Southern California Edison Attorney Brings Real World to Cybersecurity Class
During the Incident Response & Investigation Cyber Forensics course at Loyola Law School taught by Adjunct Professor Robert Kang, students are faced with a dire situation: a hacker has taken over control of an employee’s computer, threatening to compromise its contents unless ransom is paid. What is the ideal response?
Kang employs such tabletop exercises to give his students practice in applying their classroom knowledge in dealing with real-world cyber threats. Kang’s goal is to teach students what questions to ask and how to collaborate effectively with IT experts and management leaders to develop an appropriate and timely response.
“I want them to provide value from day one,” says Kang, senior attorney and in-house counsel at the Southern California Edison Company.
Kang developed his cybersecurity expertise at Southern California Edison, where constant vigilance protects the power grid from would-be attackers. After completing a regulatory compliance project for the utility company in 2009, Kang took an avid interest in the emerging field.
Kang has since cultivated expertise in cybersecurity & data privacy, lecturing and writing widely on the topic. He joined the advisory board of Loyola’s Cybersecurity & Data Privacy Programs and helped the school launch the first such program of its kind on the West Coast.
During his class, Kang takes his students to Southern California Edison, where they meet with members of the technology and business departments responsible for protecting the company from digital threats. “Cybersecurity is a team sport. I want them to meet their future teammates and expose them to business policies and IT issues,” he says.
While a technical background is not required to enter the cybersecurity law field, Kang is quick to point out that it helps to know IT essentials, some of which he and his co-instructor (a senior-level cyber forensics investigator) introduce in their class. For instance, "a basic knowledge of coding was deemed a plus for applicants applying for a legal intern position at a famous Hollywood studio's anti-piracy groups," says Kang.
Kang lends his expertise to such industry groups as the International Association for Privacy Professionals. He is helping coordinate the Jan. 29, 2018 panel, "Welcome to the Dark Web: Plain English Intro for Business Leaders and Lawyers,” on which he and other experts will unmask the terms and technology underlying cybersecurity to a broad mix of Angelenos.
“I firmly believe that having basic technology training is essential for business leaders and lawyers,” Kang says. “The purpose of the course is to teach students the need for business, legal and tech teamwork to help protect our industry and our country.”
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