Michael Ham
Michael Ham
Associate Professor / Coord. for Cyber Ops Initiatives / Dept. Chair - Cyber Ops
Department
The Beacom College of Computer & Cyber Sciences
Education
D.Sc., Cybersecurity - Dakota State University, 2017
M.S., Dakota State University, 2015
M.S., Dakota State University, 2012
B.S., Dakota State University, 2010
Biography
Dr. Mike Ham, in his capacity as the Department Chair of Cyber Operations at DSU, leads the development and teaching of advanced cyber operation courses for upper-level undergraduate and doctoral cybersecurity students. His leadership extends to being the lead faculty for Dakota State University’s NSA Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Operations (CAE-CO) designation. He also serves as a dissertation chair and committee member to students in DSU’s Cyber Operations Ph.D. program, and contributes to campus cyber events like DakotaCon and the GenCyber summer camps.
Before joining the faculty at DSU, Dr. Ham worked as a security consultant. He specialized in software penetration testing and security administration for internal and client infrastructures, including external networks, internal networks, wireless networks, physical site assessments, social engineering, reporting, and making recommendations for improving an organization’s security practices.
Dr. Ham's commitment to the field is evident in his ongoing role as an independent security consultant. He continues to provide valuable insights and recommendations to clients on infrastructure, vulnerability remediation, and policy, ensuring that his expertise remains at the forefront of industry practice.
Contact
Office Location: Beacom Institute of Technology
Phone: (605) 256-5838
Email
Website
- Software Reverse Engineering
- Malware Analysis
- Low-Level Programming
- Vulnerability Analysis
- Merrill Hunter Award for Excellence in Research (2025)
Ham is involved with and leads scholarship programs, cyber-related grants, and other efforts to reduce the nation's gap in qualified cybersecurity professionals including:
- SFS AI + Cybersecurity: Preparing the Next Generation of Public Professionals in Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity (PI)
- Dakota State University CyberCorps SFS (PI), Supplement
- Department of Defense Cyber Service Academy (CO-PI)
- DSU GenCyber Co-Ed (Co-PI)
- Ham, M., & Cronin, K. (2025). Patch Hunter - A Docker Toolkit for Firmware Differential Analysis. ISCAP Proceedings 2025, 11.
- Cronin, K., & Ham, M. (2025). Leveraging Open Source for Applied Teaching & Research in 5G Networks. ISCAP Proceedings 2025, 11
- Cronin, K., & Ham, M. (2025). Teaching Cellular Concepts: An Intro with GSM. Papers of the 30th Annual CCSC Plains Conference
- Ham, M. (2025). Remote Protocol Analysis Lab. Papers of the 30th Annual CCSC Plains Conference
- Zwach, S., & Ham, M. (2024). Utilizing Docker for Research to Enable Rapid Repeatability. ISCAP Proceedings 2024
- Ham, M., Zwach, S., & Cronin, K. (2024). Remote Protocol Analysis with a Logic Analyzer. ISCAP Proceedings 2024
- Cronin, K., & Ham, M. (2024). Lab Environments in a Post-VMware World. ISCAP Proceedings 2024
- Ham, M., & Kramer, A. (2023). Hardware Reverse Engineering Platform: An Open-source Educational Tool. ISCAP Proceedings 2023
- Ham, M., & Kramer, A. (2023, September 27). Preventing Ransomware and Malware Starts with Good Cyber Hygiene. Infosecurity Magazine.
- Zwach, S., & Ham, M. (2023). ICT: Attendance and Contact Tracing During a Pandemic. In S. Latifi (Ed.), ITNG 2023 20th International Conference on Information Technology-New Generations (pp. 271–278). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28332-1_31
- Welu, C., Ham, M., & Cronin, K. (2023). Verifying X.509 Certificate Extensions. In S. Latifi (Ed.), ITNG 2023 20th International Conference on Information Technology-New Generations (pp. 97–103). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28332-1_12
- Ham, M., Cronin, K., & Halverson, T. (2022). Electronic Cyber Badge: An Experiential Teaching Platform for Cybersecurity Concepts. EDSIGCON Proceedings 2022
- Cronin, K., & Ham, M. (2022). Teaching Routing Concepts: The Internet of Strings. EDSIGCON Proceedings 2022
- Ham, M., Cronin, K., & Halverson, T. (2022). Wireless Security: Learning by Hacking with Software Defined Radios. Proceedings of the 54th Annual Midwest Instruction and Computing Symposium, 54, 65–76. https://micsymposium.org/mics2022/mics-2022-proceedings.pdf
- Cronin, K., Ham, M., & Halverson, T. (2022). Internet of Strings: Introducing Routing Concepts to Kids. Proceedings of the 54th Annual Midwest Instruction and Computing Symposium, 54, 61–64. https://micsymposium.org/mics2022/mics-2022-proceedings.pdf
- Ham, M., Cronin, K., & Halverson, T. (2021). IPv6 RPKI Implementation Validator: A Security Utility for BGP Administrators. EDSIGCON Proceedings 2021
- Cronin, K., Ham, M., & Halverson, T. (2021). Using Python for teaching 802.11 security and intrusion detection. EDSIGCON Proceedings 2021
- Cronin, K., & Ham, M. (2020). Open Source Capture and Analysis of 802.11 Management Frames. In S. Latifi (Ed.), 17th International Conference on Information Technology–New Generations (ITNG 2020) (pp. 615–618). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43020-7_81
- Cronin, K., & Ham, M. (2019, October). A Python tool for rogue 802.11 hunting. Central Area Networking and Security Workshop, Ames, IA.
- Ham, M. J. (2017). BGP route attestation: Design and Observation Using IPv6 Headers [Dissertation, Dakota State University]. https://scholar.dsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1307&context=theses
- Cronin, K., Pauli, W., & Ham, M. (2012). Using the Cloud: The Cost of Encryption in IaaS. 2012 Proceedings of the Conference on Information Systems Applied Research
- Cronin, K., Pauli, W. E., & Ham, M. (2012). Using the cloud: How to keep your data private. Journal of Information Systems Applied Research, 5(3), 24. https://jisara.org/2012-5/N3/JISARv5n3p24.html
- Cronin, K., Pauli, W., & Ham, M. (2011). Using the cloud: How to keep your data private. 2011 Proceedings of the Conference on Information Systems Applied Research
- Pauli, J., Engebretson, P. H., Ham, M., & Zautke, M. J. (2011). CookieMonster: Automated Session Hijacking Archival and Analysis. 2011 Eighth International Conference on Information Technology: New Generations, 403–407. https://doi.org/10.1109/ITNG.2011.78
- F. Homan, M. Ham, K. Cronin. Extending GenCyber Reach through Comprehensive Cyber Enrichment Programming; April 04, 2025, Virtual.
- M. Ham, K.Cronin. 20 Years of CAE: Was the Juice Worth the Squeeze? National Cybersecurity Education Colloquium (NCEC); September 20, 2023, Chicago, IL.
- M. Ham. Leading a Successful SFS Program. Marquette University Colloquium; April 3, 2023, Milwaukee, WI.
- M. Ham, K.Cronin. Camp Activity - Electronic GenCyber Badge. GenCyber 2022 Fall Meeting; October 21, 2022; Virtual.
- M. Ham. Student success = Your success. SFS New PI Bootcamp; April 28, 2022; Arlington, VA.