More than 100 persons from 15 nations around the world took part in the 2008 International Cyber Defense Workshop (ICDW) Oct. 28-30 hosted by UNO's College of Information Science & Technology.

But only three participants came to Omaha.

That's because the ICDW sessions were broadcast to participants via the Internet using Adobe Connect as they sat at their desks or workstations in their home countries.

"For the first time ever, people didn't get on airplanes to come to this conference," says Dr. Blaine Burnham, IS&T senior research fellow and director of the Nebraska University Consortium on Information Assurance (NUCIA), headquartered at the college. "We delivered the entire symposium in real-time sound and color to 15 nations from Australia to South Korea and New Zealand. And it worked."

This was the fifth year for the ICDW, which previously was held in Canada and at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

NUCIA (pronounced "new-sha") was selected as the host because it teaches, trains and conducts applied research and forms partnerships with government entities, corporations and organizations to collaborate on the theory and practice of information assurance (IA) and cyber security.

NUCIA has been designated as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency (NSA), and offers National Science Foundation Cybercorp scholarships for UNO students pursuing an IA degree or concentration.

Burnham has experience in a variety of IA leadership positions at the NSA, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia Laboratory.

Working with Burnham to assemble, produce and deliver the conference were Lucas Wentz, NUCIA lab manager and systems administrator; Steve Nugen, NUCIA senior technology research fellow; Jonathan Bender, a graduate student in computer science (CS) and a systems programmer at the college; and several other students: Erik Beckstrom, a junior studying CS; Ben Carpick, a graduate student in management information systems (MIS); Dan Cotton, a senior majoring in CS; Brandon Iske, a junior majoring in CS; Matt Lempka, a senior studying CS; and A.J. Newmaster, a junior studying MIS.

Burnham said the 2008 ICDW offered training and interactive exercises to test skills and security. The participants, who included public sector and government agency representatives, were divided into teams for a series of instructor-led sessions that explored network security and possible weaknesses.

During the exercises, participating nations could attack each other anonymously as a way to explore the tactics used by hackers. Burnham cited various fictitious attacks (sidebar) which each team was tasked with writing correct code to thwart.

The difference between ICDW and other "scripted" cyber defense exercises, such as those conducted by Homeland Security, Burnham says, was that the UNO-hosted workshop involved actual attacks on real networks, and the challenge of devising working defenses.

Mark Fairchild, a consultant with BAE Systems working with the United States Forces Korea (USFK), says he has participated in other cyber exercises. "This was by far one of the best and most technical exercises.

"The ICDW team did an excellent job and was very respectable," Fairchild says. "I heard several comments from the Korean participants about how polite and technical the trainers Lucas and Andy were."

Burnham also lauded those who worked on the ICDW. "Truly, without the tireless efforts of Luke Wentz and John Bender, and the long hours they and the students put in, this conference would not have been possible. They deserve credit for the success."

Grad student Carpick says the workshop was "an interesting experiment in distributed education.

"I was surprised, considering the international scope, how smoothly it went," he says. "There were some technical glitches, but they really were minor considering what could have gone wrong."

Although the majority of participants could speak some English, Wentz says, special steps were taken prior to and during the workshop to ensure comprehension of the materials.

"For example, we sent the ROK (Republic of Korea) participants the slides we would use so they could be translated before the workshop began," he says. "That way, if there was something verbal that they didn't understand, they could at least reference the slides."

Burnham says the fact that the sessions were broadcast in real-time meant that in some countries the participants received the broadcast during the night.

"The potential value of taking part in this symposium was enough that people stayed up through the night to participate," he says. "That, too, is amazing."

The number of participants and the virtual element of the ICDW presented several challenges, says Andrew Kimble, international IA coordinator with Booz Allen Hamilton. "NUCIA really stepped up to the plate and pulled off a great workshop."

Six members of the Information Protection Team participated from Halifax, Nova Scotia, reports Warrant Officer George A. Stewart of the Canadian Forces Network Operations Center.

"Although it didn't provide the usual 'grip-and-grin,' face-to-face time, it did provide a good learning environment to network and understand the problems facing other teams throughout the world," Stewart says. "The conference was as valuable as conferences for which we've been present, when taken in context of learning level versus travel-cost-learning level.

"We look forward to the opportunity to participate in others within this type of realm."

Fairchild was impressed by how well the training and exercises went hand in hand. "They were well-balanced and complemented each other. The workshop was excellent in providing a vehicle for collaboration, education and validation.

"We, the U.S. and ROK participants, learned that working together, communicating issues and problem-solving collectively, we could accomplish both the defense of our cyber resources and offensive counter measures."

Through the 2008 ICDW and the workshops to come, Fairchild says, "We are creating capabilities today that we'll be able to leverage in the virtual battle field of tomorrow."