1st Annual Virginia Cybersecurity Education Conference

During the next five years, cyber crime will become the greatest threat to every person, place and thing in the world. Gartner predicts that by 2021, we will have suffered the first human death as a result of a cybersecurity breach. Currently, the cybersecurity unemployment rate has dropped to zero percent and the number of unfilled cybersecurity jobs is predicted to reach 3.5 million by 2021. With all of this opportunity, there is still a significant shortage of women and minorities in the industry; however, educators have an opportunity to change the face of cybersecurity. This session will talk about real-world challenges faced as well as opportunities and strategies that can engage and educate diverse student populations for careers in cybersecurity.

Big Data Analytics technology is the rad new kid on the block and everyone wants a piece of the action!  But, how can this be applied to the organization’s security posture? Organizations have historically been the driving factor for many cutting security technologies using manual configurations, repetitive procedures, security information and event management, automation and orchestration, pushing the limits of existing security capabilities.  Organizations are familiar with how to harness the power of many of the security technologies, yet struggle to keep pace with the bad guys. We need a firm understanding of what options are available to leverage Big Data Analytics for security.  Once understood, we'll need to answer questions such as "What is the role of Big Data Analytics in security?" and "How can Big Data Analytics help organizations be in the ‘command and control’ seat for their own security journey?" We will explore these topics and questions as we focus on the building blocks that can realize an improved security that organization can achieve through Big Data Analytics.

Starting your cloud journey? Join us to answer your most  basic questions including what is the cloud, what services does AWS offer, and how does the cloud help in education? You’ll learn how AWS helps across education - from improving access and teaching cloud in the classroom, to speeding research and making IT operations more efficient. You’ll learn key use cases in education institutions across the globe, and how you can get started.

For young cyber professionals, the challenges and rewards of serving in the public sector can vary greatly from those in the private sector.  Understanding those differences, and preparing to meet a future employer's expectations, are essential to a successful cyber career.  Leo Taddeo, Chief Information Security Officer for Cyxtera Technologies and former Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Cyber and Special Operations Division in New York, explains how teachers and mentors can help cyber students match their skills and career expectations to opportunities in public agencies and private enterprises.

The cyber workforce (WF) shortage demands creative ways to attract, accelerate and maintain cyber skills development. And recent studies* make a strong argument for how gamification, applying rules, engaging teams, and scoring have become a staple for effective methods of educating, training and assessing our current and coming cyber WF...

In this interactive conversation on cyber ranges, gamified training, hands-on learning, and knowledge retention, we look forward to discussing current and future case studies along two main threads:

1. It starts with awareness. How do you make awareness training compelling and provide better, more measurable results? Some of it comes down to an approach to learning, education and training (big fans of gamification here!). 
2. We cannot solve this problem alone. As compute power becomes more accessible and affordable, and successful cyber breaches become more profitable, we won’t win this fight alone. The use of AI/ML has been introduced to the cyber-scene, and has incredible potential to both augment and automate the work and training/ education of cyber professionals.

* A MacAfee, April 2018 report titled, “Winning the Game,” surveyed almost 1000 cybersecurity managers/ professionals along with 500 employees, focusing on current threats, challenges, and investments needed. The survey found 40% of organizations already hold some kind of gamification exercise at least once per year. 77% of senior managers said their organization’s cybersecurity would be much safer if they implemented more gamification.