With the appointment of an Executive Director, continued designation as a National Security Agency Center for Academic Excellence, and a new master’s track program to begin next fall, the Johns Hopkins University Information Security Institute continues to lead the nation in cyber security research and education.

Anton Dahbura

Anton Dahbura

Anton Dahbura ’81, PhD ‘84, who has served as JHUISI’s Interim Director since early 2012, recently has been named its Executive Director. Dahbura’s PhD advisor was Gerry Masson, the emeritus professor who founded the Information Security Institute in 2001. (Avi Rubin, professor in the Department of Computer Science and director of the Health and Medical Security Laboratory at Hopkins, remains the Institute’s Technical Director.)

In addition, the National Security Agency has designated JHUISI as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance/Cybersecurity Education for the academic years 2014 through 2021. JHUISI first earned this designation in 2003, and it was renewed in 2008. Administered jointly through the NSA and the Department of Homeland Security, the CAE programs aim to improve the nation’s information security infrastructure by investing in higher education programs about information assurance and cyber security. Standards for designation are rigorous, and include commitment to academic excellence in information assurance education, as well as collaboration with other university researchers, community outreach, and a commitment to teach information assurance as a multi-disciplinary science.

“This redesignation is very important for our institute to reaffirm our position as one of the leading academic centers for information security in the country,” Dahbura explains. “It’s confirmation that we’re doing everything right for our students to emerge into the workforce with a degree that’s worthy of the Johns Hopkins name.”

In the fall of 2015, JHUISI is offering a new Master of Science in Security Informatics track in Policy and Management, designed to combine key elements of a technical leadership education in information security, along with courses in management, business and policy. This full-time, three-semester, 10-course (plus capstone project) experience is ideal for students who plan to pursue careers in information security management, project supervision, consulting, policy development, and more.

“Information security is an amazingly fast-moving field, with new challenges emerging nearly every day. We have to be dynamic and responsive to continue our leadership position and we believe that our new program and other developments keep us on top,” Dahbura says.