Category Archives: top secret colonials

Learn about the Washington Center National Security Seminar in Washington, D.C.

Leave a reply

On Monday, September 14th the students who attended The Washington Center’s National Security Program this past summer will give an informative presentation in the Sewall Center International Suite at 3:30 pm.

If you have even the slightest interest in the Washington National Security program, we urge you to make the time to attend. It is an opportunity for you to hear about the program from the student’s perspective!

You will receive one hour of SET credits for attending. Light refreshments will be served.

Welcome back! Check out these September events in the CIS Department

Leave a reply

Welcome back to campus!  We hope that you are all settling in and enjoying the start of the fall semester.  The CIS department has been hard at work putting together new events for you.  This September, we will host two employer events.  Mark your calendars!  PNC and SDLC Partners, L.P. will be here on campus to give a presentation to our students about their organizations, and also to recruit.  If you are looking for an internship or a job opportunity, don’t miss it!  These events can also be very helpful to anyone in the department to help gain an understanding of what companies in the field are doing and what types of skills they are interested in.  We hope to see you there!

PNC
This event sponsored by the TOP SECRET COLONIALS
Wednesday, September 16, 2015  (3:45 PM to 5:15 PM)
Wheatley Center Atrium

PNC is sending their Senior Technology specialist to campus to speak about the PNC Technology programs and internship program at PNC.

3:45 PM Registration for SET Credit
4:15 PM the speaker will start his presentation

Light refreshments will be served.

SDLC PARTNERS, L.P.
Wednesday, September 30, 2015 (3:45 PM to 5:15 PM)
Wheatley Center Atrium

SDLC Partners, L.P., headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, opened its doors in 2004 as an alternative to large consulting organizations.  The firms’s 350+ employees take a practical and collaborative approach to deliver process improvement, analytics, and technology solutions to Fortune 1000 and mid-market customers by effectively working with business and I.T. units to serve as the “execution partner of choice.”

For more information about SDLC Partners, visit www.sdlcpartners.com

3:45 PM Registration for SET Credit
4:15 PM the speaker will start his presentation

Pizza will be served.

MUST READ Article on Cybersecurity

Leave a reply

Student Editorial

I hope everyone’s summer has gone well so far, and I hope that everyone is almost ready for another great school year as August nears. The article below is by far one of the best articles I’ve seen/read on cybersecurity. With the pool of both the good and bad guys involved with cybersecurity only continuing to grow, the battle to protect and damage critical infrastructure will continue to rage on. Shawn Henry, current president of CrowdStrike Services and former FBI Assistant Director, discusses how cyber adversaries are adapting and finding new ways to attack. In addition, he discusses the growing issue with China continuing to illegally access the U.S.’s private data, and how our nation must provide a better response to these incidents.  In addition, a few other topics in cybersecurity are discussed.  All in all, this blog post cannot give you all of the detail provided by this marvelous article. Please take the time to read it.

http://www.afcea.org/content/?q=Article-destructive-cyber-attacks-increase-frequency-sophistication#

Careers with Cyber Forensics: Military, Law Enforcement, Corporate, and Executive – April 22

Leave a reply

Careers with Cyber Forensics: Military, Law Enforcement, Corporate and Executive

Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Wheatley Center Critique Space

Schedule:
3:45 pm – Registration
4:00 pm – Pizza will arrive
4:15 pm – 5:30 pm –  Security Presentation
5:30 pm – 5:45 pm –  Question and Answer period

Top Secret Colonials are sponsoring this event!  If you register at the registration table, you will be able to receive SET credit for attending.

