The Cybersecurity Center is designed to equip students with the critical thinking and technological skills needed to monitor, mitigate, and prevent online security threats.
Fairfield’s School of Engineering and Computing offers students a hands-on learning experience using real-world applications in its state-of-the-art Cybersecurity Center — an integral teaching and research facility created in partnership with Pulse Secure, the leading provider of Zero Trust Secure Access solutions.
Comprised of a Cybersecurity Lab and a Security Operations Center, the Cybersecurity Center is designed to enhance the complexity of coursework — challenging students to collaboratively solve sophisticated problems and equipping them with the critical thinking and technological skills needed to monitor, mitigate, and prevent online security threats.
Facilities and Resources
Cybersecurity Lab
Fairfield’s fully online 30-credit Master of Science in Cybersecurity (MSCYB) program offers students a hands-on learning experience using real-world applications in its state-of-the-art Cybersecurity Lab — an integral teaching and research facility created in partnership with Pulse Secure, the leading provider of Zero Trust Secure Access solutions.
The Cybersecurity Lab is designed to enhance the complexity of MSCYB coursework, challenging students to collaboratively solve sophisticated problems, and equipping them with the critical thinking and technological skills needed to monitor, mitigate, and prevent online security threats.
During the program, students gain hands-on experience by investigating and remediating threats through Fairfield’s fully remote Cybersecurity Lab. Students access the lab remotely though a private and secure VPN connection and are assigned a Linux and a Windows virtual machine that is created on the servers.
“Professionals in the IT space (i.e. cybersecurity experts, system administrators, devOps) use the same approach,” said program director Mirco Speretta, PhD, assistant professor of the practice Computer Science.
Instructors use virtual machines to create specific exercises that can be used as demonstrations or assignments for students during classes.
Security Operations Lab
Fairfield University has a new Security Operations Center (SOC), designed to monitor the University’s network, guard against cyberattacks, and look for potentially critical vulnerabilities.
“The SOC will be run by computer science students. They will monitor data through dedicated software, identify potentially critical vulnerabilities, and raise alerts to the security team of the ITS department,” said Mirco Speretta, PhD, director of the School of Engineering’s Cybersecurity program.
The state-of-the-art SOC lab is equipped with 11 computers and five 65” TV screens. Six of the computers are used by security technicians and the remaining five are used to cast information onto the TV screens.
The idea for the School of Engineering and Computing and the Information Technology Services Department to launch the new lab took hold several years ago, while collaborating on cybersecurity projects in the existing Cybersecurity Lab, which is used by graduate students.
Said Dr. Speretta, “We wanted to offer our undergraduate students a more involved and meaningful cybersecurity experience. For this reason, the security team — led by Fairfield’s Chief Information Security Officer Henry Foss — and the School of Engineering and Computing explored the idea of opening industry-standard tools to students in a professional environment.”
Through hands-on experience in the SOC lab, students will learn how to use industry-standard software such as Splunk, CrowdStrike, and Proofpoint, while monitoring data and identifying potential threats in a controlled environment.
“An SOC lab represents an essential component for the security of a modern organization," noted Dr. Speretta. "The activities carried out by the students working in the SOC will greatly increase the overall security infrastructure of the University.”
Cybersecurity News, Activities, and Events
Fairfield's Cybersecurity Center has hosted a series of cybersecurity events on campus ranging from StagHack work in the Cybersecurity lab. See below for more information.
- StagHack
- Cybersecurity Capstone Projects Benefit Bridgeport Diocese
- "Phishing, Smishing and Ransomware Prevention"
- "Have You Built Your Cybersecurity Safe Harbor Yet?"
- Cybersecurity Lab
- Preparing Cybersecurity Professionals to Fight Back
- Governor Ned Lamont Addresses Connecticut’s Cybersecurity Preparedness in Wake of Russia-Ukraine Conflict
Cybersecurity Standards
- American National Standards Institute
- National Institute of Standards and Technology
- PCI Security Standards Council
Internal Cyber Resources
External Cyber Resources
Full-time Faculty
- Mirco Speretta, professor of the practice and director of the Cybersecurity program at Fairfield University
- Akshay Mathur, assistant professor
Adjunct Faculty
- Andy (Ho Young) Lee, computer scientist, Federal Bureau of Investigation
- Henry Foss, chief information security officer, Fairfield University
- Eric Anahory, senior vice president team lead cybersecurity fraud investigation team, BNY Mellon
- Mark Jass, information security professional, IPC Systems, Inc.
- Altrin Elmazi, vice president information security officer (ISO), Thomaston Savings Bank
Industry Advisory Board Members
- Henry Foss, chief information security officer, Fairfield University
- Conor Phoenix, Federal Bureau of Investigation
- Eric Anahory, senior vice president team lead cybersecurity fraud investigation team, BNY Mellon
- Michael Bordash, senior vice president research and development, Syniverse
- Colleen Crane, security engagement officer, PayPal
- Ahmad Javaid, associate chair and undergraduate program director at The University of Toledo
