News

Invited lecture: Shuang Hao

Data-Driven Analytics to Empower Security and Protection in the AI Era

Shuang Hao, Professor
Department of Computer Science
University of Texas, Dallas

Date: Thursday, September 26
Place: Harold Frank Hall, Room 1132
Time: 1:30 pm PT
 

Abstract

Summer Experiences at Rutgers

At Rutgers University, four REU students worked on topics related to ACTION in Summer 2024. Two of the students, Filip Uradnık and Julia Krizanova, hailed from Charles University and were funded by Czech republic. The other two students, Amanda Wang and Rhett Olson were from Princeton University and the University of Minnesota, respectively.

Summer Experiences beyond Santa Barbara

In addition to the undergraduate projects supported by ACTION at UC Santa Barbara, Norfolk State University and Rutgers University  were bustling with summer internships. 

iCTF 2024 Registration is Open

The iCTF 2024 will take place from November 16, 2024, at 10 am Pacific Time to November 22, 2024, at 4pm Pacific Time.

As it was for the 2023 edition of the iCTF, there will be two separate competitions: one dedicated to high school teams (hiCTF) and one for college undergraduate students (uniCTF). Both competitions will be challenge-based and will use CTFd as the platform. They will also incorporate themes around artificial intelligence. 

ACTION at the Annual SaTC PI Meeting

Giovanni Vigna presented an overview of the ACTION AI Institute at the 2024 Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace Principal Investigators’ Meeting (2024 SaTC PI Meeting) on Wednesday, September 4 and Thursday at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

ACTION Collaboration with SB High School

On September 10, 2024, Stijn Pletinckx, a PhD candidate in UCSB's Computer Science Department, delivered a lunch-time presentation to students at Santa Barbara Senior High School, formally launching a collaboration between the SBHS Computer Science Academy and the ACTION AI Institute. Stijn's presentation, titled "Hacking for Good: Unlocking Cybersecurity and Ethical Hacking Careers," was meant catalyze the creation of a new student-run, hacking club at the public high school.

Large Language Model Agents, a Massive Open Online Class

In September 2024 ACTION, co-PI Dawn Song (UC Berkeley) will launch a massive open online course (MOOC) focused on Large Language Model Agents. She developed the MOOC with a Research Scientist at Google DeepMind, and has arranged for a dozen guest speakers from leading organizations in the space of AI.

The description from the course website reads: 

Review of ACTION's Annual Review and Knowledge Expo

The ACTION AI Institute held its first annual Knowledge Expo on June 20-21 in UC Santa Barbara's Henley Hall. The Expo included a series of "Birds of a Feather" sessions on topics related to AI and Cybersecurity, poster showcases, and presentations from ACTION faculty, DHS, and local government.  The event also served as the Institute's first annual review.