Congratulations to Brandon Nelson, Christopher Cullen, and Kaden Mahsoob, who each won a $1,000 scholarship, awarded by the Three Rivers Information Security Symposium (TRISS) planning committee. Thanks to Professor Karen Paullet for her recommendation. Professor Paullet and the Top Secret Colonials have been active supporters of the TRISS the symposium and the TRISS Scholarship Program.
The CIS Department congratulates Dr. J. Packy Laverty who was inducted as an AITP-EDSIG Fellow at the 2019 EDSIG Conference for Information Systems and Computing. AITP-EDSIG Fellows are inducted in honor of their long-term, meaningful, and effective support of AITP-EDSIG in its mission to improve information systems (IS) education and foster the careers of IS faculty.
Dr. Laverty is a Professor of Computer Information Systems and Coordinator of Enterprise Systems at Robert Morris University. Prior to his time at RMU, he held faculty positions at University of Pittsburgh, St. Vincent’s College, Community College of Allegheny County, and Carlow College. He has 35 years of professional consulting experience which includes working closely with IBM on its z-System academic initiative and curriculum. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Accounting and a MBA from Duquesne University. He received his Ph.D. in Academic Computing from University of Pittsburgh. In addition, he has obtained numerous IT-related certifications. During his 44 years as an information systems and business administration educator, he has taught a variety of undergraduate and graduate classes including Linux, Java, IBM DB2, Unix, COBOL, Oracle, HTML, JavaScript, and MySQL-PHP, just to name a few.
During his time in academics, Dr. Laverty has established a consistent research record including publications and innovative outcomes assessment initiatives. He has consistently published in the Information Systems Education Journal and Issues in Information Systems journal, as well as presented his research at numerous international and national conferences. Dr. Laverty has been actively involved with EDSIG throughout the years serving as the workshop chair, publishing papers, making presentations, and always willing to help out wherever needed.
Congratulations, Dr. Laverty, on receiving this prestigious honor.
The Top Secret Colonials (TSC) will be hosting a fundraiser on Tuesday, October 29th from 4:00 pm to close at the All-Star Sports Bar in Robinson located at 6302 Robinson Centre Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15205.
This fundraiser directly supports the club. We will have raffle items including gift baskets, gift cards, and more. We hope to see you there and please spread the word!
The Three Rivers Information Security Symposium (TRISS) will be held on Friday, October 11th at the Monroeville Convention Center. Students attending can earn professional development (SET) credit. For more information, see:
Representatives from PNC Bank‘s recruiting team will be on campus for a presentation on Tuesday, October 1st from 4:30 – 5:30 pm in the Wheatley Atrium. PNC will be presenting on their Summer Internship and Early Career Development Programs. They are ready to hire for summer.
This is a TSC sponsored event. You will receive 1 hour of SET credit for professional development. Pizza and drinks will be provided.
Robert Morris University (RMU) has been designated as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education (CAE-CDE) by the U.S. National Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security (NSA/DHS). Dr. Ping Wang, Professor of Computer and Information Systems, is the official POC (Point of Contact) for RMU’s CAE-CDE designation.
April 23, 2019 (TUE) 2:00 PM
Massey Theatre
Speaker: David Daniels-Watanabe, special agent (FBI)
All are welcome. SET credit available.
Hosted by Prof. Don Seaton, Dept of Social Science
SA David Daniels-Watanabe is a Special Agent detailed the FBI’s Critical Incident Response Group’s and is a profiler at the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU), Cyber Behavioral Analysis Center (CBAC) where he supports the FBI’s cyber mission by providing behavioral insight into known and unknown cyber adversaries. This work ranges from examination of human behavior and motivations that impact national security or criminal computer intrusion investigations, as well as understanding the confluence of violent criminal behavior and the digital/cyber behavior related to the violent crime.
Prior to his time in the BAU CBAC, SA Daniels-Watanabe was detailed to the FBI’s Washington Field office. During this assignment he investigated complex and high-profile malicious digital attacks by actors motivated by financial or vindictive motives, “hacktivism”, or furtherance of the goals of a nation state.
SA Daniels-Watanabe is one of the “plank-holding” founding members of the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force as the Department of State’s representative to the multi-agency collaboration, where he participated in several global cyber investigative efforts and furthered international cooperation on cyber matters.
SA Daniels-Watanabe is a member of the Department of State’s Cyber Threat Analysis Division. Prior to this assignment, he spent 2 years at the New York Field office of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security.
Before becoming an agent, he was a computer forensic investigator for T-Mobile.
Brandi Wolfe and Wyatt Crawford, Cyber Security Specialists from Ethical Intruder will be holding a lecture on Wednesday, April 10th from 4:30 – 5:30 pm in the Wheatley Atrium.
This is a Top Secret Colonials sponsored event. Students will receive one (1) hour of SET credit for attending. Pizza and drinks will be provided. Please read below for information on the presentation and speakers.
Title: Ethical Hacking – Thinking Like a Penetration Tester
Overview: Hackers have an offensive mindset and approach security in a very different way. It begins by realizing that all hacks come from taking technology that is intended to work in a specific way and getting the technology to produce unintended results. The discussion will cover the mindset and process for performing a penetration test.
Ethical Intruder is a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Cyber Security firm. Ethical Intruder was formed with personnel from security, software engineering and product design backgrounds. They provide security evaluations to assess technical environments and help organizations to build Cyber Security roadmaps aligned with their business or compliance requirements. Their clients are across a broad range of industries including Health IT, Finance and Department of Defense.
CIS @ RMU 