How MIT students are helping to prevent cyberattacks
Students from the MIT Cybersecurity Clinic help local governments and other vulnerable organizations defend against digital threats. MIT's Cybersecurity Clinic helps local governments defend against digital threats. Students gain real-world experience through field assignments.
Key Takeaways
- Credits : Photo courtesy of MIT DUSP.
Caption : MIT lecturer Jungwoo Chun and Professor Larry Susskind (top center) lead a cybersecurity class discussion.
- The attack incapacitated a swath of services, including real estate transactions and bill payment, and recovery costs soared into the millions.
- By the end of the semester, each team creates a report assessing the client's vulnerabilities to cyberattack and recommending steps to improve protection.
So far, the clinic has provided more than 40 assessments, confidential and free of charge, primarily for New England municipalities and health-care organizations.
- Despite being gateways to essential infrastructure, many small municipalities and hospitals lack in-house staff trained in cybersecurity.
Demand for such experts far exceeds supply in today's labor market, and public sector budgets rarely can match the high salaries private companies offer qualified candidates.
- Chun is an applied social scientist with expertise in public policy and planning, and Susskind is a leading scholar of conflict resolution and consensus building.
Stats & Key Facts
- #So far, the clinic has provided more than 40 assessments, confidential and free of charge, primarily for New England municipalities and health-care organizations.
- #According to Comparitech, from 2018 to 2024, there have been 525 ransomware attacks on U.S. government entities, approximately one every five days, leading to an estimated $1.09 billion in downtime costs.
MIT's Cybersecurity Clinic helps local governments defend against digital threats. Students gain real-world experience through field assignments. Students from the MIT Cybersecurity Clinic help local governments and other vulnerable organizations defend against digital threats.
Credits : Photo courtesy of MIT DUSP. Caption : MIT lecturer Jungwoo Chun and Professor Larry Susskind (top center) lead a cybersecurity class discussion. Credits : Photo: Maria Iacobo Previous image Next image In May 2019, the government of Baltimore, Maryland, fell into chaos.
Cybercriminals had locked the city out of many of its critical files and demanded payment to decrypt them. The city refused to pay ransom. The attack incapacitated a swath of services, including real estate transactions and bill payment, and recovery costs soared into the millions.
For more details please read the original article at MIT News AI.
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