The California Department of Technology (CDT), the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (CalOES), the California National Guard and the California Highway Patrol (CHP) are collaborating with California State University, Sacramento on the State of California Cybersecurity Education Summit 2019. Wednesday’s 8:30 a.m. event, returning for its third year, will convene a variety of government agencies and technology companies around the general idea of improving cybersecurity. Registration may be done online. Among the takeaways:
• New activities this year include a red team/blue team live demo and discussion; and, elsewhere during the day, a look at the estimated 50,000 vacant cybersecurity jobs that will need to be staffed during the next decade. The presenting agencies called it “important that we collectively advance the maturity of information security across California state government”; and essential to safeguard state information assets and maximize data access by creating an active security risk reduction strategy, in a message from the event’s agenda.
• Members of the state’s “cybersecurity core-4” agencies will be on-hand to begin the summit, including CalOES Director Mark Ghilarducci; Maj. Gen. David Baldwin of the California Military Department; state Chief Information Officer and CDT Director Amy Tong; and California Government Operations Agency Acting Secretary Julie Lee. Ghilarducci, Lee and Tong will deliver opening remarks.
In an email, Alice Scott-Rowe, CDT’s communications deputy director, said “we are advancing the maturity of information security across California state government.”
“We want to educate IT professionals about new methods, technologies and risks to help them protect the States information assets,” Scott-Rowe said, indicating Tong will help facilitate an afternoon “workforce development and education pipeline roundtable” with educators from around the state.
• Concurrent topics with likely public-sector relevance during morning workshops include “Cybercriminals Are Using AI, Are You?”; and “The Power of Identity and Privilege.” The former will feature Marc Glenn, CalOES chief, network operations and security center; and the latter featuring Glen Carson, chief information security officer at the California Natural Resources Agency. In an email to Techwire, Mario Garcia, acting commander of the California Cybersecurity Integration Center, highlighted the need for public-private teamwork on cybersecurity.
“Overcoming cyberthreats is a worldwide challenge, and one entity can't make headway by themselves," Garcia said. "Not only do we need to work together out of necessity, but only through working alongside each other can we make serious progress to protect our information, our ideas, our economy, and our democracy.”
The day will conclude with a new feature: the California State Government Cybersecurity Awards. Individuals in state service will be recognized in the following categories:
- Information Security Innovation Award
- Excellence in Privacy Award
- Cybersecurity Champion Award
- Rookie of the Year Award
- California State Information Security Officer of the Year Award
