Experts See U.S Response to Cybercrime as Fragmented, Call for Federal and State Partnership with Industry

Top cyber security experts will join together at Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU-Poly) to urge business, local government and university officials to forge partnerships to fight surging cybercrime. In the first of a series of free lectures presented in collaboration with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, some of the nation’s foremost names in computer security will call for a concerted move toward public and private collaboration.

Their call to action marks a significant departure from policies that often dictate that government and business maintain separate national security and intellectual property defenses. A recent increase in cybercrime spurred many cybersecurity experts to recommend greater collaboration. A recent Government Accountability Office analysis indicates cybercrime reported by federal agencies alone jumped 680 percent since 2006. 

In the first talk in the new series, “Cyberspace Allies: How Public/Private Partnerships Can Fight Back,” Marcus H. Sachs, vice president of government affairs, national security policy at Verizon, will explore new threats from criminals who exploit private computers, steal intellectual property and engage in espionage. 

The panelists will also review longstanding threats to transportation, utilities and military infrastructure and commerce and discuss new and emerging attacks on personal computers, intellectual property and nation-state sponsored cyber attacks. 

Joining Sachs on the panel will be a noted group of cyber experts including Edward G. Amoroso, senior vice president and chief security officer for AT&T; William F. Pelgrin, president and chief executive officer of the nonprofit Center for Internet Security; and Paul Mahon, assistant special agent in charge of the United States Secret Service New York Field Office, which includes the Electronics Crimes Task Force Network Intrusion Squad. 

The event will take place Thursday, June 21, 2012, from 9:30 a.m. to noon on the Brooklyn campus of NYU-Poly. Admission is free, and registration is required.

“The lecture series gives students, faculty and the security community a rare opportunity to come face to face with scientists and policy-makers at the very highest levels,” said Nasir Memon, world-recognized researcher and director of NYU-Poly’s cyber security program. “They will learn what key leaders are saying about introducing responsible collaborative solutions that significantly outweigh separate initiatives.” 

“Cybersecurity is more important than ever not only for the public sector, but the private sector,” said Verizon’s Sachs.  “Our ability to fend off increasingly sophisticated attacks can be improved by pooling our resources and intelligence to safeguard our national systems, critical infrastructure and our country’s intellectual property. Without a collaborative approach that’s both flexible and highly responsive, we will remain at risk.”  

Marcus H. Sachs’ decades-long career spans military, public and private security. One of the world’s foremost experts in emergency preparedness and communication, Sachs served on the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44th Presidency, the Joint Task Force for Computer Network Defense for the Department of Defense and National Cyber Security Division in the Department of Homeland Security, among other appointments.

Memon, NYU-Poly professor of Computer Science and Engineering and the director of NYU-Poly’s Information Systems and Internet Security Lab, will moderate the panel. Robert Ubell, vice president of enterprise learning at NYU-Poly, will chair the event. Ubell directs NYU-ePoly, the online learning unit that delivers 20 online graduate programs worldwide, including NYU-Poly’s virtual cyber security program, named the nation’s best online program last fall by the Sloan Consortium. 

Following the lecture and panel discussion, Memon will present Sachs with the first NYU-Poly/Sloan Distinguished Cyber Award at an invitation-only luncheon at the Brooklyn Marriott. Richard A. Falkenrath, principal of the Chertoff Group, will deliver the keynote, “The Hacker’s Market: Internet Governance and Cyber Security.”

NYU-Poly is an internationally recognized center for cyber security research, education and policy, and was among the first universities to offer a dedicated master’s degree program in cyber security. It is a National Security Agency Center of Excellence in Information Assurance and a Center of Excellence in Research. NYU-Poly has joined with NYU schools to form the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Security and Privacy (CRISSP). The consortium researches new approaches to security and privacy by combining security technology, psychology, law, public policy and business. 

The NYU-Poly Sloan Lecture Series is funded by the Sloan Foundation’s Civic Initiatives program, which supports unique opportunities to benefit the New York City metropolitan area. The foundation supports original research and educational initiatives related to science, technology, and economic performance.