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Matthew Dalton joined º£½ÇÉçÇø as Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) in May, bringing more than 25 years of experience as a cybersecurity leader at R1 institutions. In his new role with Information Technology Services, he will provide vision and strategy for information security at Virginia’s largest public research university.

When cyber security engineering major Connor Wadlin learned about ransomware attacks on organizations, such as the one on the Health Service Executive in Ireland, in his CYSE 445 System Security and Resilience class, it confirmed his commitment to dedicating his educational and professional career to protecting and preserving human lives.

The Country to Country (C2C) Capture the Flag (CTF) contest is an international competition that issues challenges to code, decrypt, search, hack, and reverse engineer their way through as many challenges as possible.

Earlier this year, Melissa Perez was named assistant vice president for research security in the Office of Research Integrity and Assurance at º£½ÇÉçÇø. In this role, she oversees university-wide policies and processes to ensure compliance with research security laws and regulations (including export control), international collaborations, travel, and cybersecurity. As George Mason’s designated research security officer, she also leads institutional responses to threats affecting the university’s research compliance and standing.

These George Mason students are short-circuiting voice commands, dog whistles, and clickers.

Kun Sun, professor in the Department Information Sciences and Technology, will work with local company CodeLock on software security, supported by the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative's Academic Support for Cybersecurity Entrepreneurship and Next-Gen Development (ASCEND) Fund. 

Assistant Professor Tanvir Arafin's course on transportation security led George Mason students to excel in the National Transportation Cybersecurity Competition, showcasing the effectiveness of integrating real-world challenges into academic curricula.

Virginia CyberSlam 2025 at º£½ÇÉçÇø brought together nearly 500 high school students from across the commonwealth for a day of talks and hands-on workshops aimed at inspiring future cybersecurity professionals.

Assistant Professor Zhuangdi Zhu is collaborating with the University of Virginia’s Wajih Ul Hassan to develop scalable host-based intrusion detection systems using federated learning, enhancing cybersecurity while ensuring data privacy.

Students from º£½ÇÉçÇø’s Competitive Cybersecurity (MCC) club have dominated in multiple national competitions. The team got 1st place in the 2024 VMI CyberFusion and 2nd place in the 2024 Spring National Cyber League. Next, the students will be competing in the inaugural DistrictCon Hacker Conference on February 21-22.