Purdue to host 27th Annual Cybersecurity Symposium on April 7 and 8

Purdue’s Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS) will gather thought leaders, innovators and practitioners dedicated to shaping the future of cybersecurity at the 27^th Annual Cybersecurity Symposium on April 7 and 8 in the North and South Ballrooms at Purdue Memorial Union. This year’s theme is “Cyber + X,” with “X” representing the various physical domains that now routinely have a cyber component. 

“Less than a generation ago, physical domains were primarily isolated systems,” said Joel Rasmus, managing director of Purdue’s CERIAS. “Now nearly every physical system is cyber-connected. These connections increase capabilities and provide advanced features and controls, but they also introduce the vulnerability to outside meddling, data leakage or incompatibility. Today, near every transportation vehicle, factory, public utility and national defense system has a satellite or internet connection, and protecting these systems is of growing concern.”

The two-day event will feature presentations, roundtables and emerging technology reviews.  Panel discussions exploring some of the most topical subjects will include: “Cybersecurity and Agentic AI,” “Space Cybersecurity” and “Securing Agriculture and the Food Chain.” Eugene H. Spafford, executive director emeritus of CERIAS and distinguished professor of computer science, will host a fireside chat with noted cybersecurity leaders from commercial industry and government.

Featured keynote speakers:

• Yuan (Emily) Xue, head of enterprise AI, Scale AI
• Dan Schiappa, president, technology and services, Arctic Wolf
• Brian Peretti, former chief technology officer, U.S. Department of Treasury (retired)

Panels and tech talks feature leaders from Google Cloud, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories, GM and Deloitte, as well as numerous Purdue faculty spanning disciplines such as computer science, communication, electrical and computer engineering, agricultural economics, and mechanical engineering.

Full registration details, the agenda and speaker bios are available on the symposium website. Registration is open to the public, available online through April 1 or in person the day of the event.

About the Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security

The Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS), a cross-cutting institute at Purdue University, is the world’s foremost interdisciplinary academic center for cyber and cyber-physical systems; more than a hundred researchers addressing issues of security, privacy, resiliency, trusted electronics, autonomy and explainable artificial intelligence. CERIAS brings together world-class faculty, students and industry partners to design, build and maintain trusted cyber/cyber-physical systems. CERIAS serves as an unbiased resource to the worldwide community.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a public research university leading with excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities in the United States, Purdue discovers, disseminates and deploys knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 106,000 students study at Purdue across multiple campuses, locations and modalities, including more than 57,000 at our main campus locations in West Lafayette and Indianapolis. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 14 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap — including its integrated, comprehensive Indianapolis urban expansion; the Mitch Daniels School of Business; Purdue Computes; and the One Health initiative — at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives.