ISU continues leadership in cyber security; IRI, NIATEC recertified

In June, Idaho State University joined EDS, Microsoft, the federal government and the largest organization certifying computer security processionals, (ISC)2, to conduct the 12th colloquium for information systems security education held at the University of Texas at Dallas campus.

Corey Schou, Ph.D., associate dean of information systems at the ISU College of Business, university professor of informatics, and director of the ISU Informatics Research Institute, is a founder of and is chair of The Colloquium.

This year, The Colloquium was themed “Industrial Cyber Security: A Global Imperative.”  More than 300 individuals from around the world participated, addressing and examining critical national issues such as supervisory control and data acquisition; secure code and kernel models; cyber forensics; social engineering, and virtual machines.

From inception, The Colloquium has been the thought leader in information assurance education. Its founders come from academia (ISU), government (National Security Agency), and industry (IBM and Deloitte & Touche)

Also at the colloquium the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) held a joint ceremony to honor the Centers of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education (CAE/IA). ISU’s Informatics Research Institute and the National Information Assurance Training and Education (NIATEC) were recertified as a CAE/IA by NSA and DHS. The recertification was based on interdisciplinary activity, research, and curriculum rigor. In addition, all the courses in the program were certified at the highest level.

Department of Defense deputy assistant secretary for information management and technology and deputy chief information officer David Wennergren and Brenda Oldfield, director of education, training and workforce development for the Department of Homeland Security, presented the certification documents.

In 1999, ISU became one of the first seven CAE/IA schools and has been recertified each year hence. Over the past nine years, the program has grown to recognize nearly 100 universities including Georgia Tech, Purdue, Carnegie Mellon, The National Defense University, Texas A&M, the Naval Post Graduate School, and George Washington University. These schools, as CAE/IA institutions, represent the first line of defense for information assurance for the U.S. Government.

ISU is one of only three schools nationwide authorized to offer information assurance certification in all areas of certification at the advanced level.

Students who graduate from this nationally recognized program are highly sought by both industry and government recruiters. These ISU graduates are unique in that they combine expertise in computer security and information assurance with an outstanding business education.

As the congressionally funded cornerstone for essential education and training components of a strong information assurance initiative, NIATEC’s mission has been to establish an effective information assurance infrastructure for academic, industry and government organizations.

NIATEC is a consortium of academic, industry, and government organizations operating in partnership to improve the awareness, training and education standards in information assurance. It is the federally designated cornerstone for education and training components for a robust information assurance infrastructure. The center develops components of effective information assurance infrastructure for academic, industrial and governmental organizations.

Photo Cutline Information: David Wennergren, left, U.S. Department of Defense deputy assistant secretary for information management and technology and deputy chief information officer presents certification documents to Corey Schou, Ph.D. as Brenda Oldfield, director of education, training and workforce development for the Department of Homeland Security looks on.