The Commonwealth Cyber Initiative Accelerator (CCI+A) program is a jam-packed, five-month innovation program that’s fueling cybersecurity entrepreneurship across Virginia. It’s teaching professors and start-ups what it takes to bring technology to market, including how to pitch to a panel of investors and industry leaders. 

“Supporting cybersecurity start-ups and bringing ideas out of universities and into the marketplace are an essential part of the CCI’s mission,” said Luiz DaSilva, executive director of CCI. “We’re excited to help these start-ups reach their milestones and create new opportunities and jobs in the commonwealth.” 

The program began at George Mason University and has expanded statewide. It’s co-funded by the CCI Northern Virginia Node and the CCI Hub. 

Since its launch at George Mason University in 2022, CCI+A has accelerated 34 technologies from across Virginia,” said Liza Wilson Durant, CCI Northern Virginia Node director, associate dean of strategic initiatives and community engagement at George Mason, and College of Engineering and Computer professor. “Each year we’ve seen the teams increase their customer engagement and elevate their competitive pitch performance. It’s exciting to see several entities undergo acquisition and see the impact of the program on Virginia economic development.” 

The CCI+A program works on two tracks—the CATAPULT Fund supports teams emerging from Virginia public research universities and the ASCEND Fund focuses on start-up teams collaborating with faculty subject matter experts. The teams receive up to $75,000 to help them commercialize their technology. 

CCI funded 10 projects this year. On October 16, teams from both tracks competed to pitch their start-ups to a panel of investors and industry leaders. The winning team from each category received an additional $5,000 in funding. 

• The CATAPULT winning team is DeepScan, led by Rui Ning, an assistant professor in computer science at Old Dominion University (ODU). The team also includes Maia Lin and Yao Wang from ODU. 

• The ASCEND winning team is Glacier21, a start-up led by CEO Ren McEachern, a former FBI agent. Team members include Robert Appleton, Mike Borowski, Neil Alexander, along with George Mason professor Foteini Baldimsti. 

The CCI+A program is coordinated by Gisele Stolz, senior director of entrepreneurship and innovation at George Mason. 

Meet the Winners 

DeepScan 

While artificial intelligence is quickly becoming a requirement on our smartphones and other devices, security is lagging, said Ning, DeepScan team lead. Hidden triggers can hijack behavior, and many apps ship models that are easy to tamper with. DeepScan promises to protect on-device AI without slowing down performance. First-time winner Ning is a veteran of CCI+A and put what he learned from a past program to good use. 

“The program taught me how to communicate technical ideas in a way that connects with broader audiences,” Ning said. “I’ve always been curious about entrepreneurship because it feels like a natural way to translate research into something that can make a difference. It’s another path to extend our impact beyond papers and grants.” 

Glacier21 

Glacier21 is focusing on combating illicit cryptocurrency activities. The platform integrates data from such sources as social media, data leaks, and the deep/dark web to uncover complex connections between crypto wallets, businesses, and individuals. 

CCI+A helped the team with the execution, McEachern said. “When we were lucky enough to be selected into the CCI+A program, it didn’t just open up some resources; it opened up access to people and vast networks that totally changed our strategy and our thinking.” 

Foteini Baldimsti, an associate professor of computer science at Mason, worked with Glacier21 to provide technical expertise. “It’s very nice to see how your academic work can help a start-up and give technical knowledge,” Baldimsti said. “But I think it’s also very interesting as an academic to learn from this project and from the CCI+A program about how you can bring your own ideas and how you can participate in one of the next cohorts and be on the other side as the founder of the company. I think this experience has been very, very valuable.” 

When George Mason University cyber security engineering student Noah Hinger interned at Surefire Cyber in summer 2023, his managers were so impressed with his work that they invited him back. Thanks to his previous experience, the Honors College student was able to take on more responsibility this summer at the computer security company and contribute to more projects. 

“The experience from my first summer here let me understand what was happening and contribute across the company,” said Hinger, who is a sophomore in the College of Engineering and Computing. “Surefire Cyber has an amazing internship program. They’re investing in us by having professional development meetings and providing us with the opportunity to talk to experts from different fields.” said Hinger. 

“I think it’s helped me a lot to be able to practice my independence and accountability,” said Hinger, who also competes in George Mason’s Chess and Competitive Cyber Clubs. “I’ve had the chance to do projects on my own without necessarily needing to report to someone, and I’ve also learned so much from all the smart people at Surefire Cyber.” 

What made you choose Surefire Cyber for your internships?  

Surefire Cyber is a digital forensics and incident response company. When an organization gets hacked, they call Surefire Cyber to conduct an investigation and restore systems so that everything’s OK. As a technology intern, I am helping develop the code that our forensic analysts use to figure out what’s happened and retrieve all the essential data. Surefire Cyber is really exceptional at using a lot of automation tools so that the forensic analysts can focus more on the big picture and the data they’re working with.  

What does a typical day interning at Surefire Cyber look like for you?  

I work under two groups: software development and information operations, or DevOps, and security engineering. For DevOps, I help to manage company infrastructure and work on a lot of coding assignments.  

Traditionally, there are software developers, and there are operations, which maintain it. DevOps is kind of a hybrid role, which means it entails coding, setting up servers, and being responsible for maintaining the infrastructure.  

