Unique Programs: 'First Responders' at New Mexico Tech

Interview with Srinivas Mukkamala When it comes to incident response, there's nothing for critical than first response. And first response skills are exactly what students are attaining in a unique information assurance program offered by New Mexico Tech. In an exclusive interview, Srinivas Mukkamala of New Mexico Tech discusses: How the school's First Responders program works; Qualifications of students enrolled in the program, and how it helps them prepare for careers; Advice for individuals looking to start - or jump-start - a career in information assurance. Mukkamala, one of CAaNES' owners and its interim-Director of Operations, is a senior research scientist with ICASA (Institute for Complex Additive Systems Analysis, a statutory research division of New Mexico Tech performing work on information technology, information assurance, and analysis and protection of critical infrastructures as complex interdependent systems) and Adjunct Faculty of the Computer Science Department of New Mexico Tech. He leads a team of information assurance (IA) "first responders" who are deployed at the request of various government agencies and financial institutions around the state of New Mexico to perform vulnerability analysis, information system security audits, network analysis and forensic incident analysis. He has a patent pending on Intelligent Agents for Distributed Intrusion Detection System and Method of Practicing Same.