Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI)

This is the first of a three-part series about George Mason University’s role as the NoVa Node headquarters of the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI), Virginia’s main access point for workforce development, cybersecurity innovation, and research.

When cyber security engineering major Connor Wadlin learned about ransomware attacks on organizations, such as the one on the Health Service Executive in Ireland, in his CYSE 445 System Security and Resilience class, it confirmed his commitment to dedicating his educational and professional career to protecting and preserving human lives.

Kun Sun, professor in the Department Information Sciences and Technology, will work with local company CodeLock on software security, supported by the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative's Academic Support for Cybersecurity Entrepreneurship and Next-Gen Development (ASCEND) Fund. 

Virginia CyberSlam 2025 at George Mason University brought together nearly 500 high school students from across the commonwealth for a day of talks and hands-on workshops aimed at inspiring future cybersecurity professionals.

Assistant Professor Zhuangdi Zhu is collaborating with the University of Virginia’s Wajih Ul Hassan to develop scalable host-based intrusion detection systems using federated learning, enhancing cybersecurity while ensuring data privacy.

George Mason students, funded by the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative, are developing innovative VR tools and applications at Great Victory Legends, a startup founded by Associate Professor Craig Yu, gaining invaluable experience for future tech careers.

Mohamed Gebril is leading a project to enhance threat detection and cybersecurity response mechanisms using generative AI and large language models (LLMs). He aims to automate traditionally manual processes and develop novel methods to detect and mitigate prompt injection attacks, ultimately creating more effective threat detection systems. 

On October 9, 2024, the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative’s Northern Virginia Node accelerator program (CCI+A) culminated in a final pitch competition at Mason Square. 

A team of graduate students in information sciences, psychology, and special education aims to create a more integrated understanding of how different populations, such as individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), are affected by cybercrimes and how they can be better protected.

Doctoral student in electrical and computer engineering Sreenitha Kasarapu presented “Leveraging Explainable AI for Designing Evolvable Malware” at the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative 2024 Symposium in April.