14 DAY TRIAL // While most of us give little thought to how our personal and professional data is secured or whether malicious or mischievous perpetrators are trying to get their hands on it, legions of information security professionals working behind the scenes do the worrying for us and try mightily to thwart threats.
Industry insiders emphasize that, as new technologies and violators emerge at every turn, hiring the right kind of talent is becoming much more important, which makes a recent University of Houston designation by the National Security Agency (NSA) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) much more significant. At the 13th Colloquium for Information Systems Security Education in Seattle last month, the university was mentioned as a national center of academic excellence in information assurance education.
“At UH, the quest for academic excellence in information security began in 2002. Since then, the curriculum has continued to evolve and improve thanks, in part, to input from the National Security Agency, as well as the FBI, Secret Service and the Houston Police Department’s computer forensics group,” said the UH expert who conducted the rigorous application process, College of Technology instructional associate professor Edward Crowley. “You can do more damage with a computer than you can with bullets. Think about all of the systems that run our traffic, our power grid, our energy-distribution channels,” he added.
“One reason we have cyber security problems is that people have focused mainly on software features and functions without considering security. That led to a lot of buggy software – things built with inherent vulnerabilities. These systems may do wonderful things, but, if data leaks out or hackers easily get in and out of them, we lose. So, it’s really important to build and assess for integrity, security and adequate control. The UH program brings this focus,” adds Anne M. Rogers, who is the director of information safeguards at the Houston-based Waste Management.
“This is a relevant, cutting-edge program that helps shape its graduates to become formidable figures in the security technology field. To say the valuable knowledge and experience gained from this program has played a vital role in my career development would be an understatement. If you look across the global regulatory world, there’s less and less tolerance for inappropriate information handling. As everything goes electronic, they’re hiring the best people to go to battle,” concludes the UH Information and Logistics Technology Department head, Michael Gibson.