http://www.afcea.org/content/?q=government-cybersecurity-research-explores-technological-human-capabilities-0
By Robert K. Ackerman
AFCEA Signal
March 1, 2015
Challenges ranging from teaching people new ways of learning languages to
providing security for homemade computer chips head the priority list for
researchers at the National Security Agency. The exponential expansion of
technology capabilities is perhaps matched by the growth of potential
conflict areas, and both are increasing the issues faced by the agency’s
research community.
Traditional skills such as translating communications intercepts now must
take into account that any one of thousands of languages spoken on Earth
could be vital if a new trouble spot flares up. The ubiquity of networked
devices, especially in the context of the emerging Internet of Things,
provides its own unique cybersecurity challenges. And, the near future may
see individuals making chips at home for their own customized
communications devices, which also would need to be secured.
These are some of the tasks facing Dr. Deborah A. Frincke, director of
research at the National Security Agency/Central Security Service
(NSA/CSS). Frincke points out that hers is the only group within the
intelligence community that has a large body of long-, medium- and
short-term research. In addition to conducting contract research with
academia and industry, it also has a sizeable investment in long-term
staff. “We have a very large body of professional researchers who have
spent their entire careers here and also those we hire more later [in
their] careers … and that is unique,” she offers. “We don’t see that
elsewhere—that investment in a long-term body of internal researchers.”
This institutional knowledge provides a significant advantage, she
continues. With the research directorate inside the agency, it “sits right
at the table’ with the senior leaders of the agency. Leadership hears
about technological advances at the same time it is learning about
worldwide issues, she points out, which enables real-time coordination of
research with mission needs.
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