Securing American Manufacturing
In fall 2020, George Mason University announced its partnership with the Cybersecurity Manufacturing Institute (CyManll). The institute, an $111 million, five-year partnership, led by the University of Texas at San Antonio, obtained $70 million from the US Department of Energy. The group is focused on developing both an integrated cybersecurity architecture and achieving significant energy efficiencies in manufacturing.
As a managing partner, Mason is managing and operating CyManII’s east coast headquarters on its Mason Square ( formerly the Arlington Campus). The headquarters houses CyManII’s primary offices, meeting space, and training facilities in the National Capital Region.
Mason Faculty Involvement
Several cybersecurity faculty members are involved in the effort. Professor Paulo Costa is Mason’s CyManII PI and the Institute’s VP for Securing Automation and Supply Chain. He co-leads the development of the Cybersecurity Energy and Emissions Quantification framework (CEEQ). The CEEQ provides the basis for evaluating the impact of cyber-attacks against manufacturing infrastructure and associated supply chains, it also assesses the return of investment on introducing new cybersecurity techniques to existing facilities.
Professor Duminda Wijesekera, who is the CyManII Co-PI, leads the CyManII effort in formalizing the security properties of the manufacturing processes using industry-standard tools as well as cryptographic tools. He spearheads extensive research on a variety of topics that include reverse engineering, and formal methods applied to cybersecurity, and is the architect of CyManII efforts for introducing advanced anti-tampering technologies at the FAB production level.