CYBERSECURITY: CONFRONTING THE THREAT OF OUR TIME
The Bay Area Council convened its annual Town Hall on cybersecurity together with the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) last week. The Town Hall marked the conclusion of National Cyber Security Awareness Month, a series of awareness building events, updates, and industry initiatives organized by the NCSA. Successive waves of innovation have caused massive connectivity between homes, cars, devices, and the grid. This inter-connectivity has only begun to reveal both issues and challenges – all of which featured prominently in this year’s Town Hall discussion. Chief among these concerns is the regulatory frontier for the Internet of Things, which seemingly trails the technology frontier by some years.
Speakers at the town hall included a wide range of industry leaders, including San Francisco International Airport’s new Chief Information Security Officer Tom Borton and GE Digital Chief Security Officer Russ Dietz. Dietz and Borton were among experts speaking on critical infrastructure in transportation and energy, a discussion moderated by Jamey Sample, head of Cyber Risk at Ernst & Young. The discussion also featured Dan Goodrich of the Mineta Transportation Institute and global cybersecurity consultant and former NSA professional Thomas Parenty.
The transportation and energy discussion was followed by a finance and technology dialogue between Davin Baker of the Chertoff Group, Jennifer Martin of Symantec, Daniel Schott of Visa, and Natasha Shevelyov of VMWare. This panel discussed trends in intrusion and effective practices in place in companies with a global footprint. All of the speakers highlighted things every company can do to increase their attention to cyber risks across all employees, including various cyber basics.
Those cyber basics, while well known and featured every year during National Cyber Security Awareness Month, often require routine, continuing education of employees. To keep abreast of cybersecurity issues, contact Senior Advisor Matt Gardner.
