Cyber Ready™ 2016 Cybersecurity Conference to be held Oct. 18 at MacDill AFB

TAMPA – A group of collaborating organizations including The MITRE Corporation and the National Cyber Partnership offer a fresh look at cybersecurity challenges with a focus on solutions in the Cyber Ready 2016 Cybersecurity Conference and Sixth Annual MITRE National Capture the Flag Competition Awards, held on Tuesday, October 18, at the Surf’s Edge Club at MacDill AFB in Tampa, Florida.

Organizing sponsors share workforce and economic development objectives, particularly for Tampa Bay and the State of Florida, as well as concerns over the growing cyber threats that affect government, business and individuals with accelerating frequency.

These organizations include The MITRE Corporation, the Florida Chamber Foundation, the Tampa Bay Innovation Alliance, the Florida Suncoast Chapter of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO), the Tampa Bay Innovation Center and the National Cyber Partnership.

Two hundred twenty-seven (227) teams participated this year in the MITRE National Capture the Flag Competition on September 16-17. There were 31 cyber challenges of various complexity. Each team, made up of 4-5 members, competed in one of three divisions, including 30 high schools, 98 colleges and 99 professional (post-grad, government and industry). High school and college teams are eligible for awards. The Competition aims to encourage and promote interest in cybersecurity as part of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) outreach to prepare students to compete in a competitive global marketplace.

With a sub-theme of “national cyber leadership begins in Florida™”, the Cyber Ready 2016 Cybersecurity Conference brings together presenters uniquely qualified by their experience in the field to address a range of critical factors necessary to understand and counter the growing cyber threat and the accelerating pace of cyber attacks.

Dr. Mark Maybury, Vice President and Chief Security Officer at The MITRE Corporation, will deliver the luncheon keynote, Cybersecurity Horizons. Immediately following, he will present the MITRE Capture the Flag Competition awards to the winning teams in the high school and college divisions.

The dinner keynote speaker is R. "Montana" Williams, COO & cyber evangelist for the Cyber World Institute (CWI), adjunct instructor at California State University-San Bernardino, former Senior Manager -- Cyber Practices for ISACA and former Chief -- Cybersecurity Education & Awareness Branch at the Department of Homeland Security. He will address The necessity for a paradigm shift in today’s cybersecurity education/training methodology, transitioning from a knowledge-based approach to a skills-based approach.

The conference has three morning sessions and four afternoon sessions, each capped by a panel discussion with distinguished members drawn from government, the military, business and academia.

1. First morning session -- Bilateral/Collateral Damage
2. Phil Dumas, Director for Research and Program Development, National Cyber Partnership
3. Second morning session -- Challenges of increased number and sophistication of cybercrimes targeting US financial institutions and critical infrastructure, role of the Electronic Crimes Task Force and Special Agent Program
   
   Special Agent Richard Dean, United States Secret Service
4. 3.       Third morning session -- Incident Response for Everyone, understand what to do (and what not to do) if your organization is breached
   
   Gregory P. Scasny, CEO, Cybersecurity Defense Solutions

LUNCH -- keynote by Dr. Mark Maybury, Cybersecurity Horizons

1. 1.       First afternoon session -- Critical infrastructure and the power grid -- why protecting the grid is critical and what can be done to mitigate the threats
   
   Presenter TBA, Southern Company
2. 2.       Second afternoon session -- Rise of the machines -- unattended network appliances (UNAs)
   
   Colin Arnold, Director of Academic Affairs, National Cyber Partnership
3. 3.       Third afternoon session -- Defending America in Cyberspace
   
   COL Jon Brickey, PhD, Army Cyber Institute at West Point, National Capital Region Liaison
4. 4.       Fourth afternoon session -- Challenges in cybersecurity policy-making
   
   US Senator Marco Rubio, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (invited)

RECEPTION

DINNER -- keynote by R. "Montana" Williams, The necessity for a paradigm shift in today’s cybersecurity education/training methodology

Additional conference information and registration is available online at www.national-cyber.org/conference.

Interview opportunities available with presenters, discussion panelists, winning MITRE Capture the Flag Competition teams and fast-track Cyber Foundations™ training program students.

The MITRE Corporation
4830 W. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 790
Tampa, FL 33609-2585
(813) 207-5311

The MITRE Corporation is a not-for-profit organization that operates research and development centers sponsored by the federal government. Our centers support our sponsors with scientific research and analysis, development and acquisition, and systems engineering and integration. We also have an independent research program that explores new and expanded uses of technologies to meet our sponsors’ needs. Our principal locations are in Bedford, Mass., and McLean, Va. To learn more, visit www.mitre.org.

National Cyber Partnership
101 E. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 3300
Tampa, FL 33602-5151
(813) 922-3600

The National Cyber Partnership is a not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) public-private partnership based in Tampa, Fla., with a mission to create a self-sustaining, broad-based, rich, neutral and independent cyber “ecosystem” that aligns common interests across a multitude of sectors and stakeholders. A key initiative is promoting workforce development through competency-based, experiential Cyber Foundations™ training, with an emphasis on cybersecurity, in collaborative programs with our industry and training partners.
We work with our collaborating partners to “connect the dots”, seeding the growth of a vigorous cyber workforce and industry in the State of Florida as a model for the rest of the country.
To learn more, visit www.national-cyber.org.