Sign Up<\/a><\/p>\nThe event began with a welcome from multiple University leaders.\u00a0<\/p>\n
School of Engineering and Applied Science Dean Vijay Kumar expressed hope that center will become \u201cthe connective tissue, bringing together people and ideas across campus.\u201d<\/p>\n
The institution will bring together researchers across multiple disciplines \u2014 including engineering, business, medicine, and law.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOur goal is not simply to identify vulnerabilities,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s about thinking about architecture design and making sure that these vulnerabilities are harder to introduce in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Penn President Larry Jameson compared the center\u2019s approach to preventive medicine in his introductory remarks.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a doctor, our preferred approach is to screen, and that\u2019s the way we want to prevent these events from happening,\u201d he said, contrasting early prevention with treating patients in an emergency room after other measures fail.<\/p>\n
Center for Cybersecurity Director Michael Hicks, a Computer and Information Science professor, explained that the new institution brings together researchers who are able to pursue longer-term solutions outside the commercial pressures faced by private companies.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not constrained by profit motive,\u201d he added in an interview, explaining that academic researchers can explore fundamental changes to computer systems that companies may be reluctant to adopt.<\/p>\n
Hicks pointed to memory safety \u2014 which protects software from certain kinds of programming errors \u2014 as an example of a problem researchers have understood for decades without the widespread adoption of available solutions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are things that we have known how to do for a long time, and we are not doing,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The center\u2019s research goals include using AI to help translate existing software into safer programming languages and developing quantum-resistant cryptography for electronic voting systems.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to Hicks, mathematical proofs can establish that systems prevent entire categories of vulnerabilities rather than requiring developers to address each new attack individually.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur mission is security by design, not patch after the fact,\u201d Hicks explained in an interview, adding that \u201cyou\u2019re just going to lose the patch battle with AI.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beyond engineering, Hicks is in conversation with University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School researchers about cyber insurance to determine how financial incentives could encourage companies to adopt safer systems. He also cited prospective collaborations with Perry World House and Penn Medicine.<\/p>\n
During a moderated discussion, Schlein proposed a federal cybersecurity \u201chygiene standard\u201d that would establish minimum security requirements for companies while offering certain legal protections to those meeting them.<\/p>\n
A central theme of the event was the looming threat posed by AI.<\/p>\n
During her keynote address, Jen Easterly \u2014 the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency \u2014\u00a0warned that \u201cperhaps the most dangerous failure is the failure to imagine\u201d how technology can be ill-prepared.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe AI that can protect can also attack,\u201d she added, arguing that AI must be developed and deployed with security as a priority.<\/p>\n
In an interview, Easterly noted that secure-by-design principles have been \u201ca core mission\u201d of hers for many years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She highlighted that the center could help the field transition \u201cfrom vulnerability hunting to secure construction,\u201d and \u201cfrom patching to priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Easterly also cautioned students against excessive reliance on AI, warning of \u201ccognitive surrender\u201d as they delegate the work that helps develop their judgment and critical thinking.<\/p>\n
Retired Air Force General Timothy Haugh, who is also the former director of the National Security Agency and commander of United States Cyber Command, joined the center as a senior fellow this fall.<\/p>\n
In an interview, he said that the outdated systems retained by governments and corporations \u2014 a problem known as technical debt \u2014 are becoming increasingly vulnerable as AI accelerates cyberattacks. He argued that research into secure-by-design systems could help institutions move beyond continually patching aging technology.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor many universities, the challenge is not doing incredible research. It\u2019s how that research becomes impactful,\u201d Haugh said, adding that his connections to the federal government could help Penn researchers put their work into practice.<\/p>\n
He also distinguished between the technical security of American elections \u2014 in which he expressed strong confidence \u2014 and declining public trust in the electoral process. He suggested that collaboration between cybersecurity researchers and Annenberg School for Communication experts could help address that divide.<\/p>\n
The center has launched a master\u2019s program in software systems and cybersecurity and a seminar series. Haugh plans to teach a spring 2027 course examining the relationship between technology and government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Penn launched the Schlein Center for Cybersecurity on Oct. 21, bringing together researchers and former national security leaders…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70],"class_list":["post-312430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}