IBIT News

First-ever Cyber Security Conference bridges industry gaps, fosters innovation

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On March 10, 2014, the Institute for Business and Information Technology presented its first-ever conference on one of the most cutting-edge topics in IT today: the dynamic landscape of cyber security, and its effect on business and the world.

Co-chaired by Fox adjunct professors (and brothers) Chris and Marty Kearns, the conference hosted a diverse array of Temple students and industry professionals. All were eager to engage with the panel of eight speakers and collectively answer the question: What are the lessons from the front lines of the cyber war, and how does one apply these lessons to business strategy?

“Many conferences are solely technically-focused,” said Chris, Program Director at Lockheed Martin, which specializes in aerospace and defense. “Instead, we wanted to create a dialogue between businesses, large and small, bridging traditionalist cyber-defense with ‘hactivism’ and organizing. The conference connected the dots between all kinds of groups.”

Titled Lessons from the Edge: The Strategies of Cyber Security, the half-day event sought to broaden participants’ understanding of the ways in which battles in cyberspace are reshaping professional careers, business opportunities, policy, nonprofit work, and technological innovation.

“Cyber security impacts people,” noted Marty, President and CEO of Netcentric Campaigns. “[It also impacts] politics, news, law, and the bottom line.”

Keynote speaker Lee Holcomb, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at Lockheed Martin, provided an illuminating history of cyber security within its broader government context, noting its formidable power in the realm of national security. He advocated its widespread implementation, and expounded on Lockheed Martin’s approach to diverting threats both within the government and private industry.

“The passion, experience, honesty, and professionalism of each panelist were universally appreciated,” said Marty.

There was a curricular component to the conference, as well, as many student-attendees are currently enrolled in the Kearns’ popular Cyber Warfare course, taught within Temple’s ITACS degree. The conference was designed to complement and bring to life the class’s methodologies and case studies in an interactive way. “We wanted to help students tie our course work and reading directly to stories of the professionals and companies [on the front lines],” said Marty.

Never resigning to oversimplification, the Kearns’ Cyber Warfare course delves deeply into the polarizing and varied nature of cyber security and its real-world applications. When interviewed, Chris and Marty acknowledged—and, in fact, highlighted—their divergent approaches: Chris’ role at Lockheed Martin, an industry leader in national defense, sits at the opposite pole from Marty’s role at Netcentric Campaigns, whose function is one of advocacy, activism, and organizing.

But these differing viewpoints, say the pair, only serve to strengthen their teaching.

“Preparing for [our Cyber Warfare class], Chris and I have assigned each other loads of reading,” said Marty, “and the intersection of our perspectives has been fascinating.”

This multiplicity was strikingly apparent during Lessons From the Edge, as well, where oppositional stances were not glossed over, but rather investigated. Panelists ranged from Eva Galperin of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (a nonprofit that defends civil liberties in the digital world), to Aunshul Rege of Temple’s Criminal Justice Department, to Michael Higgins of the media giant NBCUniversal.

“Some of the panel got a little spirited, I think would be the word,” said Chris. “We had people who advocated for ‘hactivism,’ while others considered it tedious and a waste of resources. There was a really interesting dialogue.”

Despite the disagreements (or perhaps, because of them), all present could agree on one thing: powerful innovation occurs every day within the trenches of cyberwar.

“The struggle clearly propels an innovation race among attackers and defenders, among the curious and the gate makers, among the security state and the resistance,” said Marty. “It is less important to understand if the hackers are driven by nationalism, profits, or a cause, and more important to look at the emerging innovation that leads to our expanding understanding of what is possible.”

Thanks to conferences like Lessons From the Edge, understanding—and anticipating—the profound role of cyber security in our world has become that much more attainable.

Lessons from the Edge Distinguished Speakers

Lee Holcomb, Vice President, Strategic Initiatives, Lockheed Martin
Michael Higgins, Chief Information Security Officer, NBCUniversal
Eva Galperin, Global Policy Analyst, Electronic Frontier Foundation
Cooper Quintin, Technology & Security Consultant
Michael Bradshaw, Vice President and CIO, Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training
Aunshul Rege, Assistant Professor, Criminal Justice Department, Temple University
Meighan O’Reardon, Senior Associate, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
Joseph Nash, Consulting Principal, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

To learn more about the conference and speakers, visit: http://ibit.temple.edu/cyber-security-strategy/

Barbarians Inside the Gate: Dealing With Advanced Persistent Threats

The Institute for Business and Information Technology (IBIT) is pleased to announce the release of The IBIT Report – Barbarians Inside the Gate: Dealing With Advanced Persistent Threats authored by Gregory Senko, Temple University.

