Graduate

Cybercrime Advisory Board

A team of distinguished professionals from industry, academia and government offer their expertise and guidance as advisory board members for the Master of Science in Cybercrime program.

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David Maimon, Ph.D.

Director, Evidence Based Cybersecurity Research Group, Georgia State University

David Maimon is an Associate Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Georgia State University and the Director of the Evidence Based Cybersecurity Research Group. He has secondary appointment with the Computer Science department at Georgia State University. He received his Ph.D. in Sociology from the Ohio State University in 2009. David’s research interests include, cyber-enabled and cyber-dependent crimes and experimental research methods. In 2015, he was awarded the “Young Scholar Award” from the “White-Collar Crime Research Consortium of the National White-Collar Crime Center” for his cybercrime research. He is also the recipient of the “Philip Merrill Presidential Scholars Faculty Mentor Award” (from the University of Maryland). His current research focuses on computer hacking and the progression of system trespassing events, computer networks vulnerabilities to cyber-attacks, and decision-making process in cyber space. He is also conducting research on intellectual property, darknet markets and cyber fraud.

Cornelius F. Tate

Senior Vice President, Global Corporate Security – SOACC Executive, Bank of America

Cornelius Tate is a Senior Vice President and SOACC (Security Operations Analysis Command Center) executive at Bank of America with the responsibility of overseeing operations, video systems, physical access and credential management, critical facilities, and Electronic/ATM security. Prior to joining Bank of America, Cornelius was Vice President of Asset Protection at Sallie Mae Bank with responsibility for securing and protecting all bank facilities, and physical and logical incident response.

Cornelius is also a 28 year veteran of the United States Secret Service (USSS) where he attained the title of Assistant Director.  In that role, he was charged with oversight of the evaluation, implementation, and operation of technology-based protective countermeasures and information technology resources. 

Mr. Tate also served as the Director of the National Cyber Security Division (NCSD), Department of Homeland Security. The mission of the NCSD is to work collaboratively with public, private and international entities to secure cyberspace and America’s cyber assets.  As Director, Mr. Tate oversaw all NCSD’s cyber security programs and activities including the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), critical infrastructure cyber protection efforts, and education, training, and awareness activities.

Other assignments while in the USSS included, founding member of the Electronic Crimes Special Agent Program, a specialized program focusing on computer forensic analysis, Chief Information Officer, and law enforcement liaison at the Carnegie Mellon Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT/CC) Coordination Center. At the CERT/CC, Mr. Tate spearheaded the Secret Service Critical Systems Protection Initiative; a start-up effort that lead to the minimization of the impact of cyber controls on traditional physical infrastructures.

Mr. Tate holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Mississippi and a CISSP certification.

Mark Johnson, CFCE

Forensic Examiner, United States Attorney's Office - Western District of Missouri

Assigned to the Heart of America Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory

Mr. Johnson has been working with computers for over 30 years and has conducted computer forensic analysis since 2000. Over the course of his career he has analyzed data in approximately 800 cases, both criminal and civil. He has been involved in a number of high-profile criminal prosecutions, including the BTK killer case and the Bobbi Jo Stinnett murder in northern Missouri. He has also testified as an expert in both the state and federal court systems on approximately 40 occasions.  He is a member of the International Association of Computer Investigative Specialists (IACIS), and served on the Board of Directors for four years as Director of Ethics, Director of Communications and Chairman of the Board.  In addition to his regular caseload he has been an instructor for Guidance Software, IACIS and has participated as an instructor in the FBI Moot Court process. Mr. Johnson also presents to schools and civic groups on Internet safety and protecting yourself and your children online.

