Cyber Defense

Leading Institution:

Nova Southeastern University

Welcome to the CAE Community of Practice (CoP) for Cyber Defense (CD)

CAE CoP-CD Mission:

“To collaborate with both the CAE Community and the CAE-C Program Management Office (PMO) to build a Cybersecurity Excellence Community of Practice in Cyber Defense (CoP-CD) in order to gather and share input from the broader community as well as to provide continuous program improvement".

CoP-CD Steering Committee:

Given that the CAE-CD includes over 300 institutions, we have established the CoP-CD Steering Committee of individuals who have significant experience with the CAE-CD program. Many of the members are the CAE Point-of-Contact (POC) at their institution and volunteer their time to provide valuable feedback to the PMO about topics relevant to the CAE-CD. The CoP-CD Steering Committee meets on a quarterly basis and our main goals for 2021-2022 academic year are to: (1) Assist the CAE PMO to expand and manage the NCAE-C Program to maintain quality, collaboration, and innovation; (2) Assist in establishing a greater sense of community among CAE-CD members; (3) Provide volunteering support to assist new and existing fellow CAE-CD members in areas of interest.

CoP-CD Steering Committee and Initiatives Chairs:

Yair Levy - Nova Southeastern University, Steering Committee Co-Chair

Anne Kohnke - University of Detroit Mercy, Steering Committee Co-Chair

Eric Berkowitz - College of Lake County, Sub-committee/Initiative Co-Chair - 'New CAE-CD POC Onboarding Process' Initiative

Sandra Blanke - University of Dallas, Sub-committee/Initiative Co-Chair - 'Getting to Know Your Fellow CAEs' Initiative

Gretchen Bliss - University of Colorado Colorado Springs, Sub-committee/Initiative Co-Chair - 'Getting to Know Your Fellow CAEs' Initiative

Tirthankar Ghosh - University of West Florida, Sub-committee/Initiative Co-Chair - 'CAE-CD Shared Resources and Group Pricing' Initiative

Faisal Kaleem - Metropolitan State University, Sub-committee/Initiative Co-Chair - 'New CAE-CD POC Onboarding Process' Initiative

Wei Li - Nova Southeastern University, Sub-committee/Initiative Co-Chair - 'CAE-CD Regional and CAEs Outreach Competition' Initiative

Xiuwen Liu - Florida State University, Sub-committee/Initiative Co-Chair - 'CAE-CD Regional and CAEs Outreach Competition' Initiative

Daniel P. Manson - Cal Poly Pomona, Sub-committee/Initiative Co-Chair - 'CAE-CD Student Competitions and CTFs' Initiative

Stephen Miller - Eastern New Mexico University - Ruidoso Branch Community College, Sub-committee/Initiative Co-Chair - 'CAE-CD Shared Resources and Group Pricing' Initiative

Anthony Pinto - University of West Florida, Sub-committee/Initiative Co-Chair - 'New CAE-CD POC Onboarding Process' Initiative

John Sands - Moraine Valley Community College, Sub-committee/Initiative Co-Chair - 'CAE-CD Student Competitions and CTFs' Initiative

Christopher Simpson - National University, Sub-committee/Initiative Co-Chair - 'CAE-CD Shared Resources and Group Pricing' Initiative

CoP-CD Steering Committee Members:

Michael Burt - Prince George's Community College

William Butler - Capitol Technology University

Joseph Carrigan - Johns Hopkins University

Art Conklin - University of Houston

Tony Coulson - California State University, San Bernardino

Jose R de la Cruz - Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico

John Franco - University of Cincinnati

Albert Heitkamper - Oklahoma City Community College

Mark Hufe - Wilmington University

Margaret Leary - Northern Virginia Community College

Kim Muschalek - San Antonio College

Corrinne Sande - Whatcom Community College

Ambareen Siraj - Tennessee Tech University

Blair Taylor - Towson University

Gurvirender Tejay - University of Colorado Colorado Springs

Deanne Wesley - North Carolina Central University

Tobi West - Coastline Community College

CAE-CD Community Support:

Amy Hysell - CAE Community, California State University, San Bernardino

CAE-CoP-CD Ongoing Initiatives:

Getting to Know Your Fellow CAEs

Back in January 2021, we established the initiative called: “Getting to Know Your Fellow CAEs” co-chaired by:
- Sandra Blanke, University of Dallas
- Gretchen Bliss, University of Colorado Colorado Springs.

To read more about this initiative see here
Each monthly meeting is recorded. To see the archive of the recorded events, see here
The monthly meetings are in the CAE Community Events’ Calendar. Join us each month as a different group of CAE schools present about their school, programs, research interests and more.

Upcoming Event: February 10, 2022:

The next monthly 'Getting to Know Your Fellow CAEs' event will take place on Thursday February 10, 2022 at 2pm ET, 1pm CT, 12MT and 11PT. With planned agenda of:

Loyce Pailen - University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC)
Michael Tu - Purdue University Northwest
Nina Amey - Arapahoe Community College
Sandra Blanke - University of Dallas
Breakout rooms to chat with the presenters (non-recorded sessions)

Hope you can join us!

