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CyberMA, cybersecurity, Phil Bond, public policy, Rob Joyce, Rodney Petersen, security

Watch CyberMA Keynote: Rob Joyce, White House Cyber Czar

MassTLC formally announced its new CyberMA initiative on May 22n^d at an event keynoted by Rob Joyce, White House Cybersecurity Coordinator and Special Assistant to the President. You can watch Joyce’s keynote address and Q&A session here.

Joining Joyce were Phil Bond, Executive Director of CyberUSA, and Rodney Petersen, Director of the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The event was kicked off by Senator Ed Markey, who addressed the crowd via a special video.

Bond explained how CyberMA’s offerings help businesses defend against cybercrime by allowing companies to:

Take advantage of all programming, networking, community building, and info sharing on the CyberMA platform

Utilize the threat-intelligence exchange via TruSTAR Technology’s privacy-preserving collaboration platform. For a limited time MassTLC and CyberMA members will receive a complimentary license to the TruStar platform

Access discounted rates for Cyber Secure America, which provides a voice in helping to shape the decisions that Washington makes and the opportunity to engage with key government decision makers

Turning to the hot topic of cybersecurity talent, Petersen addressed the severe shortage of cyber professionals and the overwhelming need to train more people for cybersecurity careers. He offered a number of non-traditional approaches, such as apprenticeships, non-credit community college programs, and training underrepresented populations. He also announced that NICE will hold a cybersecurity career awareness week in the second week of November, 2017.

Joyce’s remarks addressed a wide range of security issues, including the need to improve cybersecurity across all governmental agencies; the importance of knowing what’s in your network; the potential consequences of not thinking through the whole chain of interdependencies when implementing a new application and related security; the urgency of securing critical infrastructure and the role of states in that effort; areas of potential collaboration between the government and private industry; and cybersecurity education.

The audience of security professionals, industry execs, and educational and policy leaders were highly engaged and used the Q&A opportunities to explore issues of common interest and to delve more deeply into the topics covered in the talks. We expect this to be just the beginning of an ongoing conversation among security stakeholders.

To learn more about this exciting event, follow the links below: