Albany Law School’s cybersecurity programs are getting off the ground — and Tyler Stacy ’18 is right in the middle of it all.

Stacy was the first student to begin research on cybersecurity under Associate Dean Antony Haynes at Albany Law School. While the field is established, its connection to law has only recently begun to be studied.

“It’s a big deal for the school to be making a push toward cybersecurity programs,” said Stacy, “because it helps bridge the gap between lawyers and people in the tech industry.”

“If you make your interests known, people at Albany Law can give you the connections to make it happen. If you have a passion for something, that’s a big deal.”

Stacy is a member of the Albany Law Review, where he has incorporated his interest in cybersecurity into his Note and Comment.

“In my Note and Comment, I’m arguing that the United States should develop a more defensive cybersecurity posture by favoring disclosure of unknown vulnerabilities,” he said. “Each time I engage with the information I become more knowledgeable of the context and the situations where it might show up. It helps me to orient myself in the cybersecurity world. It’s not hard to write because I’m interested in it.”

Stacy didn’t come to Albany Law with cybersecurity studies in mind.

He was always interested in technology, but after taking Dean Haynes’ cybersecurity class, he saw areas where it could be combined with the law. Stacy started working as Dean Haynes’ research assistant in the spring of 2016, Haynes’ first full semester at the law school.

As a research assistant, Stacy researches different cases involving cybersecurity and finds connections with other cases. While he didn’t study technology in undergrad — he was an English major at Fordham University — Stacy became better acquainted with it through his research with Dean Haynes.

Stacy is also seriously considering the possibility of teaching as a career after working as a teacher’s assistant this past fall for a Torts class.

“It was probably the most ‘fun’ I’ve had in law school,” Stacy said. “I know the material like the back of my hand. Grammar and sentence structure are big parts of it, and writing exactly what you mean. It’s hard to write in a lawyerly manner so it was a cool feeling to watch the 1Ls become better at articulating their thoughts from month to month. I always thought about teaching, and once I became a TA, the experience had a big impact on me.”

Stacy also interned at the Center for Internet Security, Inc., a nonprofit that promotes cybersecurity best practices and helps to protect private and public organizations against cyber threats.

“If you make your interests known, people at Albany Law can give you the connections to make it happen,” Stacy said. “If you have a passion for something, that’s a big deal.”