All-virtual CSAW 2021 features presentations on hardware vulnerabilities, integrated circuits, AI and more

BROOKLYN, New York, Tuesday, November 9, 2021 – The world has seen dozens of attacks in the past two years. The New York University Tandon School of Engineering’s annual CSAW games aims to prepare a new generation of cyber defenders in ways to address myriad software and hardware threats, from vulnerabilities in artificial intelligence (AI) systems, microchip theft, and more. The worldwide event, held virtually on November 10-14, 2021 at NYU Tandon and at academic sites in India, Europe, the Middle East, Mexico and the U.S. and Canada, will explore such topics as the security of wireless communications, vulnerabilities in 3D printing (additive manufacturing), and integrated circuit manufacture and layout, among others. 

The five-day event, hosted by the NYU Center for Cybersecurity (CCS), will feature seven competitions at NYU Tandon that will range from an introduction to how corporations and institutions train defenders for real-world attacks; to Logic Locking, a revolutionary technique for protecting intellectual property of integrated circuits from myriad security threats, such as reverse engineering, overbuilding, piracy, and hardware Trojan insertion.

This year the C2 Security Workshop series features:

Other events include Hack3D, focused on vulnerabilities in additive manufacturing; Capture the Flag (CTF), where players of all levels and ages from around the world test their hacking and protection skills; Embedded Security Challenge; the Policy Competition, dealing with law, policy, and emerging security issues; and Applied Research, which accepts only peer-reviewed security papers that have already been published by scholarly journals and conferences.  

CSAW finalists and vetted computer science students from across the region will meet 16 sponsors recruiting for internships and career positions. The worldwide shortage of cybersecurity talent makes the CSAW finalists particularly attractive to elite companies. Currently one of three cybersecurity jobs are unfilled. According to the 2021 Cybersecurity Workforce Study, by industry group (ISC)2, there is a shortage of 2.72 million cybersecurity workers worldwide. In the United States, there are approximately 400,000 unfilled positions.

For students and others interested in attending, register for free here.

“As we saw with the SolarWinds attack, cybersecurity threats are growing in proportion to attackers’ sophistication, and to the growing diversity of web-connected technologies presenting manifold new points of entry for bad actors,” said Ramesh Karri, director of CSAW, professor of electrical and computer engineering and co-founder and co-chair of CCS. “Even though CCS is working on defenses for everything from securing software update protocols to defending the 3D printing supply chain and making it more difficult to hide trojans in integrated circuits, the key is versatile cybersecurity expertise in the workforce. Still, the gap in expertise, while shrinking, is significant, and CSAW, as well as programs like our online Masters in Cybersecurity, the Cyber Fellowship program in partnership with the NYC Cyber Command, and Bridge to Tandon, are all generating new defenders to bridge that gap.” 

CSAW US-Canada Sponsors are: Siemens Technology, DTCC, the National Science Foundation, iC Consult, SecurityScorecard, Amazon Web Services, Trail of Bits, Facebook, and Carnegie Mellon Information Networking Institute. 

For more information, visit csaw.engineering.nyu.edu, and follow @CSAW_NYUTandon.

About CSAW 

The CSAW games, founded in 2003 as a small contest by and for NYU Tandon students, have grown to become the most comprehensive set of challenges by and for students around the globe. NYU students continue to design the contests under the mentorship of information security professionals and faculty. The OSIRIS lab, home to weekly student-led Hack Night training and student research, leads the Red Team and CTF challenges. 

About the New York University Tandon School of Engineering

The NYU Tandon School of Engineering dates to 1854, the founding date for both the New York University School of Civil Engineering and Architecture and the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute. A January 2014 merger created a comprehensive school of education and research in engineering and applied sciences as part of a global university, with close connections to engineering programs at NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Shanghai. NYU Tandon is rooted in a vibrant tradition of entrepreneurship, intellectual curiosity, and innovative solutions to humanity’s most pressing global challenges. Research at Tandon focuses on vital intersections between communications/IT, cybersecurity, and data science/AI/robotics systems and tools and critical areas of society that they influence, including emerging media, health, sustainability, and urban living. We believe diversity is integral to excellence, and are creating a vibrant, inclusive, and equitable environment for all of our students, faculty and staff. For more information, visit engineering.nyu.edu.