Category: Seminars & Talks

OLLI talk on Cybersecurity June 8 at 10:00am

Michael Soltys OLLI talk on Cybersecurity
June 8, 10:00am-12:00pm.
In Broome Library 2325

Title: Best practices for staying safe on the Internet

Abstract: The Internet enables us to do wonderful things: stay connected with family and friends (e.g., Skype), shop from the comfort of our home (e.g., Amazon), watch movies at the time of our choosing and without commercials (e.g., Netflix), and check news headlines personalized to our interests and tastes (e.g., Twitter). But all this comes with a slew of threats and dangers: like the highwaymen of old, hackers prey on vulnerable victims, without having to leave their house, and covered by a blanket of anonymity. This talk will present best practices to stay safe on the Internet, enjoy its benefits, and reduce its risks.

I will also discuss the recent OAuthy and WannaCry attacks.

See here for signing up for OLLI classes.

CI press release re my forthcoming SAME talk on cybersecurity

CSUCI Cyber-security expert to speak at on-campus engineering convention.

Camarillo, Calif., Feb. 20, 2017—Whether it’s personal information, medical records, national security or election results, computer hacking is a rising national and global concern.

CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI) Computer Science Chair and Professor Michael Soltys, Ph.D., will share his cybersecurity expertise to an audience of professional engineers from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on March 23 in the Grand Salon.

“Our society is under constant cyber-threat, as our infrastructure, our economy, and our privacy, depend on secure IT systems,” Soltys said. “My talk will consider the major threats, and present examples of how hackers attack our systems.”

Sponsored by the nonprofit Oxnard Ventura Post of the Society of American Military Engineers, the presentation is geared toward an audience with a high degree of computer expertise, so Soltys plans to share cybersecurity best practices.

“I plan to give more of a technical talk from the engineering point of view,” Soltys said. “How to write code that is more defended. I plan to show techniques hackers use to get into systems.”

One of the principal causes of cyber-vulnerability is faulty software, a problem Soltys addresses in a textbook on algorithms he wrote for software engineers.

Aside from his teaching at CSUCI, Soltys also acts as Director of IT Security for Executek International where he specializes in forensic work.

The public is welcome at the presentation, which is on campus at One University Drive in Camarillo. Cost is $30 a person for lunch.

Follow the directional signage to Parking Lots A-4 and A-11, then follow “walk this way” signage to the Grand Salon.

To register for the presentation, click on:

http://www.same.org/Oxnard-Ventura

 

Talk by Jan Holub on pattern matching in genomes

Talk by Jan Holub, Exact and Approximate Pattern Matching in Genomes, on Tuesday November 1, at 6pm, in Sierra 1422.

Bio: Jan Holub is a professor at Faculty of Information Technology in Czech Technical University in Prague. He leads a research group called the Prague Stringology Club and organizes annual conference Prague Stringology Conference. He received his Ph.D. in 2000. He spent some time in University of Marne-la-Vallee, France, McMaster University, Canada, Ecole polytechnique, France, and Aalto University, Finland. Currently he is a Fulbright scholar at Pennsylvania State University, USA. His research interests cover stringology (computer science about algorithms over strings), data compression, and bioinformatics.

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Talk by Ariel Fernandez on Sep 26

I am very happy to host my former PhD student Ariel Fernandez, who is going to give a talk on Monday Sep 26, at 6pm, in Broome Library 1360. Below is the biographical sketch of Ariel, and the abstract of his talk.

Bio sketch of Ariel Fernandez: I did my PhD at the McMaster University, under the supervision of Michael Soltys-Kulinicz. My research is in the area of proof complexity and algorithms, especially inspired by the subject of Combinatorial Matrix Theory, which combines linear algebra, graph theory, and combinatorics, and has a rich algorithmic content. Also I am interested in Cryptography & Security, in particular in Lattice Based Cryptography, and I was part of the research group FRAISE. Recently I have also become interested in Quantum Computing, and especially in the study of quantum concepts in Proof Complexity.

From 2013 I am working on the cartographic industry and Geographic Information Systems (GIS systems), I became the CEO of a maps making company called “Filcar SRL” running my business in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The company is dedicated to design maps, routes, and streets guidance.”

Abstract : This presentation is twofo9-26-2016-grad-seminar-posterld:

On one side, we talk about what is Combinatorial Matrix Theory (CMT), what is Proof Complexity, and we show how to combine this two fields, in order to present a feasible framework to analyze and formalize concepts in CMT. We take a proof-complexity approach to formalize Mini-Max type of reasoning within our framework. And finally, we present a new Permutation Based Algorithm which arise from taking a CMT-approach to an important problem in Matching Theory.

On the other side, I am going to expose my PhD experiences, addressing some questions about why I decided to do a PhD, what were the different stages of the process of doing my PhD, which obstacles that I have faced, and how I exceeded. Finally, I would like to expose how and what I learned in my PhD that helps me to run a better business in my country.