| NSF Org: |
OAC Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (OAC) |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | August 8, 2016 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | August 31, 2017 |
| Award Number: | 1642118 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Rob Beverly
OAC Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (OAC) CSE Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering |
| Start Date: | August 15, 2016 |
| End Date: | July 31, 2019 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $499,949.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $499,949.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1918 F ST NW WASHINGTON DC US 20052-0042 (202)994-0728 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
44983 Knoll Square , Suite 301 Ashburn VA US 20147-2692 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): |
CYBERCORPS: SCHLAR FOR SER, Cybersecurity Innovation |
| Primary Program Source: |
04001617DB NSF Education & Human Resource |
| Program Reference Code(s): | |
| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.070 |
ABSTRACT
Reasonably safe and secure cyberinfrastructures cannot be built and operated without adequately trained human beings with a broad range of applicable technical skills. Such individuals are in short supply and the demand is growing steadily. This new workforce should be trained in realistic and adaptable environments within the context of existing policies and technologies. Furthermore, due to the complexity of the problem, it is imperative that the individuals are well versed in a broad spectrum of related subjects, which means, ideally, trained at an academic institution where they can find instruction in a variety of areas of study. The researchers plan to address this critical shortage of both the people and the skills needed to meet demand by creating an educational program in cybersecurity, supported by a highly effective, flexible platform designed to deploy real-world training scenarios while integrating cybereducation resources available at multiple prominent national sites. Skills acquired in this program are applicable far beyond academic or research settings, and the developed technology will serve as a universal template for cybersecurity training. The most important component of the program is the human element - the students, the future cybersecurity experts. The project creates a foundation for consolidating Cybersecurity into an attractive field of study that leads to highly sought-after qualifications and thus opens a path to long-term, rewarding careers.
In collaboration with the Michigan Cyber Range (MCR) facility operated by Merit Network, and the Cyber Academy operated by the College of Professional Studies (CPS) at the George Washington University, the project proposes to establish and deploy an open and flexible technology platform for broad-context cybersecurity education and hands-on training. Initially, the platform will be used in developing and delivering a credit bearing Practicum (2 credit hours) that addresses Intrusion Detection and Remediation. The course will be transferable toward the undergraduate certificate in Protection and Defense of Computer Networks, which is part of the Bachelor's degree completion in cybersecurity. The practicum is a hands-on training that will cover a broad range of network intrusion, prevention, and detection techniques such as implementation and testing of IDS security plans, security monitoring, intrusion detection, alarm management, analysis of events and trends, and vulnerability management. The program utilizes a high-performance, flexible environment built on Cisco's UCS hardware platform with a modified OpenStack framework. This multi-tenant system, originally developed under an NSF grant, facilitates the full integration of the Cyber Academy with the MCR resources. Thanks to its virtual nature and its tight coupling with physical cyberinfrastructure components such as HPC, cluster storage arrays, public and private clouds, 100G optical networks, and a wide variety of SDN technologies, the system is able to deploy nearly any cybersecurity scenario, on demand.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
"Cybersecurity is a new discipline, which is neither well-defined nor sensibly delineated. In different settings, it means different things to different people. Beneath its grand label hides a jumble of electrical engineering, networking, cryptography, psychology, and social sciences".
-- The SCEPTRE proposal, 2016
From simple web portals to complex scientific instruments, cyberinfrastructures play ever more important and often pivotal roles in nearly any discipline. Their impact on society has been truly transformative. As the interconnectedness and the deployment rates of these cyberinfrastructures grow, so does the available attack surface with its potential for inflicting serious damage. Without properly trained cybersecurity professionals this trend, and, in very real terms, the society implementing it, is not sustainable.
The project's aim was to start the transformation of Cybersecurity Education into a serious, mature field equipped with consistent, reliable methodologies and technologies - a respectable field that would attract students by offering life-long, rewarding careers.
The product developed under this project - Capital Region Advanced Cyber Range (CRACR) - is in transition to become one of the key facilities at The George Washington University. Thus, even after the project's end, the developed technologies remain an integral part of teaching Cybersecurity to undergraduate and graduate students at GW. The project has produced an adaptable and powerful technology and made it available to the classroom. This has opened opportunities for developing new curricula, introducing real-world situation while improving the hands-on component of practicums and labs. After being trained on this platform, approximately 50 students so far and 25 more by Spring 2020 will have graduated from GW's Cybersecurity Bachelor's Degree program and will enter the workforce.
Three years later and seven semesters in, it's safe to say that the Cyber Range developed under the SCEPTRE project has made a significant difference for dozens of students and has made our goal of standardizing and mainstreaming Cybersecurity education a bit more more attainable.
Last Modified: 10/29/2019
Modified by: Jaroslav Flidr
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