The Virginia Tech community will have the opportunity to hear from two of the nation’s foremost cybersecurity leaders.  

In celebration of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, the Division of Information Technology will host two live webinars in October. The first, on Oct. 3, will feature Neil Daswani, co-director of the Stanford Advanced Cybersecurity Program. The second, on Oct. 16, will feature Ron Ross from the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Each webinar will include a presentation followed by a moderated Q&A session where audience members are encouraged to send in questions. These Zoom webinars are free and open to the university community.   

"GenAI Attacks and Defenses"

For more than 20 years, Daswani has been helping high-profile organizations including Google, Twitter, and LifeLock, now part of Symantec elevate their security stance, mitigate risks, and protect their assets and users from cyber attacks. Currently the co-director of Stanford University’s Advanced Cybersecurity Program, chief information security officer for QuantumScape, and author of "Big Breaches: Cybersecurity Lessons for Everyone," Daswani is considered one of the foremost cybersecurity experts in the nation.

During this webinar, Daswani will provide an overview of recent vulnerabilities and breaches of popular Generative AI (GenAI) systems. He will discuss some major GenAI vulnerabilities and abuses such as jailbreaks, prompt injections, hallucinations, adversarial examples, and deep fakes and explore how these vulnerabilities can be addressed. Participants will gain a clearer understanding of the current capabilities and limitations of GenAI as well as steps for both individuals and organizations to enhance GenAI security.

“We are honored to have Neil Daswani speak to our community,” said Randy Marchany, chief information security officer for Virginia Tech, who will moderate the webinars. “His experiences with the various major infotech companies puts him in a perfect position to share wisdom and insights on cybersecurity not only with professionals but more importantly, with our student community.”

"Cybersecurity Risk Management and Systems Engineering"

At the intersection of corporate policy, cybersecurity, and federal regulation, Ross has provided decades of exemplary service. Ross is a fellow at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where he leads the NIST Systems Security Engineering Project, advancing the development of standards and guidelines for the federal government, corporations, and critical infrastructure.

The recipient of numerous public and private sector awards over his nearly 40-year career, including three times as one of the Top 10 Influencers in Government IT Security, Ross has been inducted into the National Cyber Security Hall of Fame, selected as an (ISC)2 Fellow, and inducted into the Information Systems Security Association Hall of Fame, receiving its highest honor of distinguished fellow.

“Few people appreciate how extensively Ron Ross has shaped all sectors of industry cybersecurity policies and standards. His expertise at security risk management continues to help organizations focus on what's really important to an organization's business processes,” said Marchany. 

During this webinar, Ross will share his experience and perspective on security risk management, and discuss some interesting projects that NIST is leading to advance the field of systems security engineering across industries and organizations of all sizes. 

More information about these events is available on the event page on it.vt.edu. 

If you are an individual with a disability and desire an accommodation, please contact Angela Correa at least 10 days prior to the event at 540-231-4202 or email acorrea@vt.edu during regular business hours.

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