Invited Speaker Seminar: The Grand Challenge: Securing Cyber Space, a.k.a.: Finding Things That Go Bump in the Net"

Dr. David Whyte,
Technical Director for the Cyber Defence Branch, Communications Security Establishment, Canada

March 18 (3:00 pm)
Location: EV002.184

Abstract

The explosive growth, complexity, adoption and dynamism of cyber space that has enhanced social interaction and expanded our ability to productively utilize our environment has also introduced new adversarial threats and challenges to our society. Cyber-bullying, cyber-crime, cyber-terrorism, as well as adversarial state-sponsored activities are all exemplars of the malevolent attributes of cyber space.

In this talk, we will discuss both current and new trends in the evolving Internet threat landscape. We will briefly cover topics such as: the anatomy of an attack, exploit kits, botnets, and phishing. The talk will conclude by exploring some of the cyber security research challenges that need to be addressed in order to implement the next generation cyber threat detection services for the Government of Canada.

Biography

Dr. David Whyte is the Technical Director for the Cyber Defence Branch at the Communications Security Establishment (CSE). CSE is the technical lead for information technology security to safeguard Government of Canada electronic information. David has held many positions over the last sixteen years within CSE that span both the Signals Intelligence and Information Technology Security mission lines. In his current role as Technical Director of Cyber Defence he is responsible for overseeing the implementation/deployment of the next generation cyber threat detection services for the Government of Canada. David holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carleton University and his research interests are focused on network and host based security.