Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM

Sowing Cybersecurity

Wednesday, May 20, 2015, By Jay Cox
Share
College of Engineering and Computer Science
Professor Du

Professor Wenliang “Kevin” Du

When computer science Professor Wenliang “Kevin” Du discusses the importance of cybersecurity, he likens it to building a beautiful house and forgetting to put a lock on the door.

“The people who write codes and develop systems often don’t know the potential risks,” Du says.

“The developer is creating a system in a benign environment—and never thinks to put a lock on it, a filter that will block potential attacks. That’s a common problem. We want our students to learn about all these potential attacks, so they can identify existing attacks and also have the skills to see other security vulnerabilities.”

Since arriving at the College of Engineering and Computer Science in 2002, Du has been on a mission to teach others how to prevent cyberattacks. As a complement to the computer security and Internet security courses Du teaches to a mix of undergraduates and graduate students, he has developed a free series of 30 hands-on Security Education (SEED) labs designed to help students master the intricacies of cybersecurity and apply their skills to solve real-world problems.

With the support of National Science Foundation (NSF) awards in 2002 and 2014, Du has expanded his reach, sharing the open-source SEED labs with more than 250 educators in more than 26 countries. As part of his 2014 NSF award, Du, an expert on Android system security, is also developing SEED labs for mobile platforms and will host a workshop on campus this summer.

The instructional labs are done in a contained environment, using virtualization software that students download onto their personal computers, basically creating a computer within their computers that allows them to do such things as form networks, launch attacks on one another and learn how to defend against them. “We want to teach the students to be good defenders, but part of that is knowing how to attack,” Du says.

Computer science doctoral student Xiao Zhang, a teaching assistant for Du, says the labs’ practical training reinforces the classroom concepts. “In transferring the theory into practice, sometimes there are unexpected difficulties,” Zhang says. “You want to achieve one thing, but in that process you may make some mistakes, which lead to other security vulnerabilities.”

The labs present an array of different security situations that students would not encounter elsewhere, according to Carter Yagemann ’15, a computer science major who took Du’s Internet Security course and worked on his research team. “You learn about specific attacks and really build up practical skills,” Yagemann says. “If you’re not very systematic and don’t approach the scenario with the right mindset, you’ll leave holes, and then you have problems.”

Electrical and computer engineering doctoral candidate Paul Ratazzi credits the labs for expanding the depth of his knowledge and enhancing his interactions with colleagues when he learns about their projects at the Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome, N.Y., where he is a computer security expert. “I can keep up with the technical details,” Ratazzi says. “There’s no way to get through those courses and labs without really understanding every aspect of not only the labs, but also the actual details of the implementation.”

Whether hack attacks are known ones, such as Heartbleed or Shellshock (which was used against SONY Pictures), or new ones, Du is poised to ensure others are well versed in knowing how to counter them. “When you’re dealing with real hackers,” he says, “they don’t care about the difficulties, they will take it on.”

This story originally appeared in Syracuse University Magazine.

  • Author

Jay Cox

  • Recent
  • A&S Chemistry Professor Receives Award From the American Chemical Society
    Friday, September 29, 2023, By News Staff
  • ‘Guys and Dolls’ opens Syracuse University Department of Drama 2023/24 Season
    Friday, September 29, 2023, By Joanna Penalva
  • Libraries Add MindSpa Wellness Rooms
    Friday, September 29, 2023, By Cristina Hatem
  • Syracuse University Announces the Opening of the Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy and Astrophysics
    Friday, September 29, 2023, By Kerrie Marshall
  • iSchool Professors, Students Honored With ALISE Awards
    Friday, September 29, 2023, By Anya Woods

More In STEM

A&S Chemistry Professor Receives Award From the American Chemical Society

Robert Doyle, Dean’s Professor of Chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) and associate professor of pharmacology at SUNY Upstate Medical University, received the 2022 American Chemical Society Central New York Section Award in the field of chemistry…

Syracuse University Announces the Opening of the Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy and Astrophysics

As Albert Einstein predicted in his theory of relativity more than one hundred years ago, gravitational waves have been rippling through the fabric of space-time since the dawn of the cosmos. Only in the past decade have scientists observed actual…

iSchool Professors, Students Honored With ALISE Awards

Two students and three professors from the School of Information Studies (iSchool) were recently honored with prestigious awards from the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE). Assistant Professor LaVerne Gray was awarded the Norman Horrocks Leadership Award for demonstrating outstanding leadership…

Ian Hosein Awarded New Patent For Process that Generates Energy from Saltwater

The lack of access to clean drinking water impacts billions worldwide. With an estimated 46% of the global population affected, underdeveloped communities don’t have the means to utilize efficient technology for water purification. As the percentage of those affected grows,…

Setting the Agenda in Biology Research: 2 Professors Join NIH Peer Review Committees

The Center for Scientific Review (CSR) is known as the “gateway” for National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant applications. Expert peer review groups—also called study sections—formed by the CSR assess more than 75% of the thousands of research grant applications…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2023 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.