VU-ISIS Alumni brothers Brad Potteiger (MS'16, Ph.D.'19) and Tim Potteiger (MS'17 and Ph.D. Candidate) recently received an amazing level of recognition for their work on a new method of cybersecurity known as moving target defense.

Brad conceived of moving target defense while working on his Ph.D. in electrical engineering as a graduate student at VU-ISIS. Knowing that his novel idea would shift the paradigm of cybersecurity, he and Tim entered the Vanderbilt Center for Commercialization and Technology’s Tech Venture Challenge, where they met Deanna Meador, associate director of the Wond’ry, Vanderbilt’s Innovation Center. From there, they participated in Meador’s PreLaunch program, received microgrant funding from the Wond’ry, and were invited to present at Tennessee’s largest student pitch competition during the 36|86 Entrepreneurship Festival before elevating their idea further through the prestigious NSF National I-Corps Program and later winning the Southeast Entrepreneurship Conference's Student Pitch Competition. 
 

Earlier this year when remote work became the new normal, the Potteigers were among the first I-Corps teams to navigate the program virtually, in which they video-conferenced with over 100 potential clients, including leaders in government, uniform startups, cybersecurity consultants and even the CEO of one of their competitors. Through these meetings they learned that while moving target defense would serve the needs of both the public and private sectors, it may have its greatest impact on protecting small businesses from nation-state hackers.

They are now beginning to form their own startup company to explore commercialization for their solutions. 

To Read more about their work, please visit the article here.