NORTHFIELD—Norwich University has been named a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education (CAE-CDE) by the National Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security, through 2022. Also, the Department of Defense (DoD) Cyber Crime Center recently certified Norwich as a National Center for Digital Forensic Academic Excellence (CDFAE).
Both federal certifications designate Norwich’s cybersecurity programs as fulfilling the needs of the federal government as well as addressing major concerns of private industry that runs much of the nation’s critical infrastructure, from banking to healthcare.
“These federal programs recognize Norwich University as a national leader in cybersecurity education, which includes statewide leadership as well as outreach to local businesses and area schools to share our knowledge and expertise to help protect Vermont and the nation,” President Richard Schneider said.
Norwich joins about 200 schools that carry these designations.
The NSA’s CAE-CDE program is designed “to reduce vulnerability in our national information infrastructure by promoting higher education and research in cyber defense and producing professionals with cyber defense expertise for the nation.” Norwich has met CAE criteria, including mapping its cyber curricula to a core set of knowledge units, identifying cyber defense faculty expertise, research output and outreach beyond the university.
The second designation relates to Norwich’s digital forensics curriculum. The CDFAE program is governed by the DC3 Academic Cyber Curriculum Alliance (DACCA) board comprised of organizations from DoD, academic and professional sectors, with the DoD Cyber Crime Center acting as host.
For an academic institution to have its digital forensics and cyber investigation programs accredited, it must meet criteria giving structure to what students are learning and how it is being applied.
Huw Read, associate professor in cybersecurity, director of Norwich’s Center for Advanced Computing and Digital Forensics, and point of contact for the CAE-CDE, said: “This designation not only recognizes the high quality of our teaching and research specifically in the cyber discipline, but the institution’s ongoing commitment to integrate this multidisciplinary issue across the university as a whole.”
