Faculty Professional Development Workshop
Westmoreland County Community College
May 15, 2023
The 2023 WCCC Faculty Development Workshop focused on cloud security, cryptography, and blockchain technology. The event was held virtually via Zoom, and all interested WCCC faculty and staff were welcome to attend. Download the flyer, brochure, and schedule for more information.
Guest Bios and Session
Summaries
Mr. Dom Glavach
Chief Security & Technology, CyberSN
Session Summary
This session provides an overview of Amazon Web Services, including key terminology and services. The talk introduces the necessary configurations to perform threat detection in the cloud, such as log telemetry, analysis, and visualization, as well as an introduction to common threat-hunting techniques.
Speaker Bio
Dom Glavach is the chief security officer and chief security strategist at CyberSN. In this executive role, he is responsible for leading the company’s information security strategy, policy, IT operations, security engineering, security operations, data privacy, and cyber threat detection. Prior to CyberSN, Glavach spent 20 years working with Concurrent Technologies Corporation, where he served as the chief information security officer and research fellow. He played a critical role in the company’s cyber risk management, providing cyber technical leadership and subject matter expertise to commercial and government clients. Glavach is a CISSP, an active member of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association Cyber Committee, chairs a subcommittee on Vehicle and Embedded Systems Cyber Security, and mentors at cybersecurity meet-ups. He has presented various security topics to a wide range of public and government audiences, including the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Security Agency.
Dr. Xin-Wen Wu
Associate Professor, University of Mary Washington
Session Summary
Modern cryptography, including symmetric ciphers, asymmetric crypto algorithms, and secure hash algorithms, provides powerful tools to protect cyberspace and users. When used properly, advanced cryptography ensures confidentiality, integrity, and beyond. In this workshop, we will introduce algorithmic concepts of the most commonly used cryptographic protocols. Interesting examples and hands-on activities will be offered to help understand the concepts.
Speaker Bio
Xin-wen Wu, PhD, has worked in cybersecurity and various related areas as a researcher and educator over the last two decades. He has published two books, a monograph, and numerous research articles in reputable journals and international conferences. Wu is a faculty member at the University of Mary Washington. He was also affiliated with Indiana University of Pennsylvania, extending his academic experience at several research-focused universities including the University of California at San Diego and the University of Melbourne in Australia.
Dr. Balaji Palanisamy
Associate Professor, University of Pittsburgh
Session Summary
This talk will provide an introduction to distributed ledger technologies. We will discuss the fundamentals of a decentralized ledger and the functioning of a Blockchain. We will also introduce the basics of the Ethereum Blockchain and the notion of smart contracts in Ethereum.
Speaker Bio
Balaji Palanisamy is an associate professor in the School of Computing and Information at the University of Pittsburgh. His research interests include data privacy, privacy-preserving system design, and scalable and resource management for distributed systems, IoT infrastructures, and edge and cloud computing. At the University of Pittsburgh, he carries out research in the Laboratory of Research and Education on Security-Assured Information Systems. He is a recipient of an IBM Faculty Award in 2017 and is a co-recipient of the Best Paper Awards in various conferences, including DBSec 2022, IEEE BigDataCongress 2018, IEEE BigDataCongress 2017, IEEE/ACM CCGrid 2015, and IEEE CLOUD 2012. He is currently an associate editor for the IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing, IEEE TDSC and IEEE Transactions on Services Computing, and IEEE TSC Journal.