Many companies and organizations have set up defenses to keep hackers on the outside, protecting the information of their customers and clients. However, with increasingly sophisticated use of malware, some hackers can sit silently within a company’s information systems for years without being detected. A new report from the Temple University Institute for Business and Information Technology (IBIT), at the Fox School of Business, examines advanced persistent threats to information assets by using the medieval analogy of barbarians inside the gate. In December 2013, retail chain Target announced a security breach resulting in 40 million credit and debit card records being compromised. Other retail chains such as 7-Eleven and Carrefour have also suffered attacks, having 160 million credit and debit card numbers exposed. Hackers have also targeted Nasdaq and bank accounts at Citigroup and PNC.

“My goal with the article was to raise people’s awareness, which is the most powerful tool [for security enhancement],” said Gregory Senko, associate director of the Fox School’s Master of Science in Information Technology Auditing and Cyber-Security program. “I wanted to make people aware that there is a risk and they need the proper tools to know when they are being attacked.”

While working on a book, Security Intelligence – How Big Data and Machine Learning can tackle the increasingly complex world of Cyber Security, Senko realized that the rate of persistent polymorphic attacks is growing and that more vendors are developing tools intended to address these threats.

Symantec, a leading information security company, noted the escalated rate of reported Advanced Persistent Threats (APT). In November 2013, the number of reported APT attacks increased to about 118 from only 57 in November 2012. “We’re likely to see a big wave of aggressive attacks,” Senko said.

The Stuxnet virus in 2010-11 served as the first well-publicized appearance of a successful, state-sponsored act of modern cyber warfare. This virus inspired hackers to employ analytics, reverse engineering and code cannibalization to design malware that was able to circumvent traditional security arrangements that recognize threats as patterns in digital transmissions. This allowed hackers to penetrate networks that seemed secure, operating stealthily over extended periods of time. These attacks are known as Advanced Persistent Threats.

Senko recommends four transformative steps to achieve even more robust enterprise security.

First, he urges companies to strengthen their fundamental security processes. This means spending money to pay for up-to-date perimeter security and employing well-educated security engineers and well-informed employees.
Second, Senko recommends companies to look at metrics used for performance management, issue identification and problem mitigation, from a more security-oriented perspective. According to the report, “this same data may yield opportunities to identify subtle changes in activity that underlie a persistent attack.”
Third, a culture must be created that promotes information security organizations to act proactively. Procedural and structural approaches to deal with day-to-day prevention need to be set in place, versus waiting to react to emergencies.
Finally, Senko suggests companies should invest in tools such as cloud-based, Big Data-driven offerings that allow for more enhanced network performance management and improved network management. “Companies will find this preventive approach can be expensive. But they will end up dealing with the problem sooner or later. The question is: Will spending now avoid even greater spending later if they don’t take steps to protect themselves,” Senko said.

The ongoing IBIT Report series is based on rigorous, vendor-neutral academic research that provides actionable knowledge on topics relevant to industry partners.

—Alexis Wright-Whitley

Interview: Jonathan Brassington, CEO of LiquidHub

Jonathan Brassington has a resume that would make any aspiring IT professional swoon, yet over the phone his demeanor is disarmingly humble. “I never attribute anything to myself,” he said, when asked what he considered the primary impetus to the success of his tech consulting firm, LiquidHub. “I’m the steward of culture as the CEO, but the entire organization has innovation in their DNA.”

So, too, does Brassington, who was the recipient of the Fox IT Innovator Award in 2009. He earned his dual BS in Computer Science and Mathematics from College Misericordia before pursuing a cross-disciplinary Masters Degree in Telecommunications and Operations Strategy from the University of Pennsylvania. Currently, he serves on the Fox IT advisory board and mentors the program’s graduate students. As LiquidHub’s fearless leader, he manages the company’s Consulting Operations, Finance, and Personal Development.

Jonathan took a few moments from his busy schedule to reflect on his career, LiquidHub, and his role as mentor at Temple.

Temple University: Thanks for taking the time to speak with us, Jonathan!

Jonathan Brassington: It’s my pleasure.

TU: Let’s dive right in. As founding partner, you helped build LiquidHub from the ground up. Did you always know you wanted to be an entrepreneur?

JB: My story and how I entered into entrepreneurship was somewhat opportunistic, if you will. I came to [Philadelphia] to get my Masters. At that time, the internet explosion or “boom” was accelerating. So, upon graduating I had to make a decision between working for a larger firm or working for an entrepreneurial firm. And I chose the latter.

TU: What was your first job, post-graduate school?

JB: My first real job was for an early-stage company, and I went there and started a business unit. I never looked back.

TU: Not even for a second?

JB: [laughs] I never wanted to be in a big corporate environment. I felt an affinity to building things—to building businesses. To looking at how technology can be transformative and drive business innovation. [pauses] I wouldn’t say I knew as an undergraduate that I wanted to be an entrepreneur, but when the opportunities presented themselves, I self-selected.

