University of Illinois' capabilities in Cyber Security.

1. CYBERSECURITY
OFFICE OF CORPORATE RELATIONS
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN
528 East Green Street, Suite 202, Champaign, IL 61820
T: (217) 244-3606 | corporaterelations@illinois.edu
FACULTY RESEARCH
Cybersecurity in the College of Engineering spans 45 faculty
in seven departments. Research ranges from protection of
computer systems from the theft or damage to their hardware,
software or information, as well as from disruption or
misdirection of the services they provide. Research also looks
at non-technical aspects of cybersecurity, such as attracting
and retaining talent. Faculty incorporate this research into
various applications such as Civil Engineering Infrastructure,
Robotics, Manufacturing and Health Information Technology.
STUDENT PROGRAM
With cyber crimes on the rise and a shortage of professionals,
cyber security is a field that offers great career opportunities. Illinois
provides opportunities for qualified students to participate in its
Illinois Cyber Security Scholars Program (ICSSP), which waives
tuition, and prepares students to follow a career in the government
for two years as a security professional. The program is open to
both graduate and undergraduate students in computer science,
computer engineering and law.
LABORATORIES & INSTITUTES
The vast majority of critical infrastructure, vital to the nation’s
security, is owned and operated by private entities. At the same
time, the infrastructure is increasingly at risk from cyber attacks
and complications that arise from aging components and the
interdependence of the cyber and physical entities that make
up these systems. To address these needs, the Department
of Homeland Security Science and Technology (DHS S&T)
officially launched the Critical Infrastructure Resilience Institute
(CIRI), a DHS Center of Excellence (COE) which exists of a
consortium of 16 universities, and will be led by the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Additionally, the National Center for Supercomputing
Applications (NCSA) and the International Computer Science
Institute co-developed the Bro threat detection platform. While
often compared to classic intrusion detection/prevention
systems, Bro takes a quite different approach by providing users
with a flexible framework that facilitates customized, in-depth
monitoring far beyond the capabilities of traditional systems.
With initial versions in operational deployment during the mid
‘90s already, Bro finds itself grounded in more than 20 years of
research.
corporaterelations.illinois.edu
OPPORTUNITIES FOR CORPORATE ENGAGEMENT
As modern society increasingly depends on computer networks and data to provide goods and services essential to our
well-being, there is a growing need to ensure the trustworthiness of information systems. Examples abound of real-world
critical breaches into public and private data and computer systems. It is imperative that universities, government and the
private sector share research, and fund initiatives that ensure the resiliency of cyber systems. The University of Illinois is
the forefront of several public and private initiatives that enhance research to ensure cybersecurity.
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a pre-eminent public research university with a land-grant mission that pioneers
innovative research that tackles global problems. The University offers transformative learning experiences in and out of the classroom
designed to produce alumni who desire to make a significant societal impact. Below is just a sampling of what the University has to
offer.

2. FACULTY RESEARCH
Cyber Resilient Energy Delivery Consortium (CREDC) -
http://go.illinois.edu/UIUCCREDC
The (CREDC), led by the University of Illinois, is a five-year, $28.1
million research and development initiative that is funded by the
Department of Energy and the Department of Homeland Security.
Research is focused on cybersecurity and cyber-resiliency of
energy delivery systems for the electric power and oil & gas
industries. In addition to Illinois, consortium partners include:
Argonne National Laboratory, Arizona State University, Dartmouth
College, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Old Dominion
University, Oregon State University, the Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory, Rutgers University, Tennessee State University, the
University of Houston, and Washington State University.
Extreme Science & Engineering Discovery Enivornment
(XSEDE)-
http://go.illinois.edu/UIUCXSEDE
The XSEDE is a NSF-funded initiative led by the University
of Illinois’ National Center for Supercomputing. It is the most
advanced, powerful, and robust collection of integrated advanced
digital resources and services in the world. Within the group is the
Cyberinfrastructure Integration Team (XCI) that aims to integrate,
adapt, and disseminate software tools and related services across
the national CI community to enable the creation of an integrated
national cyberinfrastructure. XSEDE also serves as liaison for the
Bro Project at the Software Freedom Conservatory, which brings its
network security monitoring expertise and support to NSF-funded
cyber-infrastructure and Higher Ed.