Several distinguished speakers will present, including:

  • Christopher J. Mellen 
    Director of the Information Risk Management branch within the Office of the Chief Information Officer for the Executive Office of the President (EOP) of the United States
    His directorate consists of the Records Management Branch, Cyber Integrity (eDiscovery) branch, Information Assurance and Security Operations
  • David Coughanour
    VP, Director PNC-CERT
    Teams responsible for Network Security Monitoring, Cyber Threat Intelligence, Technical Insider Threat Mitigation, and Digital Forensics
  • Edward R. Villarreal
    Incident Response, Mobile Security, and Insider Threat Team Lead for ManTech International onsite at a Large Federal Law Enforcement Agency
    His team provides computer forensic and incident response support to State-sponsored attacks against the Agency’s networks, eDiscovery collections to the Insider Threat Section, and Mobile Security technical expertise to the IT Branch deploying over 30,000 mobile devices.

Top Secret Colonials – Upcoming Events

Attention all CIS majors: specifically Cyber Forensics and Information Security.  If you have not already, please follow our Twitter page and like our Facebook page.  Information about meetings, future club events, cyber current events, and much more are provided there.  Plus, we could really use the support with getting our organization much more popular around campus.  We need your help in order to transform the Top Secret Colonials into a cyber security organization!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/topseccolonials

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rmutopsecretcolonials

We are going to have an event at Chipotle (similar to the Buffalo Wild Wings one).  We are tentatively planning for March 16th from 4-8, but will confirm this date at a later time.  In addition, if you are going on the trip to The Washington Center, please see Dr. Paullet when she gets back to find out more information about how to start fundraising.

Resume Tips for Students Seeking IT Security Jobs or Internships

Leave a reply

On February 6, 2015, the Top Secret Colonials sponsored an IT Resume Writing Lecture.  This lecture was given by Al Wong of The MITRE Corporation.  The talk featured specific tips related to resume writing and interviewing for IT Security positions.  If you are planning to be in the job market for a security-related position, take a few minutes to review the slides from this lecture:

Resumes That Get You in the Door (PDF)

Sponsored by The Top Secret Colonials 

IT Resume Writing Lecture on February 6

Leave a reply

IT Resume Writing Lecture – Al Wong from The MITRE Corporation
Sponsored by The Top Secret Colonials

Friday, February 6th
2:00 pm – 3:30 pm in the Critique Space in Wheatley

Al Wong from The MITRE Corporation will be giving a lecture on how to write a winning IT resume. He will be showcasing before and after resumes from several CIS students. Did you know that when applying for an IT job  they are looking for a minimum of a 3-page resume?  The old 1-page resume standard does not apply to most IT positions. Join us to learn how to write a resume to impress.

Light refreshments will be served. 

Al Wong is a Lead Inter-disciplinary Systems Engineer at The MITRE Corporation, a non-profit organization operating 6 Federally Funded Research and Development Centers for the United States Government. He has 30 years of experience providing strategic guidance to the Federal Government with 10 of these years as a trusted advisor to United States Government Executives.

Mr. Wong holds a BS in Internetworking Technologies with a minor in Information Assurance and a MS in Management of Information Systems. In addition to formal education, Mr. Wong has held the following industry certifications.

  • International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium (ISC)2 – Certified Information Systems Security Professional – CISSP (2003 – 2011),
  • Microsoft Certifies Systems Engineer – MSCE (1999 – 2009), and
  • Cisco Internetworking Expert – CCIE (1995 – 2000).

Mr. Wong is also HR Certification Institute (HRCI) trained and certified (2009 – present) in behavioral interviewing and resume assessment techniques. As one of two certified behavioral interviewers at the MITRE Corporation, he has reviewed thousands of resumes and recommended candidates for hire. Mr. Wong has assessed resumes and interviewed candidates for the following positions:

Software Developers
Network Engineer
SOC Staff
System Administrators
Incident Response Engineers
Enterprise Architects
SOA Engineers
Cyber Security Tech
HIPAA Compliance Auditors
Security Analysts
IDS Engineers
Business Analyst
Forensic Engineer
Program Managers
Hardware Technician
QA Engineers
Technical Trainers

Support TSC at Buffalo Wild Wings on February 3

Leave a reply

Top Secret Colonials (TSC) will be hosting a fundraising event on February 3, 2015 at 4:00pm.

