Date: Monday, May 12, 2025, 5:30-6:30pm
Location in RSVP form (sign in to UCI email): https://forms.gle/vq7eg4RT21NFoTci7

Are you an undergraduate or graduate student interested in learning about career opportunities after graduate school in the areas of computer science and engineering? Join us for a panel event where you’ll hear from UCI alumni in diverse careers, including academia, industry, and research, about their journeys through and after graduate school. You’ll learn from our panelists about the different career paths that become available with an advanced degree, how their graduate school experiences impacted their career aspirations, and the steps they took during graduate school to reach their career goals. Refreshments will be provided!

Please RSVP here: https://forms.gle/vq7eg4RT21NFoTci7

Tuesday, May 6, 2025, 5-9pm
Location: UTC Chipotle (4255 Campus Dr Ste A116, Irvine, CA, 92612). If you’d like to attend our social event, we’ll meet at the flagpoles, then we’ll walk to UTC Chipotle together.
Please RSVP here (sign in to UCI email): https://forms.gle/bQXakB3zN2BmobTL7

Come hang out, grab some good food, and support women in cybersecurity at UCI! Can’t make it to our social? You can still support us by going to UTC Chipotle during our fundraiser!

Don’t forget to show our WiCyS fundraiser flyer (also below) at checkout or use our promo code (X6YGNKY) in the app or website if ordering online so that you can participate in our fundraiser. Here are the instructions to use our code at checkout in the app or website.

Thank you for supporting our organization!

Thursday, April 24, 11:00am-12:00pm
Location in RSVP form below

Join us for a seminar with Dr. Emily Wenger, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Duke University. As quantum computers approach, cryptographers are turning to new problems for secure cryptography. The Learning with Errors (LWE) problem is a leading candidate, with several cryptosystems built on it. This seminar will introduce post-quantum cryptography and LWE, then explore the security of LWE through practical benchmarks, including attacks on small and sparse secrets.

Light refreshments will be provided!

Please RSVP! https://forms.gle/beQY6W3JyCz1hgUy8

Abstract: As the threat of quantum computers looms, cryptographers are searching for new quantum-resistant hard math problems on which to build future cryptography. The Learning with Errors (LWE) problem has emerged as a leading contender, and several recently standardized cryptosystems are built on LWE. This talk will describe the basics of post-quantum cryptography and LWE specifically, then will discuss efforts to evaluate the concrete security of LWE. Most work on LWE security focuses on theoretical estimates of attack performance, which is important but may overlook attack nuances arising in real-world implementations.  To improve our understanding of concrete LWE security, we provide the first benchmarks for LWE secret recovery on standardized parameters, for small and low-weight (sparse) secrets.  We evaluate four LWE attacks in these settings to serve as a baseline and learn some interesting lessons from the implementation process.

Speaker Bio: Dr. Emily Wenger researches security and privacy issues of AI models. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Duke University, and before that was a Research Scientist at Meta AI. She graduated with her PhD from the University of Chicago in 2023. Dr. Wenger’s research has been featured by numerous media outlets including CNN, NBC, the New York Times, and the BBC, and she has received several awards, including a GFSD fellowship, Siebel Scholarship, and the University of Chicago Harper Dissertation award. She was named to the 2024 Forbes 30 under 30 list for her work on Glaze, a tool that protects artists’ work from unwanted use in generative AI models.

Wednesday, February 26, 1:30-2:30pm

Location in RSVP form (sign in to your UCI email to access): https://forms.gle/duRnijAMMQ9woJbg7

Curious about life at CrowdStrike? Join us for a networking event to connect, learn, and explore exciting opportunities with CrowdStrike! Refreshments will be provided! Please RSVP! https://forms.gle/duRnijAMMQ9woJbg7

Tuesday, January 28, 2-3pm
Location in RSVP form (sign in to your UCI email to access): https://forms.gle/HqpromarmqASJp936

We’re all online more than ever, and the threats to our personal data are growing. Everyday, malicious adversaries are creating new ways to take advantage of unsuspecting users. Join us for an interactive workshop to learn some best practices for digital safety and personal data privacy to protect yourself from these threats. Refreshments will be provided!

Please RSVP! https://forms.gle/HqpromarmqASJp936

Tuesday, January 21, 5-6pm
Location in RSVP form (sign in to your UCI email to access): https://forms.gle/AKDxHNpjFtsg42Z59

Join WiCyS for a cozy cybersecurity and privacy-themed game night! Test your skills with interactive games, cozy up with a DIY hot chocolate bar and pastries, and connect with other WiCyS members.

Please RSVP! https://forms.gle/AKDxHNpjFtsg42Z59

When: November 22, 2:00pm-4:00pm
Where: Location in RSVP form (sign in to your UCI email to access): https://forms.gle/pmmFYhQ1qtFNLusY7

Are you interested in cybersecurity and privacy? Want to dive into research on these topics? Join us at our research mixer to connect with researchers from various labs and departments at UCI, learn about cybersecurity and privacy through engaging poster presentations, and win prizes in our research scavenger hunt!

Food and beverages will be provided!

Please RSVP! https://forms.gle/pmmFYhQ1qtFNLusY7

November 1, 12:00-1:30pm
Location in RSVP form (sign in to your UCI email to access): https://forms.gle/EY5xEpPdQTy3qFn1A

We are excited to invite you to an upcoming event hosted by the Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) student chapter at UCI. On November 1st, 12:00-1:30pm, Dr. Angela Robinson, Mathematician at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will be giving a talk about the NIST post-quantum cryptography standards. This talk will explore the Post-Quantum Standardization Project, sharing updates, lessons learned, and current approaches to developing a robust and secure set of quantum-resistant public-key standards that will support the United States Federal Government’s goal of transitioning to quantum-resistant cryptography by 2035. For more information, please see the talk abstract and Angela’s bio below.

Snacks and beverages will be provided!

Please RSVP! https://forms.gle/EY5xEpPdQTy3qFn1A

Abstract:  Advances in quantum computing and technology pose a threat to some widely-deployed digital signature and key establishment algorithms standardized by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).  A public process was initiated by NIST in 2016 to identify, select, and standardize quantum-resistant algorithms to mitigate the looming quantum threat.  NIST announced the selection of four algorithms to be standardized in 2022 and released the first three standards in August 2024, with the fourth standard expected to be released in early 2025.  In addition to the four selected algorithms, four additional key establishment algorithms remain under consideration while forty digital signature algorithms are newly under consideration for future standardization. In this talk we explore the history and current activities of the NIST Post-Quantum Standardization project.  We will discuss lessons learned and current approaches to develop a robust and secure set of public-key quantum-resistant standards that will support the United States Federal Government’s goal to transition to quantum-resistant cryptography by 2035.

Speaker Bio: Angela Robinson is a mathematician in the Computer Security Division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).  She completed her Bachelor of Science in Mathematics at Baylor University in 2010 and PhD in Mathematics at Florida Atlantic University in 2018.  Her research focuses on code-based cryptography, cryptanalysis, and privacy-enhancing cryptography.

When: Thursday, October 10, 2024, 4-5pm
Where: Location provided in RSVP form (sign in to UCI email access): https://forms.gle/nVKP98twndp163oX7

Join us on October 10 for our first event of the academic year! At this event, you’ll have the opportunity to get to know our chapter, meet other members of the WiCyS community, and learn about the annual WiCyS conference. Feel free to drop by at any time during the event. Snacks and beverages will be provided!

Please RSVP (sign in to UCI email access): https://forms.gle/nVKP98twndp163oX7