While we're in the thick of our highly-anticipated spring conference season, the renewed energy we've been experiencing so far has continued onward in our Kansas City and Charlotte events. If you haven't been able to attend these gatherings, you can catch up on all the excitement below!
SecureWorld Kansas City
We returned to the BBQ Capital of the World for our 10th year in Kansas City. The conference kicked off with CISO Yaron Levi of Dolby Laboratories discussing why companies' current detection and response best practices are not as effective as they should be, and are contributing to employee burnout.
Following the opening keynote, our event was full of panels and breakout sessions throughout the day focused on a variety of topics, one of which included building and expanding diversity in cybersecurity organizations. An all-women, Black panel discussed different ways leaders can help close the gender and race gap within the industry.
Christine Gordon, Director of the Global Cyber Governance Center at Cboe Global Markets, stated one reason more women in cybersecurity is important is that they bring different perspectives to the table that men may not have. "You have to have a different type of way of thinking, and your analysis has to be different [regarding hiring tactics]. We have to be creative because our attackers are creative. We can't just be status quo in hiring in our [cybersecurity] roles," Gordon said.
During our April 6th event, we had one PLUS course taught by a long-time industry expert, two cybersecurity chapter meetings, eight breakout sessions, three panels, and three keynotes. Insights were shared by 35 speakers who volunteered their time to present on a variety of topics and with varying backgrounds, accompanied by 18 exhibitors sharing their latest and greatest offerings. Overall, the energy on-site remained positive throughout, and many attendees approached our team members to congratulate them on being back and having an excellent show!
SecureWorld Charlotte
Two weeks later, the SecureWorld team hopped back on a flight out east for our 11th annual event in Charlotte! The Queen City showed up and attended the 15 breakout, panel and keynote sessions, two chapter meetings, and one PLUS course, with 38 speakers presenting. Attendees were invited to participate in a putting green for prizes with AccessIT Group, spin the wheel for a chance to win a Yeti cooler at Red Canary, or simply mingle and chat with one of our 26 vendors in the Exhibitor Hall. The enthusiasm was high during each of the networking breaks, and many of the presentations were standing room only, a true testament to the great topics our speakers were covering!
Our lunch keynote was a full house to hear from the United States Secret Service on different ways they are working to combat Business Email Compromise (BEC) and cryptocurrency attacks, specifically with small and mid-sized businesses. Regarding how organizations can combat cyberattacks, Senior Special Agent McClellan 'Mac' Plihcik said:
"If you call us soon enough, we might be able to stop that moment [the wire transfer attack]. And we might be able to freeze that money in the domestic account. The sooner you call us, the higher the likelihood is going to be able to cover those accounts for you…."
From our Kansas City and Charlotte events teams and Advisory Councils, we thank everyone who took time out of their busy schedules to attend, and can't wait to see more of you in our other regions soon!
Interested in attending, sponsoring, or speaking at an upcoming SecureWorld conference? Visit our Events page for more information.
