WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — A Pennsylvania College of Technology student offered his expertise at a recent conference for information security practitioners in Washington, D.C.
Carson D. Seese, of Shippensburg, co-presented “Hands-On Writing Malware in Go” at BSidesDC, an annual regional open security conference that facilitates interaction and collaboration among IT professionals.
Seese, a sophomore dean’s list student, is seeking a bachelor’s degree in information assurance and cybersecurity. He co-presented with Stuart McMurray of IronNet Cybersecurity, a worldwide leader in network traffic analysis. Seese worked with McMurray during his summer internship.
“Stuart brought with him the industry experience and background, and I brought a student’s perspective to the presentation,” said Seese, who wrote two of the software libraries referenced during the session and created most of the slides.
The 30-minute presentation outlined the steps to write malware with Go, an open source programming language developed at Google. Malware refers to malicious software created and employed by hackers to access or damage individual computers or networks.
“It’s important for an IT security practitioner to know how to write malware,” Seese said. “You can emulate the same techniques used in real malware without actually doing anything malicious, which can lead to patching security holes before they become a problem. Also, as an individual defending a network or system, understanding how malware is structured and the technical components used can help you identify telltale signs of something malicious.”
Approximately 100 people attended the presentation, including several Penn College alumni.
“Presenting was an extremely rewarding experience,” Seese said. “There were some excellent questions and conversations following our talk. I’m considering another presentation for BSides next year.”
“We are very proud of Carson for talking the initiative to present at BSidesDC,” said David R. Cotner, dean of Penn College’s School of Industrial, Computing & Engineering Technologies. “It says a lot about him and the quality of our IT program that he was selected to offer his expertise to fellow students and cybersecurity professionals.”
In addition to information assurance and cybersecurity, Penn College offers bachelor’s degrees in game and simulation programming, information technology: network specialist concentration, and software development and information management, and an associate degree in information technology: technical support technology emphasis.
For more about those majors and other programs from the School of Industrial, Computing & Engineering Technologies, call 570-327-4520 or visit www.pct.edu/icet.
Penn College is a national leader in applied technology education. Visit www.pct.edu, email admissions@pct.edu or call toll-free 800-367-9222.