Thomas J. Rushmore graduated with degrees in Math and Physics from University of Minnesota in 1982. After earning his doctorate in Math and Physics at U of M, he left to see what the real world was all about. Since then, he's tried almost every type of occupation imaginable: actuary, professional musician, petroleum engineer, computer consultant, teacher, wall street computer programmer, and, most recently, founder of a small cyber security consulting firm. Although as a pianist, he has won several major piano competitions including the Schubert Club Competition, his work in the cyber security world exposed him to a wide range of cyber attacks and other cyberterrorism-related topics since 2001, which has taken much of his time since then.

Dr. Rushmore will discuss CYBER TERRORISM AND DDOS: A PERSONAL JOURNEY. TJR LLC has experienced a rapid international explosion of growth from it's inception in 1998 to the present day. As most of our studied attacks originate from the mideast, it was inevitable that the problems of the real world should appear in the microcosm cyber world. All manner of attacks including fuzzing, protocol hacks, reverse engineering, DDoS on a massive scale, and social engineering have plauged systems in the United States for years, but more intensely since 9/11/2001. The parallel universes of middle eastern conflict and cyber communites are simply astounding to observe. In this presentation, we will chronicle one company's journey into this cyber miasma, and the company's will to survive under such adverse conditions. TJR LLC has consulted for many major corporations who have been hit by gigabits/second of DDoS traffic, massive protests, and personal attacks to an extent hitherto unimagined by the author. The ability to survive in such an environment is something which all companies will need to develop as the world becomes smaller and more contentious, and the vulnerabilities of the internet start to be exploited for personal, religious, and national gain.