Justin Pelletier Headshot

Justin Pelletier

Director of the GCI Cyber Range and Training Center

ESL Global Cybersecurity Institute
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
jxpics@rit.edu
Office Location
GOL-3763

Justin Pelletier

Director of the GCI Cyber Range and Training Center

ESL Global Cybersecurity Institute
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences

Education

BS, Stonehill College; MBA, Rochester Institute of Technology; Ph.D., Capella University

Bio

Justin M. Pelletier is a Professor of Practice and Director of the Cyber Range and Training Center at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). In this role, Dr. Pelletier leads security assessments and workforce-development initiatives for partner organizations in the critical-infrastructure and national-defense sectors. 

He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the Department of Cybersecurity within RIT’s Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences. His scholarship focuses on technology, security, and risk; he has authored more than three dozen scholarly articles, book chapters, and patents. He holds a Ph.D. in Information Assurance and Security, an MBA in Entrepreneurship, and a B.S. in Computer Science.

Before joining academia, Dr. Pelletier served as a civil servant in the U.S. Intelligence Community and as a member of the modeling and simulations working group within the U.S. National Security Council. A combat veteran, he currently serves as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve. Justin is a life-promised lay member of the Dominican Order (Ordo Praedicatorum) and lives on a small farm with his wife and their five children.

jxpics@rit.edu
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Select Scholarship

Journal Paper
Madhira, Namita, et al. "Code red: A nuclear nightmare-navigating ransomware response at an Eastern European power plant." Journal of Information Technology Teaching Cases. (2023): 1-11. Print.
Pelletier, J.M. "Longitudinal Analysis of Information Security Incident Spillover Effects." Journal of Management Science and Business Intelligence 3. (2018): 15-20. Web.
Published Conference Proceedings
Tiffany, Bragg,, et al. "Cognitive Engineering Modeling of Phishing." Proceedings of the Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 2022 Annual Meeting. Ed. HFES. Atlanta, USA: n.p., Print.
Reddy, Pranusha Soma and Justin Pelletier. "The Pentest Method for Business Intelligence." Proceedings of the 2022 45th Jubilee International Convention on Information, Communication and Electronic Technology (IEEE MIPRO), 2022. Ed. MIPRO. Opatija, Croatia: IEEE, Print.
Munaiah, Nuthan, et al. "Characterizing Attacker Behavior in a Cybersecurity Penetration Testing Competition." Proceedings of the 2019 ACM/IEEE International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement (ESEM). Ed. IEEE. Porto de Galinhas, Pernambuco, Brazil: IEEE, 2019. Print.
N, Munaiah,, et al. "A cybersecurity dataset derived from the National Collegiate Penetration Testing Competition." Proceedings of the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Maui, HI, 7-9 January, 2019. Maui: HICSS. Ed. HICSS. Maui, Hawaii: n.p., Print.
Santa, James, Neil Hair, and Justin Pelletier. "Modeling e-learner Satisfaction: The Role of Online Customer Experience." Proceedings of the Marketing in Higher Education Track, Academy of Marketing Conference 2019, London. Ed. AMC. London, UK: n.p., Print.
Pelletier, J.M. and Shita, M. "Optimizing Alternative Futures: Assuring Security in the Event of Machine Superintelligence." Proceedings of the Proceedings of the International Conference on Intelligent Computing and Big Data, Houston, TX, 6-7 April, 2018. Ed. Bruce O'Neal, Yu Sun. Houston, TX: IBII, Print.
Hair, N., Santa, J., and Pelletier, J.M. "Online customer experience in e-learning: Understanding the antecedents and outcomes of perspective graduate student’s website interactions when selecting a place of higher education." Proceedings of the OLC Accelerate 2018. Orlando, FL. Ed. Katie Fife Schuster. Orlando, Florida: OLC, 2018. Print.
Peer Reviewed/Juried Poster Presentation or Conference Paper
Pelletier, J.M. "The Race to Feld and Secure Autonomous Combat Units." Proceedings of the 2018 USENIX Summit on Hot Topics in Security, Baltimore, MD. Ed. David Brumley, Parisa Tabriz. Baltimore, MD: n.p..

Currently Teaching

CSEC-472
Authentication and Authorization
3 Credits
This course covers the theory, design, and implementation of authentication and access control systems with an emphasis on trust and secure protocol design. Students will examine authentication protocols, password systems, multi-factor and biometric approaches, single sign-on, post-quantum methods, and formal models of access control. The course emphasizes applied analysis and implementation, preparing students to evaluate and communicate about authentication and access control in evolving security environments.
CSEC-645
Social Engineering
3 Credits
Depending on who you ask, you will get a different version of the same statistic: 90+% of cybersecurity breaches start with social engineering. But statistics, like people, are prone to manipulation. This course will explore both the ethics and the tactics of social engineering at the micro and macro levels using both manual and AI-infused approaches—from influencing a single bad action (clicking a phishing link) to influencing an entire population (information warfare, troll farms, and fake news). Students will receive practical instruction in social-engineering focused pentesting that incorporates vishing, phishing, creating payloads, applying advanced OSINT, and physical security considerations for on-prem engagements. Students will select a recent case in social engineering and perform a case study paper/project.

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