Held at the Sheraton Needham Hotel, the eighth annual Massachusetts Cybersecurity Forum brought together cybersecurity leaders from across the state to showcase the vibrant cybersecurity ecosystem, promote public and private partnerships, and highlight Massachusetts as a national leader for cybersecurity. The Forum theme was, "Secure Our Data. Secure Our Future.” which underscores the critical connection between safeguarding personal information, and ensuring long-term security and prosperity.
During the opening keynote, Executive Office of Economic Development Secretary Yvonne Hao delivered remarks about the ways the MassCyberCenter is continuing to support the state’s cybersecurity ecosystem and workforce development initiatives, including the announcement of the Alternative Cyber Career Education (ACE) Grant Program. This new initiative will provide grants to organizations with cybersecurity training programs that expand and diversify career pathways in Massachusetts for young adults and existing professionals, helping them gain the skills needed for rewarding careers in cybersecurity.
The first panel session focused on the importance of alternative pathways into cybersecurity careers, especially workforce training programs that are not part of an academic degree. Participants and students from Apprenti, Cengage Group, CyberWarrior and Per Scholas Greater Boston highlighted the challenges of finding training programs and getting a job in cybersecurity in Massachusetts using traditional pathways. Students from non-traditional backgrounds illustrated how some unconventional pathways created successful opportunities.
Participants on the second panel discussed the significant cybersecurity threats confronting small businesses in Massachusetts today including social engineering, insider threats, & identity attacks; system intrusions; and web application attacks and ways to put defense-in-depth solutions in place to limit risk. Thank you to the panel participants from CyberTrust Massachusetts, Fortinet and NeQter Labs for sharing their industry knowledge and expertise.
CyberTrust Massachusetts Director of Cyber Range Programs Meghan Martinez facilitated an interactive tabletop exercise that utilized an immersive cyber range platform. The exercise gave attendees a taste of what it is like to respond to a cybersecurity incident while also teaching them about the importance of “good cyber hygiene” best practices, password policies, and using unique, strong passwords. Participants were able to choose the trajectory of the exercise based on group discussion and voting on the response actions through the platform. Facilitators for the exercise included students from Bay Path University, Elms College, Franklin Cummings Tech, Per Scholas Greater Boston and Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical High School.
The Massachusetts Cybersecurity Forum was presented by the Healey-Driscoll administration, Massachusetts Technology Collaborative and the MassCyberCenter.