who have excelled in upper-level technical courses and who have demonstrated a passion and talent for cybersecurity through relevant accomplishments. We will consider applications from rising juniors and above with GPA over 3.0. All SFS scholars at UMBC are expected to engage in cohort and research activities. UMBC is in the first year of a five -year, $5 million NSF grant, which will support 34 students. For more information, see the SFS FAQ page.

Interested students should contact

Dr. Alan T. Sherman
Professor of Computer Science
Director, UMBC Center for Information Security and Assurance (CISA)
*protected email*

The post SFS cyberdefense scholarship applications due April 15 appeared first on Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.

Learning to Ground Natural Language Instructions to Plans

Nakul Gopalan, Brown University

2:30-3:30pm Thursday, 21 March 2019, ITE 346, UMBC

In order to easily and efficiently collaborate with humans, robots must learn to complete tasks specified using natural language. Natural language provides an intuitive interface for a layperson to interact with a robot without the person needing to program a robot, which might require expertise. Natural language instructions can easily specify goal conditions or provide guidances and constraints required to complete a task. Given a natural language command, a robot needs to ground the instruction to a plan that can be executed in the environment. This grounding can be challenging to perform, especially when we expect robots to generalize to novel natural language descriptions and novel task specifications while providing as little prior information as possible. In this talk, I will present a model for grounding instructions to plans. Furthermore, I will present two strategies under this model for language grounding and compare their effectiveness. We will explore the use of approaches using deep learning, semantic parsing, predicate logic and linear temporal logic for task grounding and execution during the talk.

Nakul Gopalan is a graduate student in the H2R lab at Brown University. His interests are in the problems of language grounding for robotics, and abstractions within reinforcement learning and planning. He has an MSc. in Computer Science from Brown University (2015) and an MSc. in Information and Communication Engineering from T.U. Darmstadt (2013) in Germany. He completed a Bachelor of Engineering from R.V. College of Engineering in Bangalore, India (2008). His team recently won the Brown-Hyundai Visionary Challenge for their proposal to use Mixed Reality and Social Feedback for Human-Robot collaboration.

Host: Prof. Cynthia Matuszek (cmat at umbc.edu)

The post talk: Learning to Ground Instructions to Plans, 2:30 Thr 3/21, ITE346 appeared first on Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.