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WECS Conferences
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The Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California regularly hosts important conferences in the area of computer security and information assurance.
One way of reaching a broader range of people is through education. To this end, the Workshop in Education for Computer Security (WECS) is offered to take people who are educators in community colleges and 4-year universities who are trying to start up information assurance in their computer science departments and teach them how to then teach their students. We want to make sure correct information is getting out, and that they can network and get the right resources. Sponsored by the National Science Foundation, attendees and speakers range from community college level computer teachers to the state of the art experts from governments and international institutions. These WECS conferences reach both groups and place side by side the novice and those responsible for their nation's security.
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The conferences are organized by the school's Center for Information Systems Security Studies and Research (CISR) headed by Dr. Cynthia Irvine. CISR is a group of faculty, staff and students who work to put together both research and educational programs in the area of information assurance. In other words, information operations primarily directed toward network defense.
CISR makes an important impact on the area of computer security both nationally and internationally. CISR has always had an impact within the military, but now we're having a ripple effect out to the civilian sector. In fact, CISR's civilian Scholarship for Service students graduate into jobs within the government, creating even wider impact thaever before. The WECS workshop is a great way to enhance that impact and help build national capacity and awareness in information assurance.
Attendees take classes, work on computer lab exercises, and are involved in discussion groups to help them formulate their information assurance curriculum. Lunches and social events are organized to establish a sense of community among the participants.
Participants are required to report back on how they have incorporated workshop materials, examples, and teaching styles into their classroom and curriculum, thus insuring that information learned at the workshop will find its way into the public sector.
For more information on the WECS conferences, please check out: WECS7 / WECS6 / WECS5 / WISE3
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