ACT WORKSHOP TEST INVITATION

Date: Mar 03, 2015 9:00 am – Mar 05, 2015 2:00 pm
Location: Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM

You are cordially invited by Kathy Bogner, Special Cyber Operations Research and Engineering (SCORE) Subcommittee Chair, to participate in the Adoption of Cybersecurity Technology Workshop, 3-5 March 2015, at Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM. SCORE increases awareness and insight, across the US Government, into classified and unclassified cyber-related research and development to develop new ways of operating and doing business.  As an ACT participant, you would be joining members of SCORE along with other members of government, industry and academia to influence the adoption of cybersecurity technology. The workshop is the kickoff activity for a sustained effort to implement cybersecurity technology solutions throughout the US Government.

As a community, researchers and developers have produced many effective cybersecurity technology solutions that are not implemented for a variety of reasons. Many cybersecurity professionals believe that 80% of the current problems in cyberspace have known solutions that have not been implemented. Participants in the workshop will identify systemic issues that are preventing adoption of such solutions and suggest how we can change business practices to enable these cybersecurity technology practices to be adopted.  After the workshop, participants will work within their home organizations to implement the solutions identified at the workshop.

In order to illuminate systemic barriers to adoption of security measures, the workshop will focus specifically on countering the phishing threat and its aftermath. Participants will be committed to explore and develop action plans for four use cases that address each of the four fundamental cybersecurity goals:

* Device Integrity
* Damage Containment
* Defense of Accounts (Authentication and Credential Protection)
* Secure and Available Transport

The agenda will include briefings on a specific threat scenario, briefings on cohorts’ concerns to promote understanding among groups, facilitated sessions that address the use cases, and the development of action plans to be implemented via 90 day spins. Participants will take ownership of the solutions put forward during the workshop, and will brief the Adoption of Cybersecurity Technology Organizing Committee every 90 days on the status of their implementation.  The spin reports will address successes, challenges, and the specific steps taken to overcome roadblocks to the realization of the adoption of cybersecurity technologies by specific government entities.

The workshop will involve approximately 40 participants, primarily from government but also from academia and industry.  We are interested in receiving your input for candidate technologies to be included in the workshop.  If you have a technology that you are pursuing, we strongly urge you to submit ideas for consideration within the use case framework identified above.

Workshop proceedings will begin at 8:00AM Tuesday, March 3rd  and conclude around 1:00PM on Thursday, March 5th , so please budget time for travel accordingly. Cleared participants will be required to pass their clearances in order to attend a classified briefing at the beginning of the workshop.

To accept our invitation, simply register at the workshop website (http://cps-vo.org/group/sos/act/registration) by 2 February 2015 enter the code ACT2015.  If you had registered for the November workshop, you will need to register again. Our website also has information on lodging, requirements for accessing Sandia National Laboratory facilities, points of contact and instructions for passing clearances, and a draft agenda.  If you are unable to attend yourself, but believe that someone in your organization could make a valuable contribution by attending the workshop and participating in the follow-on activities, please forward the name and contact information of your colleague to workshop organizers for consideration. Also, if you believe that bringing a team will improve successful implementation, please contact us with additional names. ACT Workshop organizing committee members are also available to answer any of your questions. Please direct your questions to Linda Hart at lhart@cyberpackventures.com.
We look forward to seeing you at the ACT workshop as an active contributor in our collective effort to advance the strategic defense of our nation’s cyber infrastructure.


Kathleen Bogner

Intelligence Community Coordinator for Cybersecurity Research

Office of the Director of National Intelligence

 

Submitted by Linda Hart on