Michael Saylor Executive Director Cyber Defense Labs

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World of Discovery….
IEEE Metrocon 2014
Michael Saylor | Executive Director
Cyber Defense Labs

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Michael (Mike) Saylor, CISM, CISA
• 19 years of IT security and Cyber Research, Consulting, Operations
• 15 years in STEM education and program development
• Executive Director for Cyber Defense Labs at UT Dallas
• President Emeritus for the North Texas FBI Infragard
• Cyber Crime Committee Member for the North Texas Crime Commission
• CIO for the Cornerstone Credit Union League
• Professor, Cyber Security - Collin College & North Central Texas College
• B.S. in Information Systems
• Masters in Criminal Justice

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In a world of discovery, Technology can improve lives, enhance capabilities, and
produce global impacts….indiscriminately. As generations of engineers, scientists,
and scholars come and go, there have been notable impacts in these fields, while at
the same time an equal or greater increase in the number of those that have learned
how to use technology against us.
We must not become complacent in our willingness to learn, to teach and mentor, or
to ensure the capabilities we develop and provide to others will not present
unmitigateable risks to mankind.
We must inspire the next generation, not only to be researchers, engineers, and
pioneers, but to ensure that their integrity, the integrity we are responsible for instilling
in them, is also instilled into the technologies of the future.

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Technologies that Improve Lives & Enhance Capabilities
• Mosquito Lasers
• Humanoid Robots
• System Modeling (SCADA,
BioChem, Environmental)
• Automation
• Medical Implants
• Cell Phones
• Automobile Computers
• Forensics
• Military and Defense
Applications
• The Internet
• Satellites
• Nano-Robots
• Graphene
• 3D printing

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Examples of Technology Misuse
• Mosquito Lasers – Hypothetically used to target biometric signature of target
Humans (walking gate, facial recognition)
• Humanoid Robots – hacked and sent commands to unlock doors, cause
destruction, conduct surveillance, commit murder.
• Medical Implants – vulnerable to compromise and manipulation (patient Jsmith is
here for a checkup, but his device name was change to Sjones, who is here for a
transplant)
• Cell Phones – numerous methods of manipulation, including stalking,
surveillance, effects based operations, data harvesting
• Automobile Computers – capable of compromise, including brake failure and
invalid dash readouts.
• Industrial Controls – manipulation of hardware and software to cause disruptions
(e.g. Stuxnet, Siberian pipeline)

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• Government and Corporate leaders agree that
cyber and associated trust issues are top
concerns.
• But what do we do differently now that we all
agree that compromise is immanent?
• Organizations must consider what impact their
practices have on the larger and increasingly
complex and interconnected cyber eco-system.

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• Society is quick to adopt new technology
• Engineers are often pressured to meet market
demands and deadlines
• Engineers must have more security
accountability and ensure that their threat
modeling includes what’s outside the box.
• More attention to Secure Development can
build trust in vendor solutions.

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Globally, the world has some great Engineers!
What about Domestically! Where are Our
Engineers….Today, Tomorrow, the Future?

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1990-2007 Math and Science metrics for 4th and 8th graders
improved, but most did not achieve proficiency (40% and 35%
respectively)
Enrollment in AP classes doubled from 250k in ‘02 to 500k in ‘12.
Only 17% took an AP exam, only 9% passed. Passing rates
declined from 62% to 54%.
Males, more likely than females to take AP exams in Calculus,
Physics, and Computer Science (59%,65%,81%)
Females more likely to take AP exams in Biology and
Environmental Sciences (59%,55%)

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In 1991 Women attained ~30% of all Computer Science
Degrees. In 2010, that was down to 18%
Why?
A study reports that Elementary teachers felt comfortable
teaching Math (77%) and Science (39%). Only 30% felt
prepared to encourage females to participate in Science.
Only 5% of Elementary Math and Science teachers had a degree
in that field.

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Replacing a Poor Teacher with just an Average Teacher would
raise a single classroom’s lifetime median earnings by $266k

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• We must Improve how STEM is Taught
• It must be Taught by Average or Better Teachers
• We (You and I and Teachers) must Foster Interest
• We must build a college ready culture.

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Questions?
Mike Saylor | Cyber Defense Labs
Msaylor@CyberDefenseLabs.org
972-454-0227
Questions / Contact Info