Spafford to chair external board for $45M Sandia Labs digital assurance campaign

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Eugene H. Spafford, professor of computer science in Purdue University’s College of Science and internationally recognized authority on cybersecurity, has been chosen to help Sandia National Laboratories in its campaign to manage digital risks to high-consequence systems.

Spafford, executive director emeritus of CERIAS, Purdue’s Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security, has been appointed chair of the External Advisory Board for Sandia’s Digital Assurance for High Consequence Systems (DAHCS) Mission Campaign.

Will Zortman, Sandia’s DAHCS campaign manager, says the $45 million initiative is a strategic investment to “replace the status quo of ad hoc, slow and costly digital assurance methods with a rapid, cost-effective and generalizable way to secure systems and mitigate threats.”

Among the notable challenges the research campaign faces, Spafford says, is institutional reticence over potentially significant expenses to rework or replace existing systems. “Companies and government agencies haven’t wanted to invest in new approaches that don’t build on existing systems because they already have made huge investments in technology,” he says. “Thus, most of what’s been done to date has been directed to fixing or enhancing existing technology based on flawed designs and assumptions.”

Spafford has helped define and shape the field of cybersecurity for 40 years. His pioneering research in cybersecurity, cyber forensics and security policy has resulted in scores of academic and professional organization honors. 

Learn more about Spafford and the campaign here.

Media are encouraged to share, post and publish this content.