Micky Simeone

Staff Writer

Did you know:  ISU has the only two-year Cyber-Physical Security degree program in the entire country?

The program:  Cyber-Physical Systems Security Program

There are many cyber security programs out there, but this program is special. It is not simply information-geared toward general personal cyber security. The Cyber-Physical Systems Security Program at ISU Energy Systems Technology & Education Center has an emphasis centered on the physical world around us.

Sean McBride, coordinator and instructor of the Cyber-Physical Security program, is a tech superstar in his own right. He is a calm, very personable and well-spoken individual. He is armed with a wealth of understanding and knowledge of the importance of cyber-physical security. McBride holds not just one, but two master’s degrees, one of which is in global management from Thunderbird graduate school. Upon his graduation from Thunderbird, he performed work for Homeland Security at Idaho National Laboratory.

His work there formed the foundation for the International Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team elements that now serve as Homeland Security’s emergency response protocol.

“All our work was effectively the foundation for building that ICS-CERT element for the dept of homeland security,” McBride said.

McBride is not only an accomplished threat intelligence expert, he is a successful businessman as well. He initially came from a company called Fire Eye, a publicly traded Silicon Valley firm. There he was in charge of starting up the whole organization, its products, services and intelligence.

He was also the co-founder of Critical Intelligence, which was the first firm ever to focus on the subject of threat intelligence for industrial control systems.

The purpose of this company was to identify and understand any threat with intent, capability or opportunity to attack crucial industrial control systems. For example, his clientele included heads of systems that operate our power plants,national electrical, utility, agricultural and manufacturing firms, as well as several government agencies.

McBride played a significant role in exposing the root of two major power outages in the city of Kiev in the Ukraine in 2015 and 2016. As an expert on the subject, his job was to help people understand what caused the outages and how to better prevent them from reoccurring.

The Cyber-Physical Systems Security Program is a two-year degree geared toward individuals who do not already have a degree through ISU’s ESTEC Department.

“We are launching a two-year stand-alone program for someone to come into the program and exit as a cyber-physical security professional in two years,” McBride said.

There is also a one-year add-on degree geared towards working professionals who already have their degree who may desire to specialize or simply refresh on the subject. There are eight spots left for the fall 2018 semester.

Ultimately the program is interested in filling the course up with half the students as two-year and half as one-year add-on students.

Women are encouraged to pursue tech courses such as these. There is currently only one woman enrolled in McBride’s fall semester, and there is room for more.

Jodi Johnson, project coordinator for ISU’s POWER Careers project, which is aimed at enrolling women into ESTEC programs, said that the Cyber-Physical Systems Security Program is one of the programs eligible for POWER Careers.

“We are a resource for success, encouraging women who enter into ESTEC and STEM programs here on campus,” she said.        

There may even be the opportunity for women going into this field of study to be eligible for the Energy Systems Scholarship, which helps fund ESTEC study.

The main focus of McBride’s program is to train individuals on the concepts of securing the control systems that operate the vast industrial networks imperative to our physical world and infrastructure.

In order to protect our way of life, it is important to train people to spot and prevent threats to these control systems.

“We need to take that knowledge and put it into the hands of people who are touching these systems on a daily basis,” McBride said.

McBride believes that securing and protecting life as we know it means securing and protecting what enhances our immediate physical world.

“This is why I decided to come here,” McBride said. “We already produce these professionals. We need to be arming them with the knowledge and understanding to protect their employer’s industrial facilities.”