The scariest thing in the month of October used to be Halloween. Since first being recognized as cybersecurity awareness month in 2004, October has served to educate the public about the very real threats in cyberspace.[Tweet "The Treats of Cybersecurity Month - Protect yourself from the threats in cyberspace #GovEventsBlog"]
Spearheaded by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the cyber events held nationwide throughout October serve to engage and educate public and private sector partners and raise awareness about cybersecurity. These events aim to provide tools and resources needed to stay safe online, increasing the resiliency of the Nation in the event of a cyber incident. DHS has organized the weeks of the month around themes to help direct this education. This year's themes are:
- Week 1: October 3-7, 2016 - Every Day Steps Towards Online Safety with Stop.Think.Connect.™
- Week 2: October 10-14, 2016 - Cyber from the Break Room to the Board Room
- Week 3: October 17-21, 2016 - Recognizing and Combating Cybercrime
- Week 4: October 24-28, 2016 - Our Continuously Connected Lives: What's Your 'App'-titude?
- Week 5: October 31, 2016 - Building Resilience in Critical Infrastructure
We wanted to highlight a number of the events taking place across the nation throughout the month of October that will tackle these tough and important topics.[Tweet "Take a look at some of the events taking place during Cybersecurity Month. #GovEventsBlog"]
- AFCEA DC Cyber Security Summit (October 11; Washington, DC) - This event brings together over 600 thought-leaders from multiple federal agencies, including DHS and DoD, the Intelligence Community, and other industries. Topics covered include strategies for addressing cyber intelligence, next-generation cyber operations, and insider threat. There will also be a strong focus on building a workforce that can help carry out these strategies.
- OWASP's 13th Annual AppSecUSA Security Conference DC (October 11; Washington, DC) - The Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) is a nonprofit organization focused on improving the security of software. Their AppSecUSA event includes two days of training followed by a two-day conference where software security leaders, researchers, and technologists will discuss cutting-edge ideas and technological advancements for securing web applications. Presenters include well-known cyber experts as well as government officials.
- NGA Cyber Security Day (October 12; Springfield, VA) - The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's Office of Security is hosting this Security Education and Awareness Day which includes guest speakers from throughout the intelligence and DoD communities. With a theme of "Integrating Security," the focus will be on topics pertinent to national security and the NGA's role in an ever-changing socio-political environment.
- CSX 2016 North America (October 17-19; Las Vegas, NV) - Organized by ISACA (formerly known as the Information Systems Audit and Control Association), this event brings together thought leaders, experts, and professionals at all levels of cyber security as well as the next generation of cyber defenders. Speakers include journalists, hackers, CISOs, and more. Sessions are offered at "Essential" and "Advanced" levels to meet the needs of all attendees. Sessions are organized around the key areas of identify, protect, detect, respond, recover, and defend.
- Cyber Electromagnetic Activity (CEMA) Conference 2016 (October 18-20; Aberdeen, MD) - This event brings together the CEMA community of interest to share different perspectives, further the concept of Cyber/EW/Signal convergence, and give DoD, other government agencies, industry, and academia a framework to discuss ongoing and future research and development to set the conditions for innovation and success.
- Cyber Security Summit - Los Angeles (October 20; Santa Monica, CA) - Aimed at the C-suite, this event connects senior level executives responsible for protecting their companies' critical infrastructures with innovative solution providers and renowned information security experts. The forum will focus on educating attendees on how to best protect highly vulnerable business applications and critical infrastructure. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet the nation's leading solution providers and discover the latest products and services for enterprise cyber defense.
- ICF's 4th Annual CyberSci Symposium (October 27; Fairfax, VA) - With a theme of "Cybersecurity Research and Development (R&D): Recommendations for the 45th President of the United States," this event will explore and discuss specific R&D concepts and progress relevant for the next administration. Speakers include Congressman Ruben Gallego (D), Arizona House of Representatives, member of the House Armed Services Committee; General Michael Hayden, Retired four-star general, Former Director of the CIA and National Security Agency; David Honey, Director, Science and Technology, and Assistant Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Science and Technology; Dr. Alexander Kott, Network Science Division Chief, US Army Research Laboratory; and Mark Weatherford, Former Department of Homeland Security Deputy Under Secretary for Cybersecurity.
- Cyber, Network & Secure Cloud Millennium Forum (October 27; Arlington, VA) - Hosted by ISSTSPi, this event is a unique venue where attendees have the opportunity to learn from and interact with a broad range of industry leaders as well as government leaders from the VA, HHS, DHS, White House Communications, and DoD about IT issues impacting the mission. The event includes plenary speakers as well as smaller, focused breakout sessions.
[Tweet "It's not too late to plan your own event around cyber awareness. #GovEventsBlog"]It's not too late to plan your own event around cyber awareness. Check out these resources from DHS and think about how you could use them to do staff training or even an educational session for your PTA or church group. The full list of cybersecurity events posted on GovEvents is available here. Leave a comment to let us know how you're advancing your cybersecurity knowledge this month.
