Cybersecurity

As IoT products and services become increasingly sophisticated and granular, access points for cybersecurity breaches multiply. Edge and perimeter systems are particularly vulnerable, as mobile security is still underdeveloped. This session will look at the policy standards recommended by the U.S. government through NIST and foreign governments; carrier protection policies and related liabilities; and U.S. and international enterprise best practices for securing cloud infrastructure.

Money and control drive hackers to break, enter and steal. Waves 1 and 2 are the current norm, with impact on most corporations and government agencies being information-based (fraud, economic competition, strategic positioning, hactivism). Wave 3 targets critical physical industries – networks, electrical grids, oil and gas, manufacturing plants. The impact is physical not just information. This is already in play right now, just not overt and it exists at a low level of activity. Wave 4 is around the corner: overt cyber attacks against these same critical industries at a higher level of incidence. Today we say a system was breached. Information was lost. We will need different words for the impact of Waves 3 and 4. What will this mean for our connected networks, for the protection of data and life-sustaining infrastructure systems? Is there a way to protect protection? And how are companies and governments going to protect against such attacks? What needs to be done now to begin setting the groundwork for such protections?

With every new report of hackers cracking through cybersecurity defenses come demands that government and industry do more to assure Americans that their data is safe. For the past eight years, the White House, Commerce Department, regulatory agencies and industry have worked closely to improve efforts to stay ahead of bad actors. USTelecom has been on the forefront of these conversations with its National Cybersecurity Policy Forum series. The series brings together top government and industry officials to discuss their key policy initiatives. This panel will discuss the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, which provides a blueprint for best practices for the core critical infrastructure industries, including the communications sector. The experts will review progress on the Framework, feedback from corporations that have begun using the principles, the impact on their operations, and further plans by government agencies and regulators in the cyber risk management arena.

HACKED, by Charlie Mitchell, reveals the innovative, occasionally brilliant, occasionally hapless government and industry response to cybersecurity threats that just keep coming! Book signing will be held at the TIA Conference.

In 2014, U.S. utility industrial control systems were cyber attacked 78 times in a 12-month period. Growing intricacy, interconnectivity and sophistication of U.S. and international smart grids, roadways, bridges, tunnels, waterways, reservoirs and dams also increase their vulnerability. This session will review the latest in infrastructure vulnerabilities and breaches, possibilities for protection, and the steps that need to be taken now to ready for the future. The sessions will also review proposed standards such as one by Subcommittee TR-51, which is developing a new cybersecurity focused smartgrid standard.

Healthcare, farming, retail, energy, automotive, and banking are some of the verticals using big data to facilitate, streamline, and automate operations. However: How do we balance data security with accessibility? How can companies make consumers feel safe and stay engaged while sharing their data in this time of continual database breaches? How can machine based IoT platforms and applications securely share, capture, manage and utilize the data they access? Join industry experts as they explore the delicate balancing of cyber security, technology innovation, and end user experience surrounding big data.

Big data offers vast opportunities for businesses to streamline, optimize and interoperate with other companies within and across sectors, speak with consumers, understand market needs and develop targeted products and services. It allows consumers to be better informed and choose to act more intelligently. The capture of that data may overstep the comfort levels of consumers. It offers benefits, but invades privacy. And this is in 2016; what about 2026? This session will look at how industries are making use of big data, what is being done to protect consumers from overzealous data gathering, what steps government is taking to protect consumer data, and what will be the trends going forward for data capture, retention, sharing and protection.