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Cybersecurity MS

RIT’s world-class home for cybersecurity has a new name. On March 8, RIT and ESL Federal Credit Union jointly announced an exclusive naming rights partnership for the ESL Global Cybersecurity Institute at RIT.

For RIT students, the learning doesn’t stop when classes end. In 2021, three student teams took what they’re learning and used it to win national and international competitions in cybersecurity, racing, and design.

A team of Cal Poly Pomona students took home the top trophy at the Collegiate Penetration Testing Competition (CPTC) global finals Jan. 6-9. Stanford placed second and Tennessee Technological University placed third.

RIT received a nearly $1 million National Science Foundation grant that will provide scholarships for computing students and help researchers explore new ways to improve computing education. Sharon Mason, a professor in RIT’s School of Information, is principal investigator of the project.

In 2001, the dot-com bubble was bursting and investors had lost confidence in internet companies. Twenty years later, data has become a new currency, and people can access just about anything from their smartphones. Throughout all these changes, Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences has evolved into the largest college at RIT, with more than 4,600 students this year. Since its creation 20 years ago, GCCIS has awarded more than 14,000 degrees—in a growing number of computing disciplines.

RIT alumnus and founder of Datto Austin McChord is creating four endowment awards to support RIT students and professors. In naming the awards, McChord is honoring his grade school teachers from his hometown school district in Newtown, Conn. The endowments are made possible as part of a $50 million donation that McChord made to RIT in 2017.

CloudCover, an automated intelligence-driven cybersecurity platform, has made a $500,000 gift to name the conference center in RIT’s new Global Cybersecurity Institute (GCI). The CloudCover Conference Center serves as a central space for cybersecurity-related events and meetings with industry, students, government, and organizations.

The cyber pandemic is just one of many cybersecurity issues that RIT experts are working to address in the new Global Cybersecurity Institute (GCI). Late last fall, the GCI opened the doors to its 52,000-square-foot state-of-the-art facility on campus. With the institute, RIT is on its way to becoming one of the best places in the world for cybersecurity education, training, and research.

The Earl David Reed, Megan and Pat radio show, on WAIO-FM (95.1), features Jonathan Weissman, senior lecturer in the Department of Computing Security, discussing the recent Facebook data breach. The segment begins at the 14-minute mark.

IBM is making a more than $3.3 million in-kind donation to RIT to help enhance cybersecurity capabilities in the university’s new Global Cybersecurity Institute, as well as support security training and competitions for students.

Dark Reading talks to Justin Pelletier, director of the GCI Cyber Range and Training Center, and computing security student Sunggwan Choi about RIT’s Collegiate Penetration Testing Competition.

A team of RIT students took first place at the Collegiate Penetration Testing Competition (CPTC) international finals Jan. 7-10. This is RIT’s first time winning the competition, which challenges the world’s brightest cybersecurity college students to put their hacking skills to the test.