Software Engineering Institute

July 10, 2018—The SEI’s Leigh Metcalf has been named co-editor-in-chief of Digital Threats: Research and Practice (DTRAP), a journal of the Association for Computing Machinery. DTRAP is a peer-reviewed journal that targets the prevention, identification, mitigation, and elimination of digital threats. The journal seeks to promote the foundational development of scientific rigor in digital security by bridging the gap between academic research and industry practice. 

DTRAP is the brainchild of Metcalf, who recognized a need for such a publication in the field. “I realized that in cybersecurity there was a distinct lack of communication between researchers and practitioners,” said Metcalf. “I thought a journal would be a good first step to fixing this lack of communication. I also felt this was a perfect publication for the CERT Division to stand up, because we operate at the nexus of research and practice.” Metcalf will share editorial duties with Arun Lakhotia, a professor in the School of Computing and Informatics at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Elaborating on the working gap between researchers and practitioners, Metcalf noted, “It’s a long-standing problem and has many causes, but to do a good job and make a real impact in the field, they have to work together. Good research in this field is informed by real-world problems, and researchers should communicate with those who work on the front line.  I think solving this problem involves communication, and we want the journal to facilitate that.”

Metcalf also noted that scientific rigor has been lacking in the area of cybersecurity research, and she hopes DTRAP can help remedy that situation. “It’s actually a well-known problem,” she said. “The NSA offers an award for best scientific paper on security, but no one has created a journal that says ‘Here is where science in cybersecurity is done.’” 

Metcalf has been a member of the SEI CERT Division technical staff for eight years. She currently serves as a senior network security research analyst specializing in cybersecurity. Prior to joining the SEI, Metcalf spent more than 10 years in industry working as a systems engineer and architect. She has presented at numerous conferences, including NANOG, MA3WG, FloCon, and the Joint Mathematics Meeting, and she is also the primary author of the book Cybersecurity and Applied Mathematics. Metcalf earned her Ph.D. from Auburn University in mathematics.

DTRAP plans to launch in early 2019 and is currently seeking contributors. To learn more about DTRAP, visit https://dtrap.acm.org/index.cfm.

Leigh Metcalf, PhD, a senior network security research analyst in the CERT Division, has been named co-editor-in-chief of Digital Threats: Research and Practice (DTRAP), a new journal of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).

Leigh spearheaded the establishment of this peer-reviewed journal because she recognized a gap in communication between cybersecurity researchers and practitioners. Leigh sees DTRAP as an ideal publication for the CERT Division to stand up, like the SEI overall, it operates at the nexus of research and practice.

DTRAP targets the prevention, identification, mitigation, and elimination of digital threats. The journal seeks to promote the foundational development of scientific rigor in digital security by bridging the gap between academic research and industry practice.  

Leigh will share editorial duties with Arun Lakhotia, a professor in the School of Computing and Informatics at University of Louisiana at Lafayette.        

DTRAP plans to launch early 2019 and is presently seeking contributors. To learn more about DTRAP, visit https://dtrap.acm.org/index.cfm.