Boise State garners NSA award; New platform boon for rural security 

Boise State University (BSU) has been designated a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense by the National Security Agency. A recent partnership with a cybersecurity firm and its monitoring tools will likely enhance that distinction. 

BSU garnered the honor, awarded in February for a five-year term, based on the school’s efforts to reduce threats to national infrastructure, using its education and research in cyber defense and providing qualified cybersecurity professionals, according to a release from BSU. 

The university’s Institute for Pervasive Cybersecurity (IPC) boosted the school’s training and services by adopting a new platform for Cyberdome skill development to provide “security as a service” to remote and rural communities in Idaho. The Stellar Cyber Open XDR (Everything Detection and Response) platform is designed both as a teaching tool and as part of the Cyberdome initiative. It is available to any rural or remote community wishing to use it.

BSU students and mentors can support dozens of organizations through a single interface with Stellar Cyber’s technology. The platform’s tools include network detection and response, security information event management and threat intelligence platform. It also integrates with third-party endpoint detection and response security tools, according to Jim O’Hara, chief revenue officer at Stellar Cyber. 

The Cyberdome initiative is a collaboration for competency-based training intended to reduce cyber risk in rural communities, while expanding the cyber workforce in business, technology and government. The collaboration is intended to increase the number of graduates in cybersecurity-related fields. 

“The Cyberdome enables our students to develop skills in real-world situations,” said Edward Vasko, director of the IPC. His 30-year career includes serving as the CEO of multiple cybersecurity companies. 

“Students are engaged in their cyber degree programs with developing knowledge through courses and simulated labs,” Vasko also said. “They then move into the Cyberdome as part of their rotation in becoming ready to work as cybersecurity career professionals.” 

“Our cyber adversaries (both cyber-criminal organizations and nation-states) are constantly looking for the weakest link in our cyber defenses,” Vasko also said. “Rural communities are in the unfortunate place of having critical data and infrastructure, but are not able to afford the necessary technologies and (most importantly) the people to monitor, detect and respond to these adversaries.” 

Cyber-adversaries can break through weak-link rural communities and find access to other interconnected state, county and community services. 

“I have seen first-hand the impacts that adversaries can have, and how long they can embed themselves without detection. The impact of these attacks is that critical services can be knocked out for days, even weeks at a time,” said Vasko. 

To defend against that, clients’ technology assets are monitored for inappropriate behavior through the Stellar Cyber platform. The service is provided at no cost to clients. 

“If we see something that looks suspicious, we reach out to our clients and work with them to investigate. Our students initiating these tasks learn important technical skills and, more importantly, they learn essential communication and decisioning skills,” Vasko said. 

Once an active attack is detected, cybersecurity partners such as the Idaho Counties Risk Management Program and the Idaho National Guard can become part of the response to it. 

“These partners, along with other response services from law enforcement, really enable us to identify an issue, detect the nature of the issue, and bring the right efforts to bear to respond,” Vasko said.  

But there is no such thing as 100% secure. If adversaries want to find a way in, they will. Faster monitoring and detection processes can help thwart serious damage if they do. 

“The Cyberdome’s detection and monitoring services are the front lines of this process while enabling our students to receive training on key processes and technology to jump start their careers,” Vasko said. 

He said the program is always seeking new technology and platform partners, and anticipates other cybersecurity companies joining the Cyberdome: “The cybersecurity market has evolved rapidly since the beginning of the pandemic, especially when it comes to identifying and developing talented cybersecurity personnel and providing them an environment where they can make an impact.”  

With the NSA designation, BSU can compete for grants and scholarships, including the Department of Defense Cybersecurity Scholarship Program and the National Science Foundation’s Scholarship for Service program.