Understanding Cyberattacks

Two Kenan-affiliated scholars, Gov. Sarah Bloom Raskin and Meredith Edelman, are working with Lecturing Fellow Lee Reiners from the law school on a Bass Connections project entitled “How Cyberattacks Hurt Us.” This project involves undergraduate and graduate students who, together with help and consulting from across the Duke community, are working as though they were a consulting firm whose only client, society, needs help understanding how to protect itself from hacking, data misappropriation, and other forms of cyberattack. The investigation has covered some of the biggest hacks in history, and students have already started their work to propose projects to address the harms arising out of these hacks.  In the spring semester, our consulting firm will become an incubator, and will produce one or more deliverables that will help people across American society better understand the risks and potential harms arising out of cybersecurity issues and what can be done about them. Edelman notes,

“The students in the class continue to impress me with their intellect, curiosity, and hard work.  I am thrilled to be working with such an exceptional group of Duke students and faculty and am looking forward to seeing what we come up with.  I’m sure that it will be a valuable social contribution of which the entire university will be proud.”