CyberAaravVangipuram
Aarav Vangipuram
My Cybersecurity Training
Business Partner Overview
Capitol City Robotics
Quick Facts
Capitol City Robotics is an award-winning robotic nonprofit program that competes all over the country, against programs from all walks of life. They have Championed numerous National competitions for drones and robotics. Capitol City Robotics has qualified for the VEX Robotics World Championship for the past three years.
The nonprofit organization holds multiple programs for children of all ages, ranging from Lego leagues to RECF Aerial Drones. The students have a hands-on experience where they program and code all the robots themselves. They have had the opportunity to meet Jeff Bezos at the unveiling of Blue Origin’s lunar lander. The organization also provides summer camps for students so they can continue their experience outside the school year and strengthen their STEM commitment.
Capitol City Robotics
About the Founder
Ryan “Mike” Daza is the founder and Executive Director of Capitol City Robotics and the founder and director of operations at Capitol City STEM LLC. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison for his undergraduate and George Mason University for a Master's in economics.
He has worked on data pertinent to legal cases with numerous lawyers and professors. Ryan’s background and passion for STEM-focused activities are fueled by his children and the belief that technology is the way of the future. He has published several articles on political economy and created systems that more effectively handle data collection in large quantities. He hopes that his continued work in the STEM field and research will continue to support generations of children.
Capitol City Robotics
About the Business
Capitol City Robotics is a 501(c) non-profit that works with students in underrepresented schools to gain insight into a STEM background. Using robotics as a catapult for education, the organization aims to foster an environment that promotes skills students will rely on with a focus on engineering and computer science. This program exposes students K-12 to a field of STEM-backed careers while simultaneously representing the inclusiveness and diversity seen today.
Capitol City Robotics strives to create a space where inclusion and STEM can foster young minds. Through their partnership with various experts in computer science, they are exposing students in underrepresented communities to the opportunity to expand their knowledge and grow their love for robotics. Their goal is to prepare students to be the leaders of tomorrow.
Capitol City Robotics
Current Vulnerabilities
As a STEM-based organization that specializes in computer science, we are very aware of the threats hacking poses which is why we are aiming to bolster our cybersecurity.
Building a system that protects our staff’s personal information, such as W9s, would create a better sense of safety. We want to ensure that the organization’s online property is protected, so access to public domains and accounts would require more intensive cyber protection.
My Security
Proposal
Our goals for our proposal were to address the main cyber security concerns of our partner business, as well as threats we identified through SWOT analysis and the CIA triad.
Our plan implements multiple cyber security protocols and solutions to protect our partners, such as Encrypting data on Solid State Drive (SSD), implementing cloud encryption, and employing ethical hackers to create stronger protection for the client’s data. The encryption of data servers is working as an offline security agent, making client data harder to access. The ethical hacker will provide insight into the nonprofit’s vulnerabilities and expose the weaknesses for improvement.
Our proposal was successfully granted, allowing us to implement our solution for our non-profit. This will ensure that our partner is not at a high risk of physical threats, employee negligence, and hacktivists, protecting them for years to come.
My Security
Proposal
Presentation
During the Cybersecurity & Defense Internship, I worked with Beth Cerrone and Jamie Kreider to learn about the basics of cybersecurity, and potential career pathways within it.
Throughout the week, I worked with a nonprofit to develop cybersecurity solutions to protect against various cyber threats. I worked with my team to analyze the threats to the organization, and then developed a comprehensive solution. At the end of the week, I presented my cybersecurity solution to a panel of three judges and received grant money to implement the solution.
Internship Highlights
- Security Site Tours
- Nonprofit Partner Meeting
- Working With Experts
- Cybersecurity Labs
I was given the unique opportunity to take exclusive tours of multiple government and security sites to speak directly with security professionals. During these tours, I was able to witness first-hand how cybersecurity operates at the national and international level.
I was given the unique opportunity to attend an embassy where I received a briefing on cultural, economic, and international situations. We also got the opportunity to ask questions about the country’s cybersecurity infrastructure; therefore, allowing me to learn about cybersecurity at an international level.
We also toured the Department of Homeland Securities’ Cyber Crimes Center where we received classified tours of the cyber crimes unit of the DHS and learned how Homeland Security uses cyber intelligence to track major crimes such as drug smuggling, human trafficking, and major theft.
In order to apply the skills I learned throughout the internship, I worked directly with a nonprofit based in the Washington D.C. area to discuss their companies cybersecurity needs.
After three meetings where I walked through the organization model, protected information, and staff training of the nonprofit, I worked with my team to create a staff training protocol and threat analysis for my partner.
At the end of the internship, I advocated for, and received funding for, my nonprofit partner to implement the cybersecurity training protocols so they can best protect their client information and continue to develop with a reduced fear of cyber attacks and cybersecurity threats.
To learn more about the world of cybersecurity, I was given the unique opportunity to speak directly with cybersecurity experts from multiple different organizations and backgrounds.
I worked directly with one of the leading consultants in Cyber Threat Management, and a consultant for cyber policy for the National Counterintelligence Executive, Phuong Nguyen, to learn about common threat assessment and cybersecurity counterintelligence. I also heard from the global leader in Firewall Creation, David Balenson; the author of the most widely-regarded O’Reilly book on cybersecurity, Michael Collins; and the lead SME for the FutureG Initiative for the Department of Defense.
Throughout the internship, I also heard presentations from, and spoke with, representatives from the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and the National Security Agency. To learn the physical side of cybersecurity, we also had the unique opportunity to meet with globally-recognized penetration testers and network threat assessors.
In order to put the skills we learned to the test, I had the unique opportunity to use a cybersecurity software used for graduate instructional courses to learn a myriad of cybersecurity skills.
Starting with network cybersecurity, I worked through labs dedicated to network security and linux to understand how networks communicate with each other and how cybersecurity poses a threat to this communication. I used these Linux skills to complete capture-the-flag coding competitions as well as virtual rooms.
At the end of the internship, I worked with an expert from a leading cybersecurity consulting firm to learn how to built ethernet cables. I used ethernet cord, crimpers, and wire strippers to produce functioning ethernet cables.