Devon Ackerman

Managing Director and Head of Incident Response, Kroll Cyber, North America

Devon Ackerman is a Managing Director and Head of Incident Response for Kroll Cyber's North America Practice. He is a hands-on digital forensic and incident response investigator engaged by Clients and Law Firms globally to consult on matters ranging from corporate espionage to network intrusions to ransomware to data breaches.  He draws extensive experience in the investigation and remediation of cyber-related threats and attacks from his years with the FBI as well as with Kroll. Before Kroll, Devon served as a Supervisory Special Agent and Senior Digital Sciences Forensics Examiner with the FBI.  He was attached to the FBI's Operational Technology Division's Digital Forensics Field Operations Unit responsible for management and oversight of Federal investigations and matters ranging from domestic terrorism, mass shootings, critical incident response events, and other investigations involving large-scale electronic evidence collection and forensic analysis. While with the FBI, he was the course material revision architect and co-author of instructional material for the FBI’s CART Tech Certification program and Digital Evidence Extraction Technician (DExT) training curriculums.  Devon also started and manages AboutDFIR.com, one of the internet's leading Digital Forensic and Incident Response repositories of related knowledge and information.

Keith Mularski

Managing Director, Cybersecurity, EY

Keith currently serves as Managing Director within EY’s Consulting practice focusing on Cybersecurity matters. Prior to joining EY, Keith was a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for over twenty years.

Leveraging on his years of experience at the FBI, Keith utilizes his extensive knowledge of the geo-political threat landscape and threat actor groups to craft custom solutions tailored to address specific threat environments. Keith advises on strategic cybersecurity matters, cyber threat intelligence, as well as technology and process integrations, to ensure prevention, detection, and response to breach and security incidents. 

While assigned to the FBI’s Cyber Division, Keith successfully worked with Private Industry Subject Matter Experts to develop proactive intelligence sharing and targeting to disrupt and dismantle the most egregious Cyber-criminal enterprises. During his career, Keith led some of the most significant FBI Cyber investigations to include; the 2016 Presidential Election hacks; the first ever indictment of five members of the People's Liberation Army for hacking and stealing U.S. commercial secrets; and the dismantlement of major botnet and malware organizations.  Keith also worked undercover penetrating cyber underground groups which was chronicled in the books "Kingpin: How One Hacker Took Over the Billion-Dollar Cybercrime Underground“ and “DarkMarket: How Hackers Became the New Mafia.” Recently, Keith’s time working undercover was featured in an episode of Mashable’s Kernel Panic series. 

Mr. Mularski has received the U.S. Attorney General's Award for Distinguished Service, the RSA Award for Excellence in Public Policy, and twice received the FBI Director's Award for Excellence in Outstanding Cyber Investigation.

Bill “Skip” Powers, Ph.D.

Department of Homeland Security/Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency (DHS/CISA) - Deputy Director of Business Continuity Emergency Preparedness

Dr. Bill “Skip” Powers joined the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in April, 2005 and serves as a Senior Advisor for the Cyber & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Business Continuity & Emergency Preparedness (BCEP) division. In this role, Dr. Powers manages a host of policy facets that build and promote a culture of individual and organizational preparedness among the CISA workforce that enable individual and organizational readiness and continuity. Prior to joining BCEP, Dr. Powers served as the Chief of Staff for the CISA Office of Risk Management and Analysis managing the day-to-day activities to include personnel, resource, policy, and interagency strategy formulation to enhance homeland security risk management.

Dr. Powers holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Management, a Masters Degree in Public Administration and a PhD in Human Capital Management. Dr. Powers is on the adjunct faculty for George Mason University (VA), Norwich University (VT), Davenport University (MI), Bellevue University (NE), and participates in lectures routinely at University of Maryland (MD) and Howard University (DC) and has authored several articles in the arena of knowledge management, succession, resiliency, and organizational change.  

Richard Domingues Boscovich

Assistant General Counsel, Digital Crimes Unit, Microsoft Corp.

As Assistant General Counsel on Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit, Richard Boscovich leads the Malware team focusing on cybercrime with an emphasis on malicious code enforcement actions based on legal and technical countermeasures. Based in Redmond, Washington, the team actively analyzes and investigates all forms of malware such as botnets, droppers, banking Trojans, ransomware and worms. His work in the field includes developing the civil legal strategies used in over 23 malware infrastructure disruptive actions such as Waledac, Rustock, Zeus, Citadel and more recently, the Necurs, Phousphours, Thallium and Trickbot actions.  In addition to analyzing malicious code, the team actively pursues partnerships with others in the security industry, as well as domestic and international law enforcement agencies, and academia.     

