2018 Cybersecurity Summit: Mass Tech Collaborative Grant for $250K Announced
2018 Cybersecurity Summit
2018 Cybersecurity Summit
Our panelists: Derrick Donnelly, Margaret Weichert, Suzette Kent & Matthew Smith
Suzzette Kent, first woman Chief Information Officer for the Office of Management and Budget
Margaret Weichert, Federal Deputy Director for the Office of Management and Budget
Bay Path University swag for our speakers
President Leary Announced Cybersecurity Workforce Grant
Over 200 people attended the recent 6th Annual Cybersecurity Summit held on October 5th on the Longmeadow campus of Bay Path University.
The event was kicked-off by an announcement from President Carol Leary of a $250,000 grant from the Mass Technology Collaborative. The Bay Path project, “Engaging Student Interns in Cybersecurity Audits with Smaller Supply Chain Companies to Develop Experience for Entry-Level Positions while Improving the Cybersecurity Ecosystem in Massachusetts,” was only one of three projects submitted to the review panel to receive funding, and the only one based in Western Massachusetts.
Derrick Donnelly, Co-founder and Chief Scientist at Black Bag Technologies, used a famous episode from the original Star Trek series, “The Trouble with Tribbles,” to frame his talk, entitled “The Trouble with Apples.” Diving into the intricacies of the Apple file system, the former head of the IT Security Department at Apple spoke at length on the technical challenges of balancing Apple’s new APFS file system, which has strong encryption features, and forensic investigations.
The main focus of Margaret Weichert, Federal Deputy Director for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), was encouraging students and others to consider working for the federal government in the area of cybersecurity. The government faces a daunting brain drain as it trains and provides cybersecurity personnel in all areas of government, including the military, many who are often lured to private industry. In response, the government is currently reviewing its cyber hiring policies in order to attract talent that will help to serve and protect our country.
Finally, Suzette Kent, the first woman Chief Information Officer for the Office of Management and Budget, spoke at length of the massive data repository that is under the jurisdiction of the federal government. A recently launched cyber strategy and a comprehensive IT modernization plan are only two of the many new efforts launched by the OMB. And Kent provided an FYI tidbit: look for the US Census to be available via mobile phones! Great changes are happening…