Power Grid Security -
http://go.illinois.edu/UIUCARPA-E
Funded by ARPA-E, Illinois researchers are developing scalable
grid modeling, monitoring, and analysis tools that would improve
its resiliency to system failures as well as cyber attacks, which can
significantly improve the reliability of grid operations. Power system
operators today lack the ability to assess the grid’s reliability with
respect to potential cyber failures and attacks. UIUC is using
theoretical and practical techniques from both the cyber security
and power engineering domains to develop new algorithms and
software tools capable of analyzing real-world threats against
power grid critical infrastructures.
Digital/Cyber Security and Nuclear Security -
http://go.illinois.edu/UIUCNucSec
The nuclear industry and homeland security establishments have
an urgent need to continuously push the state of the art to develop
new, advanced, and nuclear-grade digital control and cyber security
technologies. Due to its existing expertise in nuclear engineering,
and in digital and cybersecurity, the University of Illinois is uniquely
positioned to develop a national center for digital instrumentation
and control, and for cyber security for nuclear-specific applications.
The goal of research at Illinois is to marry the expertise available at
the Department of Nuclear, Plasma and Radiological Engineering
(NPRE) and Coordinated Science Laboratory (CSL) - as well as
in other parts of the college and campus - to develop a center for
digital (control) and cyber security for nuclear-specific applications.
Digital/Cyber Security and Nuclear Security -
http://go.illinois.edu/UIUCNucSec
The nuclear industry and homeland security establishments have
an urgent need to continuously push the state of the art to develop
new, advanced, and nuclear-grade digital control and cyber security
technologies. Due to its existing expertise in nuclear engineering,
and in digital and cyber security, the University of Illinois is uniquely
positioned to develop a national center for digital instrumentation
and control, and for cyber security for nuclear-specific applications.
The goal of research at Illinois is to marry the expertise available at
the Department of Nuclear, Plasma and Radiological Engineering.
STUDENT PROGRAM
Illinois Cyber Security Scholars Program -
http://go.illinois.edu/UIUCICSSP
This CyberCorps scholarship for service program, funded by the
National Science Foundation, provides a scholarship to admitted,
full time, UIUC students who are interested in specializing in
cybersecurity. Students in both Engineering and Law can apply for
this unique opportunity. This scholarship has graduated 30+ students
who have successfully been placed with federal agencies and
national labs including: the Department of Homeland Security, the
FTC, CIA, NSA, Sandia National Lab, MIT Lincoln Lab, DOE, and the
MITRE Corporation.
LABORATORIES & INSTITUTES
The Information Trust Institute - Coordinated Science Lab:
Cybersecurity Impact Area -
http://go.illinois.edu/UIUCCSLCyber
The Information Trust Institute, housed at CSL, provides national
leadership in the creation of trustworthy critical applications and
cyber infrastructures. ITI aims to design trustworthy systems from the
ground up and validate systems that are intended to be trustworthy.
The three areas that their research is focused on is: Improving the
resilience of critical infrastructure; trustworthy energy systems, and
health information privacy.
Critical Infrastructure Reslilience Institute (CIRI) -
http://go.illinois.edu/UIUCCIRI
CIRI is conducting research and education activities that enhance the
resiliency of the nation’s critical infrastructures and the businesses
and public entities that own and operate those assets and systems.
CIRI is funded by a $20 million, five-year grant from the Department
of Homeland Security. It is led by the University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign with collaborators from other U.S. universities and
national labs. A significant focus of CIRI is on transitioning of research
outputs for use by DHS operational components, other homeland
security end users, policy makers, decision makers across all levels of
industry and government, and community leaders.
National Center for Supercomputing Application (NCSA):
Cybersecurity Division -
http://go.illinois.edu/UIUCNCSACyber
The Cybersecurity Division at NCSA is composed of researchers,
developers, and specialists who work to advance the state of the
art of cybersecurity, apply those advances to key science and
engineering user communities, and protect NCSA’s networks and
substantial computing resources. As a result, NCSA has developed
broad and deep expertise in detecting and responding to attacks and
intrusions of all sorts. With decades of experience designing and
deploying systems that meet stringent cybersecurity requirements
for serving a diverse, national scientific community, NCSA is a
recognized leader in both local site and distributed systems security.
It’s most lucrative platform in cybersecurity has been the Bro network
analysis framework - which focuses on network security monitoring
that is adaptable, flexible, efficient and analytical. It is an open source
platform, and Bro’s user community includes major universities,
research labs, supercomputing centers, and open-science
communities.
For a comprehensive list of programs please contact the Office of
Corporate Relations at corporaterelations@illinois.edu
CYBERSECURITY HIGHLIGHTS