As information security grows nearly exponentially, it’s hard to remember back 15 years ago to a time when the industry was just starting to take off. At that time, most of the individuals in this industry were self taught with respect to this discipline. There were only a few handful of information security programs in academia. Contrast that to today where there are hundreds of programs across the nation with new ones springing up every semester. As far as academia goes, that kind of growth incredibly fast. Building of curriculum, finding professors, and filling the pipeline with students can take decades as new disciplines emerge. However, in the case of information security, academia has been put in to the position of “building the bus while going down the road.”
This panel will examine the current state of information security programs in academia. The panelists will discuss issues around dealing with administration and the peculiarities of information security, the current state of information security research, attracting and vetting students, and generally what its like to be growing the next generation of information security professionals.