Pitt’s Matthew B. Ridgway Center for International Security Hosts Conference on Cyberspace Security Nov. 1-2

PITTSBURGH—Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta gave a speech on cyberthreats, noting that “a cyber attack perpetrated by nation states or violent extremist groups could be as destructive as the terrorist attack of 9/11.” Safeguarding against such acts of online crime and war will be the focus of a two-day conference held Nov. 1-2 at the University of Pittsburgh in Ballroom B of the University Club, 123 University Place, Oakland. It is free and open to the public. 

Titled “Cyberspace: Malevolent Actors, Criminal Opportunities, and Strategic Competition,” the conference hosted by Pitt’s Matthew B. Ridgway Center for International Security will examine the wide variety of cyberthreats facing the United States and the manner in which cyberspace can potentially be exploited by criminal and terrorist organizations as well as by nation-states. The conference will also focus on the evolution of cyberspace as an arena for strategic competition among global powers and how this can best be managed. A wide range of possible responses to these threats—from the introduction of a cyberspace code of conduct to the development of cyberwar capabilities—will be explored. 

The conference will bring together some of the nation’s leading researchers, scholars, and specialists on issues related to cyberspace security. Keynote addresses will be presented by William Waddell, director of the Command, Control, and Cyberspace Operations Group at the U.S. Army War College, who will deliver a lecture titled “Alternative Futures for Cyberspace” at 11:50 a.m. Nov. 1, and Anna Aquilina, head of cyberimplementation at the United Kingdom’s Serious Organized Crime Agency, who will deliver a lecture titled “Cybercrime and Cybersecurity: A British Perspective” at 12:15 p.m. Nov. 2. 

Other notable presenters and speakers will include Nazli Choucri, professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; RAND Corporation experts Martin Libicki, a senior management scientist, and Isaac Porche, senior engineer and associate director of RAND’s Force Development and Technology Program; Thomas X. Grasso, special agent in the FBI’s Cyber Division; Dan Larkin, director of strategic operations at the National Cyber Forensics Training Alliance; Harvey Rishikof, professor of information science and technology at Drexel University and chair of the American Bar Association’s advisory committee on law and national security; and Timothy Thomas, senior analyst at the Foreign Military Studies Office, Fort Leavenworth, and author of books on Russian and Chinese approaches to cyberwar. 

More information on the conference may be found at www.ridgway.pitt.edu or by contacting Beverly Brizzi at 412-624-7884 or beb38@pitt.edu.

The conference is cosponsored by the Matthew B. Ridgway Center for International Security Studies within Pitt’s Graduate School for Public and International Affairs, the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College, the National Cyber Forensic Training Alliance, and the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. 

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10/29/12/mab/cjhm