Come out to Buffalo Wild Wings in Robinson Township that Tuesday night for some great food and a great time!  If you present the ticket below (either in printout form or on your mobile phone), 10% of your net sales will be donated to TSC!

We hope to see you there!

Buffalo Wild Wings Flyer_2015

Information on Stuxnet Virus

Student Editorial

Many of us who study computers whether it be Cyber Forensics, Information Technology, or Computer Information Systems, know that cybercrime is among us. I would like to bring to everyone’s attention a situation recently in the news, and that is a virus called Stuxnet.

Stuxnet, for those who don’t know, is a worm (a type of computer virus) that was developed to attack Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility (Fingas, 2014). The worm is meant to attack PLC which are Programmable Logic Controllers. I hope I grabbed your attention because, yes, this is a very bad infection for controls that can override functions in a nuclear facility. The Natanz nuclear facility has no direct Internet connection, so the virus couldn’t be spread to it via an Internet connection.  It is now known that before the virus reached Natanz, it attacked 5 key vendors that affiliate with Natanz and was brought in by one of the employees, or someone who works in the facility.

I know many people don’t care what is happening hundreds of miles away, but according to Kaspersky Labs, the virus has now spread all over the Internet.  Since the virus is intended for corporations, it is not a major concern for end users, but companies need to ensure that private data stored on their networks is protected.  Many people believe this virus contains American roots. (Fingas, 2014). The Issue I have with claiming that it has come from America is that there is no proof.  Kaspersky apparently can tell you where the rogue code (Stuxnet) has been, but not its origins.

If you would like to read more about Stuxnet, please refer to:

Fingas, J. (2014, November 13). Stuxnet worm entered Irans’s nuclear facilities through hacked suppliers. Retrieved from: http://www.engadget.com/2014/11/13/stuxnet-worm-targeted-companies-first/

http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/30/Recommended-Reading-Stuxnet-fake-memories/

If you would like to discuss this further, please comment below.

Top Secret Colonials

Would you like to help out the newest organization on campus?  Or do you know of a company or someone who would like to assist students in learning more about National Security?

Here is a chance to do just that!! The Top Secret Colonials have a GoFundMe account.

If you are not familiar with the Top Secret Colonials……They are non-profit group of RMU students that participate in the National Security Conference at the Washington Center in Washington, D.C. This will be the third year that RMU students have participated in this specific conference that is held each year in May.

What is special about these students you may ask?  These are your fellow classmates who have an interest in becoming the future computer professionals that help assist our nation in securing our cyber world.  They participate in a two-week conference where they will learn from national security experts.  Cyber security is such a vital part of everyone’s daily life.  Each year lives and money are lost to some form of hacking through the Internet, cell phones and other cyber technology.   This is such a unique experience that will allow these students to become the best of the best in securing and protecting this nation’s cyber world from foreign and domestic entities – the entities that are constantly looking for ways to take advantage of our citizens and our future economic growth by committing a variety of cyber crimes.  For example, Internet fraud, e-Scams, network intrusions, identity theft, cyber bullying and many others.  People in this country continue to lose their lives and their hard earned money.

Won’t you please help assist our future professionals?

These students are our future to creating security software and being instrumental in creating the laws and policies to protect us all.  Top Secret Colonials Mission Statement:  “Promote Education in Cyber Security While Raising Awareness to Those Utilizing Cyber Technology”

Any donation amount would be appreciated!  Whether you are able to assist monetarily or not, please help by sharing our link with all of your family, friends, co-workers, business owners or anyone that wants to assist us and learn more about the Top Secret Colonials and their mission.

http://www.gofundme.com/RMUTopSecColonials

For information on other fundraising initiatives of the Top Secret Colonials, please contact Dr. Karen Paullet or follow the group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rmutopsecretcolonials