Career Conversation with the NSA

Wednesday, September 26, 2012 from 1-2pm
Speaker: Neal Ziring, Technical Director of the NSA's Information Assurance Directorate
Location: Jackson Conference Room, 232 Cummings, Thayer School of Engineering

**PIZZA WILL BE SERVED**

**Please R.S.V.P. to ISTS by 5pm on Monday, September 24th**

This session will cover the following topics:

• Discussion of the NSA mission and how it has changed over the years
  
• What life is like at the National Security Agency
  
• Careers, "Summer" Internships, and other internship opportunities offered year round
  
• The Information Assurance Scholarship Program (IASP)
  
• What the NSA is looking for in candidates

Neal Ziring

This session will cover a few topics. It will begin with a discussion of the NSA mission both political and technological (with all emphasis on the Information Assurance aspect). The conversation will include a discussion of what Information Assurance is (in the generic sense and as interpreted by NSA) and will discuss the new four-element Information Assurance model which is emerging internationally. NSA representatives will talk about what life is like at NSA today, what career and "summer" intern opportunities exist (intern opportunities are available year round), and what NSA is looking for today when they hire - that they need innovative thinkers who can solve really hard problems on the cutting edge of technology, the team aspects of work at NSA, and the work/life balance. This session is intended to be a real discussion, with plenty of time for questions and answers, not just a presentation.

Bio

Mr. Neal Ziring is the Technical Director for the National Security Agency's Information Assurance Directorate (IAD), serving as a technical advisor to the IAD Director, Deputy Director, and other senior leadership. Mr. Ziring is responsible for setting the technical direction across the Information Assurance mission space. Mr. Ziring tracks technical activities, promotes technical health of the staff, and acts as liaison to various industry, intelligence, academic, and government partners. As part of his role, he guides IAD's academic outreach program, acting as a technical liaison to several universities that are participants in the National Centers for Academic Excellence - Research (CAE-R) program. His personal expertise areas include router security, IPv6, VM-based secure systems, cloud computing, cross-domain information exchange, and mobile code security.

Mr. Ziring received B.S. degrees in computer science and electrical engineering (1985), and an M.S. in computer science (1986), all from Washington University in St. Louis. Since then, he has also taken courses from Columbia University and University of Maryland Baltimore County.

Virtually Mr. Ziring's entire government career has been based in the NSA Information Assurance Directorate. He joined NSA in late 1988, working on software tools and cryptosystem simulation. In the 1990s he began working in IA Evaluations and, except for brief tours, has been there ever since. From 2003 to 2005 he held the position of technical director for the IA Evaluations System and Network Attack Center (SNAC). Between 2006 and 2010 he was detailed to the NSA Mission Systems Development group as the security architect.

Mr. Ziring maintains his Cisco Certified Security Professional certificates. Prior to joining NSA, Mr. Ziring was a member of technical staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories.

In addition to work, Neal enjoys martial arts, running, and playing classical guitar. He holds a 3rd degree black belt in Shorinji Kempo.