Leading Experts Slated for Annual Cybersecurity Symposium

  • 07/13/16

CHARLOTTE, NC – Businesses, organizations and individuals are dependent upon computers and computer networks to perform critical work in an ever-increasing technology-driven economy. As this dependency grows, threats from mischievous pranksters, criminals who steal valuable and sensitive information and nations engaged in espionage continue to increase.

The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC) is a leader in education and research that addresses the many vulnerabilities in cyberspace. The annual Cybersecurity Symposium is an opportunity for attendees to become more aware about important topics and possible solutions in the field.

This year’s event is scheduled from 8:15 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 5, at UNC Charlotte. Early registration discounts are available online.

For 17 years, this annual symposium, co-hosted by the College of Computing and Informatics and Charlotte Research Institute at UNC Charlotte, has brought national leaders to share their knowledge and leadership. Bank of America is the title sponsor of the 2016 symposium.

This year’s conference will feature the following cybersecurity leaders:

  • Dan Geer is currently the CISO for In-Q-Tel, a not-for-profit investment firm working to invest in technology that supports the mission of the Central Intelligence Agency. Geer is often cited for his thoughtful security philosophy and deep industry expertise. He has testified before Congress five times and consulted with numerous startups and their investors. A 1972 graduate of MIT with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Geer received a doctorate in biostatistics from Harvard.
  • Simon Crosby is cofounder and CTO of Bromium, a firm that has developed next-generation security based on virtualization to secure organizations from cyber attacks. Just like virtualization transformed the IT data center, Bromium is using virtualization to transform the endpoint. Previously, Crosby was cofounder and CTO of XenSource prior to its acquisition by Citrix, where he served as the CTO of the Virtualization and Management Division. Previously, he was a principal engineer at Intel, where he led strategic research in distributed autonomic computing, platform security and trust. He also was the founder of CPlane, a network-optimization software vendor. Prior to CPlane, Crosby was a tenured faculty member at the University of Cambridge, where he led research on network performance and control and multimedia operating systems. In 2007, Crosby was named one of InfoWorld’s Top 25 CTOs.
  • Shelley Westman is vice president of operations and strategic integration initiatives at IBM Security and is responsible for overall business operations as well as key projects and strategic initiatives across the Security Business Unit. Westman also leads the University Programs for IBM Security and is involved in several IBM boards and committees on hiring and skills and is the founder of “WISE” (Women in Security Excelling).
  • Rick Howard is the chief security officer (CSO) for Palo Alto Networks, where he oversees the company’s internal security program, leads the Palo Alto Networks Threat Intelligence Team (Unit 42), directs the company’s efforts on the Cyber Threat Alliance Information Sharing Group and hosts the Cybersecurity Canon Project. Previously, he was the CISO for TASC, the GM of iDefense, the SOC director at Counterpane and the commander of the U.S. Army’s Computer Emergency Response Team. Howard completed master’s degree in computer science from the Naval Postgraduate School and an engineering degree from the U.S. Military Academy.

Currently, sponsors of the 2016 symposium include Bank of America, Bromium, Cardinal Innovations, Charlotte Research Institute, Data Chambers, Dixon Hughes Goodman, Duke Energy, Hall Booth Smith, IBM, Optiv Security, Palo Alto Networks, Plixer, Risk IQ, Veracode and VeriStor.

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