Since 2004, the President of the United States and Congress have declared October to be Cybersecurity Awareness Month, with the goal of helping individuals protect themselves online as threats to technology and confidential data become more commonplace. The University of California Cybersecurity Awareness Month (UCCAM) celebration is a collaborative effort between most UC locations to provide a month of events that will help you stay cyber aware. Join us at the following events hosted by UCSB:
Behind the Shield: An Inside Look at How the Office of Information Security Secures UCSB
Thursday, Oct. 2, 12-1pm
Presented by Jackson Muhirwe: CISSP, Ph.D., Chief Information Security Officer
Jennifer Mehl: Associate Chief Information Security Officer and Director of Security Operations and Engineering, Anthony Valentino: Assistant Chief Information Security Officer for Governance, Risk and Compliance, Roger Padilla: CISSP, Cybersecurity Architect and Cybersecurity Awareness Program Lead,
Have you ever wondered what it takes to protect a major university from today's cyber threats? It's a continuous effort that requires a strategic approach and a dedicated team. Join us to learn how we work behind the scenes and discover practical ways you can be an active partner in securing our shared digital space.
We’ll pull back the curtain on the comprehensive security services that OIS provides to our campus to keep our digital environment safe. This is more than just a list of technical tools and services; it's a look at how we partner with you to:
- Secure groundbreaking research from modern threats.
- Protect your personal data and privacy.
- Respond rapidly to security incidents and breaches.
- Strengthen our defenses against everything from phishing to state-sponsored espionage.
This webinar is restricted to UCSB faculty and staff only.
Privacy, AI, and Cybersecurity Law 101
Tuesday, Oct. 14, 12-1pm
Presented by Reema Moussa, associate at Goodwin and Peter Marta, partner at Goodwin
In our increasingly complex and interdependent digital world, the convergence of privacy, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence has reshaped how we approach enterprise risk management, data protection, and governance. This presentation will explore the evolving legal frameworks surrounding AI technologies, data privacy, and cybersecurity measures. We'll cover existing laws, key challenges, and ethical considerations in safeguarding personal data as well as how the development of AI technology and (new laws to regulate it) factor into these challenges and considerations. Through examining regulatory trends and case studies alike, this session will give a high-level view of privacy, AI, and cyberlaw basics and new directions for this rapidly changing field.
Finding Vulnerabilities Using Artificial Intelligence
Thursday, Oct. 23, 1-2pm
Presented by Giovanni Vigna, Distinguished Professor of Computer Science, Director of the NSF AI Institute for ACTION, and Co-Founder of Lastline
Critical infrastructure software is riddled with vulnerabilities, whose exploitation can cause disruption, financial loss, and even loss of life.Efforts like OSS-Fuzz help uncover flaws, but many remain hard to detect, and creating test harnesses and patches still demands significant human effort. To address this, researchers have pursued automated vulnerability analysis and repair. DARPA advanced these efforts with the Cyber Grand Challenge (2016) and the AI Cyber Challenge (2025), where participants built Cyber Reasoning Systems (CRS) to autonomously find, exploit, and patch vulnerabilities. This talk reflects on a decade of such efforts, considers their evolution alongside advances in Large Language Models (LLMs), and highlights both lessons learned and the challenges ahead for fully autonomous vulnerability analysis and repair.
Let's Talk About Privacy. Let's Talk About You and Me.
Tuesday, Oct. 28, 12-1pm
Presented by Becky Steiger, UCSB Policy Coordinator, Campus Privacy Officer, and ADA Compliance Officer
Get ready to protect your personal information with UCSB's Privacy Officer Becky Steiger! This presentation isn't just about boring data rules; it's about your human right to be left alone, why protecting your privacy is important and tips on how to manage your digital life. You will learn about key privacy laws and policies like FERPA, the California Information Practices Act, the UC Electronic Communications Policy (ECP) and the UC Privacy and Information Security Initiative (PISI Report). Learn how to protect your digital privacy and keep your personal business to yourself.