March 17, 2009

National information security experts to speak at Purdue symposium

Purdue's Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security, also known as CERIAS, will host its 10th annual information security symposium in the university's Lawson Computer Science Building. The event is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday (March 24) and 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday (March 25). A distinguished lecture at Stewart Center's Fowler Hall also is set for 7 p.m. Tuesday (March 24).

The event will feature the leader of the world's largest cybersecurity vendor and the chief scientist at a federal agency.

Both days will include panel sessions and keynote addresses. The second day also will include a poster session and celebration of CERIAS' 10th year of existence. The panel discussions will include "Standards and Protocols" for information security, "Security in the Cloud" and "Unsecured Economics." Officials with antivirus software company McAfee Inc. are included in the last panel. Purdue recently completed a study for McAfee showing that companies around the world are at increased risks of cybertheft of intellectual property.

The discussions are suitable for researchers and practitioners alike, said Eugene H. Spafford, CERIAS' executive director.

For an agenda of the two days, visit https://www.cerias.purdue.edu/site/symposium2009

Among the symposium's highlights, Spafford will join John Thompson for a "fireside chat" on the opening day. Thompson built Symantec Corp. from a small company into the world's largest cybersecurity vendor. He is widely considered one of the most influential minority CEOs in the nation, Spafford said.

Thompson also will provide the 7 p.m. Tuesday (March 24) distinguished lecture in Fowler Hall. The talk, sponsored in part by Purdue's Krannert School of Management, is free and open to the public.

On Wednesday (March 25), a keynote will be delivered at 8:30 a.m. At 4:30 p.m. by Dr. Ronald Richey, an expert in network defenses and is chief scientist for the Federal Information Assurance Technology Assistance Center, will deliver a keynote.

Those who wish to attend can register on the symposium Web site or on-site in the Lawson Computer Science building on Purdue's West Lafayette campus. Cost to attend is $180 for the general public; $90 for government, nonprofit and non-Purdue academics; and $10 for Purdue faculty and staff and non-Purdue students. Admission is free for Purdue students and CERIAS-affiliated Purdue faculty.

CERIAS is a leading center for research and education in areas of information security to the protection of critical computing and communication infrastructure. CERIAS offers a multidisciplinary approach to problems, ranging from purely technical issues (e.g., intrusion detection, network security, etc) to ethical, legal, educational, communicational, linguistic and economic issues and the subtle interactions and dependencies among them. The research conducted through CERIAS involves faculty from six different colleges and more than 20 departments across campus.

Writer: Jim Bush, 765-494-2077, jsbush@purdue.edu

Source: Eugene H. Spafford, 765-494-7825, spaf@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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