People, Projects and Perceptions – Social Networking and More!
30 May 2012, Hotel Praha, Prague, Czech Republic
–
–
—
As a follow up to the third student conference “People, Projects and Perceptions – even thinking is participation!” that took place in London in October 2010, AFCEA Europe’s fourth student conference was held this year in Prague at the same time as TechNet Europe – ITTE 2012 and represented yet another opportunity for students to present short papers on subjects with international appeal focusing this time on Social Networks, one of the hottest subjects of today’s inter-connected world. At the same time, the program also allowed easy access to the TechNet key presentations and Exhibition and plenty of networking due to the fact that the venue for both TechNet Europe and the Student Conference was the same.
Following the format of the previous conferences, students were invited to give a 10-minute presentation, in English, of their current research and experiences on 30 May. The President of the conference, like in previous ones, was Professor Harry Athanasopoulos of DEREE-The American College of Greece, RADM Hellenic Navy (ret.) and AFCEA Int. Ass. Director, who welcomed the participants in his familiar deep-thought philosophical and musical way, while the outstanding moderator was Major Jon C. Heaton, Royal Signals, CSD Networks, HQSOinC(A) (UK), who also offered the extremely timely and timeless keynote speech titled “How to ensure that employees within a security-focused organisation use social networks in a responsible manner: a British Ministry of Defence (MOD) study”. The AFCEA Europe General Manager MGen. Klaus-Peter Treche (DEUAF ret.) made sure that the venue and the facilities were top-level.
Fourteen student speakers presented their work in front of an audience of almost 50 students from 9 European countries. The Gold Partner of the conference was Google and there were highly relevant topics presented by IBM (UK) and Kaspersky Lab Romania (ROM). Like in past student conferences, the presence of fifteen members of the pioneering DEREE – AFCEA Student Club and www.afceayouth.com was vivid and full of great team spirit. It should be mentioned that Prof. Athanasopoulos and his DEREE-The American College of Greece top business students have been attending the TechNet Europe Symposia since 2003 without a fail. These students are heavily engaged with filtering out the most essential information and particles of knowledge they gain, in order to pass it on to their fellow students as well as the afceayouth.com international followers.
During the three sessions of the conference, security issues and their proper management, emerging technologies and strategic plans, governance and assurance, were among the topics discussed.
Session 1 – The Use, Exploitation and Risks of Social Networks
“Utilizing Social Media: A Corporate Human Resources Point of View”
Mr. Gerasimos Papandrikopoulos, DEREE – The American College of Greece (alumnus)
“Social Networks; Forensics, Security and Privacy”
Mr. Michael Sarantidis, DEREE – The American College of Greece
“Social Media Wealth, Marketing and Public Relations in Second Life (SL)”
Ms. Anna Ketsetzioglou, DEREE – The American College of Greece (alumna)
“A Social Network Approach to Initiate the University Industry Collaboration Opportunities”
Mr. Orhun Süzer and Ms. Gökçe Nur Tüfekçi, Istanbul Technical University (TUR)
“Social Networking: A Different Perspective Towards Security”
Ms. Klaudia Tani, DEREE – The American College of Greece (alumna)
Session 2 – The Security Risks within Social Networks
Mr. George Chatzitheodosiou, DEREE – The American College of Greece
“Bootnets vs Social Networking”
Mr. Krzysztof Wodecki, Military University of Technology (POL)
“Flagging. Blacklisting, Red Button”
Mr. Oldřich Krulík, Police Academy (CZE)
“Intrusion Detection System, Intrusion Prevention System”
Mr. Tomáš Balázsik, Academy of Armed Forces (SVK)
“Voice Identity Distribution Based on Secure Signature Architecture”
Mr. Marcin Glowacki, Military University of Technology (POL)
“Trust in Military Mobile Ad-Hoc Network”
Ms. Joanna Glowacka, Military University of Technology (POL)
Session 3 – People, Projects and Perceptions – Social Networking … AND MORE!
“Steganography as a Support for Security Mechanisms in Tactical Mobile Networks”
Mr. Krzysztof Parobczak, Military University of Technology (POL)
Mr. Krzysztof Sawicki, Military University of Technology (POL)
“Audio Fidelity Subjective Test Assessment”
Mr. Karol Stasiewicz, Military University of Technology (POL)
As expressed by the student conference speakers, it became clear that we need to address our decision making processes more responsibly, whether it has to do with what information we make publicly available or how NATO and its allies handle information security on a global scale.
Near the end of the conference, Mr. Kent Schneider, AFCEA International General Manager & CEO, addressed and praised the participants and offered his future goals, plans and support towards more AFCEA Student Clubs, an AFCEA best practice, instigated by DEREE College students, worldwide.
On May 31, besides following some key TechNet presentations and a fine reception, the student program included two unique educational excursions with excellent networking. The AFCEA Czech Chapter along with the Czech Republic Police Academy made sure that this student conference experience would remain unforgettable to everyone. The students had the privilege to enjoy a VIP guided tour at the Czech Republic National Police Academy facilities. Not only did the students see and learn about the history of Crime Scene Investigation by studying unique equipment and strange cases, but at the same time they had the opportunity to visit the forensics labs and the shooting training rooms of the Police Academy; an amazing and unique experience for all of them. This compelling experience concluded with history lessons as the students visited the National Police Museum and enjoyed a private VIP Tour. After hours, a good number of students enjoyed a live jazz river-boat ride together with Prof. Athanasopoulos and Major Heaton. Next evening, Prof. Athanasopoulos honored his students by taking them to the amazing Prague State Opera to watch Tosca.
It must be mentioned that the AFCEA Czech Chapter, with the invaluable assistance of Mr. Petr Jirasek, Prof. Josef Pozar and Mr. Karel Vavruska, went over and beyond any anticipation as it very thoughtfully offered free accommodation for all students, shuttle transfers to the conference venues, provided all the necessary information, entertainment and mass transportation tickets, a CD containing all the presentations and generally made their visit to Prague an experience to be cherished for so many different reasons, under the AFCEA codes of ethics, trust and collaboration. A big and warm THANK YOU to all of them!
On the whole, there were 11 current DEREE business students in Prague, 4 alumni who travelled from Athens, London and Brussels to be there and one Greek student (active follower of afceayouth.com) studying at the Vienna Technical University and admitted equally free of charge. All student presentations are authorized by the speakers to be uploaded onto the AFCEA International portal (www.afcea.org), to the AFCEA Europe site (www.afceaeurope.org) and to www.afceayouth.com, the DEREE AFCEA Student Club’s global youth virtual space.
My most heart-felt CONGRATULATIONS to all students who participated in the Prague AFCEA events,
Prof. Harry Athanasopoulos
AFCEA Student Club advisor
7/6/2012
