Center for Cybersecurity
The Center for Cybersecurity provides the administrative leadership, support, and infrastructure to facilitate the advancement of cybersecurity education, research, and service at Bradley University. Its efforts also support the local economy by building strong partnerships with public and private institutions.
The Center provides additional opportunities for student and faculty interaction, increasing experiential learning through collaboration with local businesses, and fostering exceptional outcomes by preparing students through cutting-edge cybersecurity education.
Bradley University is a designated Center of Academic Excellence, specifically in the area of Cyber Defense (CAE-CD). This designation is jointly sponsored by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Department of Homeland Security.
If you wish to report a security concern at Bradley University, or would like to review institutional security policies, plans, and resources, please visit the Office of Information Security.
Services
The Center for Cybersecurity offers consulting and training services to the local community.
Events
The Center for Cybersecurity has been a Cyber Security Alliance champion of Cybersecurity Awareness Month since 2018. Cybersecurity Awareness Month was established in 2004 by the Department of Homeland Security and the National Cyber Security Alliance. Held every October, Cybersecurity Awareness Month is a collaborative effort between government and industry to raise awareness about the importance of cybersecurity and to ensure that all Americans have the resources they need to be safer and more secure online. The Center for Cybersecurity hosts several events throughout the month of October, such as Cybersecurity Day and the Cybersecurity Film Series.
Previous Speakers
Adam Curry, Caterpillar
Adam was a Security Manager in the Information Security Department at Caterpillar. He led a team responsible for the Governance and Risk Management programs related to cyber security.
Kerstyn Campbell, Caterpillar
Kerstyn was an IT Analyst in the Information Security Department at Caterpillar focused on the execution of cyber risk management. Kerstyn graduated from Bradley University in December 2017 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Management Information Systems.
Kevin Eack, The Brannon Group
Kevin is the Principal of The Brannan Group, LLC, a security consulting company based in Peoria, Illinois. He has over 30 years of experience in law enforcement and security, including serving as a Special Agent of the FBI, as a state prosecutor, and as a State Police Investigative Commander.
Sarah Handler, Senior Product Manager, Netflix
Sarah is a Staff Product Manager leading the identity & access space on Netflix’s security engineering team. She was previously a Senior Manager of Product Management at Microsoft’s Identity Security and Protection team at Microsoft where she was responsible for extensibility features of their identity protection product to enable enterprises the ability to detect, remediate and prevent identity compromise. She received her B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Bradley University and currently resides in Seattle, Washington.
Dr. Ronald Jost, C4ISS
Ron is the president of C4ISS, a corporation that specializes in analytical work for DoD and the intelligence agencies. Prior to this position, he served 15 years as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for C3, Cyber and Business Systems in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
Brittany Kaiser, Digital Asset Trade Association
Brittany joined the SCL Group in 2014 and served as the Director of Business Development for Cambridge Analytica from 2015 to 2018. Kaiser’s experience following her time at Cambridge Analytica is shown in the Netflix Documentary The Great Hack. Brittany’s experience deepened her belief that people deserve greater rights over both the use and proceeds of their own data.
Cody Kretsinger, CIAN
Cody was the Director of Information Security for CIAN Center, a local Cyber Security Company with an emphasis in penetration testing and managed Security Operations Center services.
Dan Krueger, Blick Art Materials
Dan is a highly skilled and hands-on IT Technical Director with over 36 years of Enterprise Cybersecurity, Infrastructure, and Application Support experience within Retail, Hospital & Healthcare, Wireless, Education, Not-for-Profits, Pharmaceutical, Financial Services, Insurance, and Manufacturing. Dan manages projects and people in virtual and hybrid IT team environments and effectively communicates with Executive Leadership, vendors, and team members in providing direction that inspires confidence among all levels of IT and Business organizations.
Nick Schroeder, Mandiant
Nick has been in information security for over 12 years. He is a former security operations center analyst and incident response consultant who thoroughly understands advanced adversary methodology and how to effectively counter network intrusions. Prior to joining Mandiant, Nick worked as a penetration tester in the federal space.
Daniel Shore, LeTS (Leadership & Effective Teamwork Strategies)
Daniel Shore has a PhD in Workplace Psychology and works as a consultant, researcher, and entrepreneur leading teamwork development initiatives for a wide range of organizations. His cybersecurity teamwork expertise stemmed from a 5-year, DHS-funded research project designed to identify social-behavioral drivers of cybersecurity effectiveness. Daniel applies the insights from this work through LETS (Leadership & Effective Teamwork Strategies), the company he co-founded to bring a human-centered approach to improving cybersecurity multi-team systems.
Jared Vogel, Underwriters Laboratories
Jared was a Principal Security Architect with Underwriters Laboratories Inc. in the Connected Technologies division. Global responsibilities for Cybersecurity, Interoperability and Standards compliance surrounding IoT, Automotive, Transportation and Industrial.
Aaron Wakefield, Vice President of Data & Digital Technology, Kuvare Holdings
With over 17 years of experience, Aaron Wakefield is a seasoned technology executive renowned for his visionary leadership in Fortune 100 companies spanning industries such as insurance, healthcare, manufacturing, and technology. Aaron excels in driving critical technical initiatives, leveraging innovation to streamline processes, and spearheading integration, transformation, and modernization efforts.
In conjunction with Cybersecurity Awareness Month, the Center for Cybersecurity has hosted a Cybersecurity Day in October since 2018.
In 2019, the Center for Cybersecurity began highlighting important cybersecurity issues through documentary films as part of its inaugural Cybersecurity Film Series. Films are shown throughout October in conjunction with Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Students, faculty, staff, and members of the community are welcome to attend any showing. After each film, attendees are encouraged to ask questions and discuss topics from the film in our post-film Q&A session.
Previous Films
2024
The Social Dilemma (2020)
A documentary film that exposes the hidden dangers of social media and search platforms, and how they affect our mental health, democracy, and discrimination.
The Truman Show (1998)
An insurance salesman is oblivious of the fact that his entire life is a TV show and his family members are mere actors. As he starts noticing things and uncovers the truth, he decides to escape.
Coded Bias (2020)
When MIT Media Lab researcher Joy Buolamwini discovers that facial recognition does not see dark-skinned faces accurately, she embarks on a journey to push for the first-ever U.S. legislation against bias in algorithms that impact us all.
The Net (1995)
When Angela Bennett, a computer programmer, stumbles upon government secrets, she finds herself on the run from an unknown enemy hell-bent on destroying her completely.
Citizenfour (2014)
CITIZENFOUR is a real-life thriller, unfolding by the minute, giving audiences unprecedented access to filmmaker Laura Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald’s encounters with Edward Snowden in Hong Kong, as he hands over classified documents providing evidence of mass indiscriminate and illegal invasions of privacy by the National Security Agency (NSA).
The Codebreaker (2021)
The work of cryptanalyst Elizebeth Smith Friedman brings down Al Capone, breaks up a Nazi spy ring in South America, and lays the foundation for the National Security Agency (NSA).
The Center for Cybersecurity will be hosting the inaugural BSides Peoria. Each BSides is a community-driven framework for building events for and by information security community members. The goal is to expand the spectrum of conversation beyond the traditional confines of space and time. It creates opportunities for individuals to both present and participate in an intimate atmosphere that encourages collaboration. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from participants. It is where conversations for the next-big-thing are happening.
News
Research
The Center for Cybersecurity helps coordinate and catalog Bradley University’s research on various cybersecurity-related topics, such as behavioral security research, ethics, privacy, and anonymity.
Current research that falls under the scope of the Center for Cybersecurity consist of:
Resources
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