Registration link: https://nova.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAsdequqj8oGtx328aZWXN7HT4_Nc5g6YVs

CAE Community YouTube Channel (for archived prior events - see below for agendas): www.youtube.com/channel/UCLr52AD7_I-GuW_HyMGc9sA

Interested in presenting your school in future events?

Please contact Sandra Blanke at sblanke@udallas.edu or Gretchen Bliss at GBliss@uccs.edu if you are interested in presenting 10-minutes on your institution’s program or collaborating to expand cybersecurity education while attending a monthly session to hear more from other CAE-CD institutions!

*** For the archive of prior events along with links to the recorded sessions and feedback survey, please see below.

CAE-CD Regional and CAEs Outreach Competition Header

CAE-CD Regional and CAEs Outreach Competition

Following the July 2021 quarterly meeting, we established the initiative called: “CAE-CD Regional and CAEs Outreach Competition” co-chaired by:
- Wei Li - Nova Southeastern University
- Xiuwen Liu - Florida State University

To read more about this initiative, check via:

Criteria and Rule for the CAE-CD Regional and CAEs Outreach Competition 2021 ***Extended Deadline - Feb 6, 2022 ***
Instructions for the CAE Regional Hubs and CAEs for the 2021 CAE-CD Regional Outreach Competition 2021

Additionally, the committee co-chairs are conducting sessions during the regional hub events solicit CAEs to submit their 2021 Yearly (from Jan 2021 to Dec 2021) Outreach activities to their regional hub, following the information in the two files above.

Stay tuned for additional information from this exciting initiative!

New CAE-CD POC Onboarding Process Header

New CAE-CD Point of Contact (POC) Onboarding Process

Following the July 2021 quarterly meeting, we established the initiative called: “New CAE-CD POC Onboarding Process”, co-chaired by:
- Eric Berkowitz - College of Lake County
- Faisal Kaleem - Metropolitan State University
- Anne Kohnke - University of Detroit Mercy
- Anthony Pinto - University of West Florida

The workshop was done on Wednesday, 26 Jan at 1-3pm EST (10am PT, 12pm CT). Recording of the Workshop will be posted shortly.

This workshop is for those schools who have already been designated a CAE in the past but have had turnover in the Point of Contact (POC) role. Some schools have no institutional knowledge due to their previous PoC moving on or retiring. The aim of this workshop is to provide a comprehensive discussion on what is expected of CAE-C designated schools, resources and tools that are available, and an opportunity to ask questions you may have.

*** For the Workshop Slides - click here ***

This workshop presented jointly by:

Lori Pfannenstein, Cybersecurity Program Manager

Karen Leuschner, Cyber Defense Program Manager

Annie Becker, Deputy Cyber Defense Program Manager

Anne Kohnke, University of Detroit Mercy

Faisal Kaleem, Metropolitan State University

Eric Berkowitz, College of Lake County

Anthony Pinto, University of West Florida

CAE-CD Shared Resources and Group Pricing Header

CAE-CD Shared Resources and Group Pricing

Following the October 2021 quarterly meeting, we established the initiative called: “CAE-CD Shared Resources and Group Pricing”, co-chaired by:
- Tirthankar Ghosh - University of West Florida
- Stephen Miller - Eastern New Mexico University - Ruidoso Branch Community College
- Christopher Simpson - National University

The purpose of the CAE-CD Shared Resources and Group Pricing initiative is to explore, and negotiate CAE Community reduced/free pricing, benefits, and resources with vendors providing cybersecurity contents, products and services. In addition, maintain a list of vendors for the CAE Community willing to share their resources via the CAE in Cybersecurity Resource Directory (CARD).

Stay tuned for additional information from this exciting initiative!

Student Competitions and CTFs Header

CAE-CD Student Competitions and CTFs

In December 2021, we established the initiative called: “CAE-CD Student Competitions and CTFs”, co-chaired by:
- Daniel P. Manson - Cal Poly Pomona
- John Sands - Moraine Valley Community College

The purpose of the CAE-CD Student Competitions and CTFs initiative is to collect, categorize, document, and promote to the CAE Community all relevant student competitions and CTFs.

Stay tuned for additional information from this exciting initiative!

Archive of Prior 'Meet Your Fellow CAEs' Events:

July 8, 2021:

The first Getting to Know Your Fellow CAEs event took place on Thursday July 8, 2021 at 2pm ET, 1pm CT, 12MT and 11PT. With the agenda of:

Kick-Off Introduction of Purpose and Objective of these Presentations - Yair Levy, Anne Kohnke, Sandra Blanke, and Gretchen Bliss
Sidd Kaza and Blair Taylor - Towson University
Tobi West - Coastline Community College

Recording of the event is found via: YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNsEaeooSkM&t=0