In-brief: MIT, the East Coast’s leading technical university, will announce three, major cyber security initiatives aimed at web-based security, critical infrastructure and cyber policy.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will announce three new research efforts aimed at cyber security next week.
On March 12, the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and the MIT Sloan School of Management will unveil three new interdisciplinary research efforts:
- Cybersecurity@CSAIL, a program to bring together experts in software, hardware and cryptography to address the threat of web-based attacks
- The MIT Cybersecurity Policy Initiative, an interdisciplinary program focused on developing “smart, sustainable cybersecurity policy”
- The Interdisciplinary Consortium for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity – or (IC)3, a consortium based at the MIT Sloan School of Management dedicated to improving the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure
The three projects underscore the increasing importance of cyber security research and development, as the U.S. military, government and private sector struggle to cope with the threat of cyber criminal groups, hacktivists and nation-backed hacking groups.
One of the nation’s leading technical institutions, MIT has had a lower profile in the arena of cyber security compared with universities like Stanford and Carnegie Mellon University.
Despite cuts in other areas of government research and development funding, cyber security research has been growing at a steady clip. That’s in keeping with the Obama Administration’s stated policy for prioritizing investment in cyber security. First articulated in 2011, the Administration’s goal has been to consolidate cyber security research and to prioritize the development of a “science of security” to derive first
principles and the fundamental building blocks of online security and trustworthiness.