NOMINATION HIGHLIGHTS

Jeff Gimbel is a Senior IT Security Analyst with North Dakota State University’s Information Technology Division. In this role, Jeff assists in the development, maintenance and execution of university-wide information security strategy, policies, procedures, risk management, assessment and awareness.

Jeff started working at NDSU’s help desk and moved into the IT Security Analyst role. He was then promoted to Senior IT Security Analyst.

This nomination, however, focuses primarily on the work that Jeff has done in support of NDSU’s cybersecurity educational programs. In support of these activities, Mike has given multiple presentations on cybersecurity technical topics including both penetration testing for security analysis and forensics.

Jeff also helped with the launch of NDSU’s leading ‘Hack NDSU’ program. Hack NDSU gives students real penetration testing experience by allowing them to perform authorized ethical hacking of the NDSU network and server systems. Students had the option of performing testing on their own, under the supervision of the professional penetration testers and NDSU IT staff, or following along with the penetration testing professionals.

Jeff also led the development of NDSU’s ‘Hacking Village’. The ‘village’ is a collection of computers that can be used to allow students and members of the public to get hands-on experience with information security procedures including both hacking and system defense. The ‘village’ was made available to NDSU students and also used during NDSU’s GenCyber camp during the summer of 2019. It has also gone on-the-road to locations including the Bismarck State University Cybersecurity Conference.