“Father of the Internet” Probes the Security of the Internet of Things

The latest in a series of open lectures on cybersecurity and privacy at the New York University Tandon School of Engineering will probe ways in which formerly disconnected devices—now outfitted with Internet access—will impact the nation’s security. “The Coming Age of the Internet of Things” will take place in Downtown Brooklyn on Wednesday, November 4, 2015.

Vinton G. Cerf, widely known as a “father of the Internet” and currently Google’s vice president and chief Internet evangelist responsible for identifying new enabling technologies and applications, will deliver the Sloan Distinguished Lecture, addressing provocative questions as an ever-increasing array of devices comes online. Cerf was co-designer with Robert Kahn of TCP/IP (transmission control and Internet protocols) and basic architecture of the Internet.

A panel of industry experts with Deborah Estrin, a computer scientist at Cornell NYC Tech and co-founder of Open mHealth, and Beth Simone Noveck, director of The Governance Lab at NYU Tandon, will explore Cerf’s conclusions. Paul M. Horn, NYU distinguished scientist in residence, NYU senior vice provost for research, and NYU Tandon senior vice dean for strategic initiatives and entrepreneurship, will be the moderator.

Soon many billions of heretofore disconnected devices will be outfitted with Internet access and equipped with software. These appliances, controlled by authorized parties and emitting information that can be used for management and analysis, will pose a wide range of questions: How do we configure large numbers of new devices into the network? How does a device know it is talking to an authorized agent? How can we grant temporary access to devices to guests, law enforcement, fire departments, or third parties? How can we keep transactions involving these devices private?

"The Internet of Things is the next major element of Internet (r)evolution following on the heels of the smart phone,” Cerf said. “There are a lot of moving parts to this one!"

The seminar is the seventh in a series sponsored by NYU Tandon in alliance with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. These events consistently draw high-level representatives of New York’s regional businesses, government agencies, nonprofits, academic institutions, media, and concerned members of the public.

NYU Tandon Professor Nasir Memon, a founding director of the NYU Center for Cyber Security and chair of the School of Engineering Department of Computer Science and Engineering, will deliver closing remarks.

“Events like this help keep NYU Tandon at the forefront of cyber technologies and systems and put vital issues of security and privacy squarely in the public eye,” Memon said. “We are deeply honored to host Vinton G. Cerf and our esteemed panelists, and we are grateful to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for making the seminar series possible.”

Admission to the NYU/Sloan Lecture is free, but space is limited, and registration is required. The lecture will be streamed live. Submit questions for the panelists during the lecture at cyberlectureseries@nyu.edu or @cyberlecture. Join the conversation on Twitter using #ReducingCyberRisk.   For more information and to register to attend or view via live stream, please visit engineering.nyu.edu/iot.

The lecture is made possible in part through the support of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, which is the principal sponsor of this lecture and the entire series. The Association for Computing Machinery, IEEE, and the NYU Center for Cyber Security are co-sponsors of this lecture.

NYU Tandon is an internationally recognized center for cyber security research, education, and policy. It has received all three Center of Excellence designations from the National Security Agency and the United States Cyber Command.  NYU Tandon has joined with other NYU schools to form the NYU Center for Cyber Security to research new approaches to security and privacy by combining security technology, psychology, law, public policy, and business. NYU Tandon Online, the school’s online learning unit, delivers 16 online graduate programs worldwide including the virtual cyber security program, which was named the nation’s best online program by the Sloan Consortium (now the Online Learning Consortium) in 2011. NYU Tandon Online received the Consortium’s 2015 Ralph E. Gomory Award for Quality Online Education.

About the Tandon School of Engineering

The NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering dates to 1854, when the NYU School of Civil Engineering and Architecture as well as the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute (widely known as Brooklyn Poly) were founded. Their successor institutions merged in January 2014 to create a comprehensive school of education and research in engineering and applied sciences, rooted in a tradition of invention, innovation and entrepreneurship. In addition to programs at its main campus in downtown Brooklyn, it is closely connected to engineering programs in NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Shanghai, and it operates business incubators in downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn.

About the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a philanthropic not-for-profit grantmaking institution based in New York City. Founded in 1934 by Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr., then President and CEO of General Motors, the Foundation’s mission is to promote the common welfare and improve American quality of life through
accelerating the advance and application of scientific knowledge. To that end, the Foundation makes grants in support of original research and education in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and economics. The NYU School of Engineering Cyber Security Lecture Series is funded through the Sloan Foundation’s Civic Initiatives program, which aims to benefit New York City in ways consonant with the Foundation’s larger mission to support science, technology, and economics. For more information, visit sloan.org.