TU: How would you describe LiquidHub to someone who’s just hearing about it for the first time?

JB: LiquidHub is a digital technology advisory and integration firm. We focus primarily on the financial services and health care industries. We look at how digital and disruptive technologies are transforming the way our clients are interacting with their customers. We help them conceptualize or ideate, build the technology, and in some cases we manage it. Systems integrations is a $950 billion dollar industry, and our specialization is in digital technologies—global, web, and social. That’s the positioning of the firm.

TU: A global company, that operates from Philadelphia?

JB: Founded here in Philly, offices in Pennsylvania, New York, Boston, San Francisco, Wilmington, and Amsterdam. And we have a development center in India.

TU: So you do a lot of a traveling.

JB: Yes, I do.

TU: Sounds cool.

JB: [laughs] Sometimes.

TU: So what inspired the name “LiquidHub”?

JB: When we started the firm we didn’t want a technology consulting “inc” name or something similarly mundane. We wanted a name that stood out. Then we thought, what would represent “fluidity” and “agility”? So the word “liquid” came to us—because technology is always changing and morphing, and businesses need to adapt to how they use technology.

TU: After operating for thirteen years and experiencing exponential growth, what aspects of LiquidHub are you most proud of?

JB: For us, it’s really about our culture, which revolves around innovation. There’s an entrepreneurial spirit that’s embedded in the company. We help our clients—who tend to be very large established firms (Fortune 500s and global organizations)—and we work with them to drive technology innovation that provides breakthroughs and powerful change. It’s not about a single person, it’s about all the people, and their leadership. Most of the people within the company have been founders and CEOs of other companies. There’s a high level of leadership that trickles into the culture.

TU: Do you do anything “official” to implement and reinforce the spirit of innovation?

JB: We hold a lot of contests internally, where we reward entrepreneurship. We recognize people who step out beyond their day to day job. It’s embedded into the culture of the company.

TU: Fox is fortunate to have you serve on our IT advisory board, and you’ve also been engaged as a mentor to students in the Management of Information Systems program. What have you enjoyed most about your relationship with Temple, and what value does academic mentorship add to someone working in business?

JB: I learn tremendously from the interactions with the Temple students. For me, seeing young minds in terms of how they’re thinking about the world today, how they think about business, how they think about the use of technology, is tremendous. The way the millennial generation intuitively uses technology and interacts is very important to me.

What I love about Temple is the way the school utilizes and creates interactive learning experiences for students. There’s this blended context of how to apply academia to the business world, and I really get charged up by that.

As a mentor, I’m not only able to add value but to receive value from learning from the students. I learn something new from every interaction—what they think, what their expectations are. For a company that’s always hiring, it’s great to get an idea of what’s important to this next generation.

The mindset is very different today. Technology is changing the environment and the manner of work. More and more, people are coming out of school, and are open to being consultants, or independent thinkers, or independent contractors—which is very different from when I graduated, where you sought a job and wanted it to be stable.

TU: Exciting stuff. For our final question—do you have any advice for current students or aspiring entrepreneurs hoping to apply IT creatively to business?

JB: It’s important to be able to operate collaboratively on a team. Having that ability to work well in an increasingly collaborative environment is a big deal. One of the great things I’ve observed and really enjoyed about Temple is that it creates team experiences. Instead of [MIS] being about individual coursework, there’s a team dynamic. In the work environment, that’s critical. Temple has done a phenomenal job, and students should embrace this. The subtle skill of being aware of social dynamics as you work is extremely important when you go into the work environment—whether you become the CEO of your next company or you’re a team leader, manager, or member.

— Felicia Roy

Temple Analytics Challenge attracts 400 participants, distributes $7,000 in prizes

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Students won big at the Temple Analytics Challenge: Making Sense of Big Data, which recently awarded a $7,000 prize pool to eight teams representing schools and colleges across the university.

The university-wide competition, organized by the Institute for Business and Information Technology (IBIT), launched Oct. 1. The challenge attracted 183 entries from 400 participants across seven schools and colleges, including both undergraduate and graduate students. The Fox School of Business, School of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Tyler School of Art, and College of Science and Technology were among the schools represented in the competition. The challenge tasked students with making sense of Big Data through visualization, a key component of data analytics cited by experts as a promising path to job opportunities.

The entrants could choose to solve one of three challenges from the World Bank (finding global economic development opportunities), Merck (creating smarter travel policies) and the City of Philadelphia (fostering Philadelphia’s economic development).