How would you say George Mason has helped prepare you for this role?  

I definitely think more critically when problem-solving this time around, and I think that’s in part due to George Mason, especially the Honors College research and literature classes that I’ve taken. I’m learning about a lot of new technologies in real time, so I have to be able to research and read about them and then apply that knowledge to my work. The courses have definitely helped me when it comes absorbing the information I’m reading about and then transferring it to my assignments at Surefire Cyber.  

Another thing about the Honors College is that I get to meet different people from different disciplines, and that’s really helped me at Surefire Cyber when connecting and networking with colleagues. I think that’s been really rewarding and something that George Mason’s helped prepare me for.  

I’ve also gotten a lot of experience in my systems engineering and digital systems engineering classes, and getting to see what goes into a lot of security minded decisions is very similar to what I’m doing in this internship.  

What’s your favorite thing about interning at Surefire Cyber?  

My favorite thing about the company is that it’s always driving innovation and new discoveries within cybersecurity and digital forensics. They’re always pushing for the best and trying to help people. That’s the whole point of digital forensics is to be there for and helping them out on the worst day of their life.  

When George Mason University 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.

“There’s nothing more important than protecting and defending others. As an engineer, I’m driven to get important work done by thinking about complex problems and finding suitable solutions,” said Wadlin, who is from Leesburg, Virginia.

Since winter 2024, the Honors College student has been interning at the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative(CCI) Northern Virginia Node, George Mason’s branch of the statewide network dedicated of excellence in cybersecurity research. CCI’s mission includes workforce development through training the next generation of cybersecurity experts.

“It’s a super exciting job because I get to work with AprilTags, which are on objects that the drone’s camera then sees and scans. Instead of sharing data, the tags utilize location information for navigation, tracking objects, or pathing purposes,” he said.

Wadlin is also simulating drone flight with the Microsoft tool Air Sim, a project he presented at the CCI Symposium in April. “I created a model with a 98% accuracy, really high F1 score—higher than what we could find on the market—detecting collisions so the drones would be able to respond to anomalous factors such as objects that get too close, environmental variables, cyber-attacks, and more,” he explained.

Wadlin learned about many of the tools he’s currently using for CCI in his classes with College of Engineering and Computing professors, such as his mentor Mohamed Gebril, an associate professor in the Department of Cyber Security Engineering. 

“George Mason supports people where they are to get them where they want to be,” Wadlin said.  

The skills Wadlin has acquired during his time at George Mason and in his work with CCI have enable him to help other students in their studies.  

“Connor is a very skilled student and has been able to develop different programs, as well as 12 labs for sophomore- and freshman-level students at George Mason. He even assists the students during our workshops,” said Gebril. 

Wadlin is participating in George Mason’s Bachelor’s to Accelerated Master’s Program and will to pursuing a master’s degree also in cyber security. Gebril said he’s looking forward to having Wadlin in his classes again as a graduate student. 

“It will be a smooth transition from the undergraduate to the graduate level because the curriculum aligns well with the CCI mission, which is to equip our students with the tools to conduct research activity and develop cutting–edge technology,” said Gebril. 

Wadlin’s team is also working to develop a first–of–its–kind cyber drone race that incorporates cybersecurity challenges and artificial intelligence for undergraduate students.  

Wadlin was diagnosed with autism at 19 and sees this diagnosis as working to his advantage by allowing him to see things from different perspectives and approach problems with his own unique ideas. 

“As an engineer, you have to ask yourself ‘how is this making the world a better place?’ That’s always got to be the end goal,” said Wadlin. 

George Mason University Cybersecurity Engineering associate professor Mohamed Gebril led a team of students to the first-ever BattleDrone competition, an exercise coordinated through the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative.

In April, Mohamed Gebril, an associate professor in George Mason University’s Cyber Security Engineering Department, took a team of students into “battle.” The team traveled to Blacksburg, Virginia, for a BattleDrones Competition that was hosted by the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI) at Virginia Tech’s Drone Park.

Gebril emphasized that the inaugural battle was not really a competition but a learning experience. CCI began working on this competition in 2020, but the pandemic halted its progress. This was the first time the event was held.

“It was not a competition per se. All the teams worked together to get this project off the ground,” said Gebril, who teaches in Mason’s College of Engineering and Computing. “CCI-VT ran into some issues with some of the computer vision tools, but overall it was a great learning experience.”

The main objective of the competition, according to Gebril, was to have student teams assemble their own drones with materials provided by CCI-VT research group, as well as promote interest in these kinds of activities among younger students.

For the competition, Gebril pulled together a team of Mason cyber security engineering majors interested in hands-on opportunities, which included senior Kylie Amison, senior Corrado Apostolakis, senior Brandon Henry, junior Casey Cho, sophomore Zaid Osta, and Mahmoud Zaghloul, an area high school student.

By all accounts, it was a successful trip.

“The team did really well,” Gebril said. “They were able to assemble the drone successfully. We are also working on continuing this project by adding cybersecurity features to enhance this learning experience.”

Will they compete again?

“Yes, indeed,” he said. “Our students love this project and how it applies concepts learned in classrooms toward this hands-on activity.”

CCI is a network of Virginia industry, higher education, and economic development partners dedicated to cybersecurity research, innovation, and workforce development. Mason leads the Northern Virginia Node of the network.