An Innovative Interdisciplinary Cybersecurity Education Program for Protecting Critical Infrastructure

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This capacity track project is developing an interdisciplinary, cybersecurity education program for engineers that must be aware of critical design issues for addressing cybersecured control systems for electromechanical devices, more effective techniques for the integration of secure software and hardware devices, and associated law and policy issues. The curriculum consists of an interdisciplinary core that addresses information assurance, cyberphysical systems, and law and policy, with multiple tracks that can be tailored to cybersecurity education within a specific engineering discipline.Modern control systems for critical infrastructure such as power grids, transportation systems, and communication networks are cyberphysical systems consisting of both software-enabled control systems and hardware execution components. Cyberattacks on these electromechanical systems can have a significant impact on the secured operation of the overall control system. The collaboration among computing, engineering, and law faculty positively impacts the design and implementation of cybersecurity curriculum that will educate a wider range of professionals that are needed to more effectively secure our Nation's assets. Community building is being leveraged in industry, such that cybersecurity is an integrated concept that is designed into systems by interdisciplinary project teams for more secure critical infrastructure, rather than as add-on features.These results are being disseminated in the broader forums for education research results, as well as associated conferences and journals of the collaborating disciplines of this project. Cybersecurity awareness outreach within the university community and at the K-12 level serves to educate the public and provide a potential pipeline for cybersecurity education.