The judging panel selected the 20 finalists, who presented their visualizations before the judges on Nov. 15 in Alter Hall. The judging panel included William Stolte (Merck), Neil Fantom (the World Bank), Gregory Waldman (City of Philadelphia), Ben Hasan (Walmart), Larry Dignan (CBS Interactive), Caron Kogan (Lockheed Martin), Ravi Chawla (Independence Blue Cross), Sara Aerni (Pivotal) and Harold Hambrose (Electronic Ink).

“I was very impressed by the quality of the presentations and the effort that students had made,” said Fantom, manager of the Development Data Group at the World Bank.

“There is a wealth of talent at Temple University,” added Hasan, senior vice president of IT Strategic Services at Walmart. “The submissions were thoughtful and insightful.”

Management information systems (MIS) senior Yolandra Brown earned the first-place prize – $2,500 – for her solution to the Philadelphia Challenge.

“I was shocked, happy, and I realized I won all the money to myself,” said Brown, who worked alone. She plans on putting the winnings toward a car she hopes to purchase upon graduating in May.

In her infographic, Drilling Down to Philly’s Hottest Private Industry, Brown found that the social assistance subsector could have the largest increasing workforce demand. Within this subsector, individual and family service is expanding the fastest, as services for the elderly and disabled are contributing most to the industry’s growth.

“I looked at certain aspects within population size and life expectancy to find a way to put that back in the infographic,” Brown said. “So I decided to do the whole story, how I got down to finding that service and what’s going on with that service and is it going to continue to grow.”

In her conclusion, Brown urged government officials to support workforce development and business assistance in the individual and family services industry, focusing primarily in elderly and disability services.

Second-place winner Ping-yeh Chiang, a senior actuarial science major, has noticed how much of a hot topic data analytics has become. After competing in the challenge, Chiang learned that Big Data presents three sets of challenges.

“First, the accuracy of the data is often questionable. Second, data found to answer questions must be relevant. Third, numbers have to be put into context, which is difficult to do,” Chiang said. “After this challenge, I started to understand the value of Big Data and the challenges behind it.”

The Temple Big Data Conference, also organized by IBIT in 2012, funded the $7,000 prize pool.

“Students from across the university created a fantastic set of entries and did a great job presenting them to our judging panel. We are really proud of the work they did,” said MIS Associate Professor David Schuff, co-organizer of the challenge. “This challenge wouldn’t have been possible without our industry partners who donated real-world problems and data and who generously gave their time as judges.”

Peter Jones, Temple’s senior vice provost for undergraduate studies, noted the challenge’s interdisciplinary reach: “This is the sort of activity that really helps students appreciate the interdisciplinary potential and opportunity that methodological and analytical skills can offer.”

Keynote speaker Robert Moore, founder and CEO of Philadelphia-based analytics firm RJMetrics, praised the work of the students: “The masters of visualizations are the ones who are going to change human thoughts and behavior by using data. Today the work that you have done is extremely powerful and absolutely critical.”

Second-place winners
($1,000 per team)

World Bank Challenge
Ping-yeh Chiang and Nathan Saunders

Merck Challenge
Kevin Chin, Anna Choe
and Richard Somerville

Honorable-mention awardees ($500 per team)

Philly Challenge
Jessica Isaac, Jerome McLeod
and Robert Scanlon

World Bank Challenge
Matthew Bukoski, Nikita Patki
and Xi Qiu

World Bank Challenge
Julianne Melograno

World Bank Challenge
Maxwell Cutler, Patrick Markward, Meghan McManus, Charles Yan,
Linfeng Yang and Leah Wrobel

Merck Challenge
Kevin Dannenberg, Scott Georgescu, Jamilla Lee, Nehaben Patel and
Yoojin Shin

The 2013 AIS – Temple Fox School Information Systems Job Index

The Institute for Business and Information Technology (IBIT) at the Fox School of Business, Temple University is proud to partner with the Association for Information Systems to release the first ever Information Systems (IS) Job Index. The report is intended for high school counselors, prospective and current students, IS academics, HR professionals, hiring managers, and legislators. The 2013 report concludes that:

The IS job market is healthy with high placement levels of 74% overall and 78% upon graduation.
Bachelor IS students average salary is $57,212 while Master IS students average salary is $65,394.
76% of IS graduates are satisfied with their jobs, and 76% are confident they will perform well in those jobs. 73% found jobs related to their chosen degree.
Information Technology, Financial Services, and Business Services / Consulting are the top industries for IS jobs.
The most common job classification is Systems Analyst at 35% for Bachelor students and 28% for Master students.
IS students are industrious and use multiple techniques and sources to find jobs.
IS students are moderately confident and moderately positive about the job search process.
Access to Career Services centers is the most important for getting a job. IS students value faculty support more than central University support.
IS students rate themselves knowledgeable about their profession.
IS students are 68% male, 55% white, and 28% Asian.

To learn more and download the complete report, click here.