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BGU Tackles Cyber Crime

April 26, 2013

Homeland & Cyber Security

San Diego Jewish Journal — Making the world a better and safer place is part of the curriculum at BGU. That means taking on one of the greatest threats of our time: cyber crime.

“Nowadays, borders are a virtual thing. Most of our future wars will be fought on computer networks,” says Prof. Dan Blumberg, director of BGU’s Homeland Security Institute.

Prof. Bracha Shapira

Prof. Bracha Shapira

Prof. Blumberg recently participated in Americans for Ben-Gurion University’s Homeland Security Symposium (HSI) in Los Angeles.

The symposium featured a panel discussion with Prof. Blumberg and HSI members Prof. Bracha Shapira, chair of BGU’s Department of Information Systems and Prof. Gabby Sarusi of BGU’s Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology. Each spoke about their groundbreaking homeland security technologies.

American homeland security experts also took part in this day-long event including Steve Pomerantz, former head of the FBI Counterterrorism Division and Dr. Isaac Maya, director of research at the National Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE) at USC.

Prof. Bracha Shapira shared her expertise in cyber security technologies that prevent data leakage and other online homeland security threats.

“If someone attacks our infrastructure – systems like banks, electricity and hospitals – it could paralyze the whole economy and threaten many people’s lives,” she says.

BGU is the first Israeli university to offer graduate study tracks in cyber security, a joint initiative with the Departments of Information Systems Engineering and Computer Science.

“Our goal is to prepare graduates who can contribute to the national effort in cyber defense, and prepare Israeli researchers to lead world research in this area,” says Prof. Shapira.

Read more by Tammy Bleck in the San Diego Jewish Journal >>