CYBERWEST

"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe."   - John Muir

Digital connectedness makes us vulnerable. 

Cyber threats are one of the defining perils of our time.  They threaten national and economic security and are aimed at governments, corporations, organizations of all types, and individuals.  

Personal devices, shopping, entertainment, telecommunications, manufacturing, supply chains, enterprise networks and critical infrastructure; virtually every aspect of or national economy depends on digital systems and networks. 

As a society we have driven full speed into a world of ever-expanding connectedness in business, government, media and our personal lives, many times without regard to the consequences.

In its most recent survey the Pew Research Internet Project reported that 61% of the respondents agreed that a major attack causing widespread harm would occur by 2025.  One of the respondents said: “Connectedness begets vulnerability.”  Many disagree with the likelihood a “Cyber Pearl Harbor” scenario, but perhaps even more troubling is the rampant hacking, theft, fraud, spying other bad behaviors are aimed at us, our networks and our data.

PURPOSE

The purpose of CYBERWEST is to bring together Government and businesses to:

• Exchange information and learn in areas of policy and strategy; technology and R&D; workforce training and education; and economic, legal, regulatory and insurance impacts
• Discuss cybersecurity issues and to focus on applied cybersecurity (i.e. implementing the NIST framework, R&D, legal and regulatory perspectives, state and local approaches)
• Present content that attendees can take back and use in their organizations