By: Diane Stirling
(315) 443-8975
About 200 special force and military representatives, including high-ranking officers from more than two dozen nations, heard a keynote speech on cyber security by School of Information Studies (iSchool) Associate Professor Joon S. Park last month at the 2013 Pacific Area Special Operations Conference (PASOC) in Honolulu, Hawaii.
His talk, entitled “Towards Cooperative Cyber Security,” was part of an international forum intended to enable key leaders from military, interagency, academic and private-sector communities to collectively examine issues relevant to security in the Asian-Pacific region, Park said.
Hosted by the SOCPAC (Special Operations Command-Pacific) Commander U.S. Major General Norman Brozenick, Jr., the conference theme was “Cooperative Security in the Asia Pacific Commons.” Its objectives were the promotion of discourse in an international forum on mitigating challenges to regional security; sharing information and best practices to improve regional security; and building habitual bilateral and multilateral relationship across the region, according to the conference organizers. The conference participants included representatives from 23 Asian-Pacific nations, as well as Pakistan, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany and France. Also attending were representatives of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
As with previous conferences, PASOC 2013 provided a unique opportunity for focused interaction between the many key players of the regional security community, according to conference organizers. “I was honored to be an invited speaker to this important international cooperation. I had a very productive and special time, presenting cyber security research and education to an audience of international influence. I think I was lucky to have such a great opportunity,” Park said.
The Special Operations Command Pacific, known as SOCPAC, is a sub-unified command of the United States Department of Defense for special forces in the U.S. Pacific Command area of responsibility. SOCPAC hosts an annual Pacific Area Special Operations Conference.
At the iSchool, Park is director of the certificate of advanced studies (CAS) program in information security management (ISM). He serves as Syracuse University’s Point of Contact at the Center of Academic Excellence (CAE) in Information Assurance, designated by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for both education and research at Syracuse. He is the principal investigator for the Department of Defense Information Assurance Scholarship Program (IASP) at Syracuse. He has been involved with theoretical/practical research and education in information and systems security, publishing more than 80 peer-refereed research papers in the area. During his sabbatical (Fall 2011 – Summer 2013), his research has been sponsored by the National Research Council (NRC), National Academies, as an NRC Fellow.
Information on the Special Operations Command – Pacific is available at http://www.socpac.socom.mil/default.aspx.