Boscovich began his career as a corporate tax attorney at a major international law firms New York City office. He then served for over 17 years at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Florida’s Southern District (Miami). During his tenure he directed the district’s Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property unit, where he prosecuted numerous high-profile computer intrusion cases, including the first federal juvenile prosecution of a 17-year-old computer hacker. During the last two and one-half years at the DOJ, he served as both Deputy Chief and Acting Chief of the Major Crimes unit, where he managed the activities of 25 assistant U.S. Attorneys and support staff.

Boscovich has lectured at both industry, academic and government events including the Europol-Interpol Cybercrime Conference, SWIFT, RSA, Financial  Services Information Sharing & Analysis Center (FS-ISAC), University of Toulouse School of Economics and Yale University School of Management’s Cyber Forum on the legal and technical aspects of tackling cyber-crime through the use of civil causes of actions as well as the strategic use of public/private partnerships as a way to coordinate cyber-crime investigations. 

Boscovich joined Microsoft in 2008. He holds both a BA degree in Political Science/History and a law degree from the University of Miami.

Stacey M. Arruda 

CEO & Founder, ARRUDA Group

Ms. Arruda is the CEO and Founder of the ARRUDA Group (AG), a consulting agency.  ARRUDA Group specializes in Cyber Security Awareness Training and investigations.  As a retired Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Adjunct Faculty member, Ms. Arruda delivered hundreds of speeches/presentations/trainings over the past 22 years. She attributes her success to her dynamic training style, which is fast, energetic, and full of best practice examples. Her captivating blend of multi-media including video, pictures, and examples from real world FBI investigations have proven to be a winning formula for audiences across the globe

Ms. Arruda retired from the FBI in 2018.  During her 22-career, she held a wide range of operational and leadership roles in the Field and at FBI Headquarters. She is credited with drafting the FBI’s response to electronic attack in the International arena, as well as boosting the FBI’s computer crime and cybersecurity investigative capabilities.  She directed numerous computer intrusion investigations spanning the globe, including denial-of-service attacks, bank and corporate breaches, and state sponsored intrusions. Ms. Arruda has over 20 years of experience in Cyber and Counterintelligence matters.

Ms. Arruda earned a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice from the University of Florida, and a Master of Science in Criminal Justice Administration from Florida International University (FIU). She recently completed a Graduate Certificate in Cyber Security Leadership and Strategy from FIU.

Willliam L. Tafoya, Ph.D. 

Professor Emeritus, University of New Haven

In the realm of Cybercrime his research focus is on Cyberterrorism and the behavioral analysis of computer criminals. In the National Security space his research focus is on information protection and the critical infrastructure, particularly the Power Grid. He has published extensively in all these fields of interest. His Ph.D. was awarded by the University of Maryland in 1986. Dr. Tafoya is a retired Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Jerry Bessette 

Chief Operating Officer, Surefire Cyber Inc

Prior to joining Surefire Cyber, Jerry lead Booz Allen’s Cyber Incident Response Program. Jerry has led response efforts on several major ransomware attacks and helped Fortune 500 clients understand and address emerging threats. He also lead Booz Allen’s outreach to insurance panels and law firms and works with capability leaders across the firm to deliver the broadest and deepest set of solutions to commercial clients.

Prior to joining Booz Allen, Jerry was a managing director with Ankura Consulting, where he oversaw incident response investigations, assessments, and technical services for clients ranging from large corporations to small, privately held companies. He also served as an outsourced chief information security officer (CISO) for several major corporations.

Jerry retired from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after a 24-year career as a special agent and executive manager. In his last assignment, he served as chief of the technical operations section for the FBI cyber division, where he managed the national cyber incident response team and developed threat-agnostic tools to counter cyber adversaries. He also led the FBI investigation into the 2014 cyber attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Jerry is a certified information security manager, certified CISO, and FBI-certified crisis management coordinator. He also holds a SANS Institute global information assurance certification in information security fundamentals and U.S. national intelligence community joint duty certification. He maintains a Top Secret security clearance.

Jerry earned a B.S. in civil engineering from the Virginia Military Institute and is a former Marine Corps officer.