Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) is organizing its 9th Annual WiCyS Conference at Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland between March 17 and 19. This year's conference theme is Being Smart about Security and Privacy of All "Smart" Things, where conference participants will discuss privacy and security concerns associated with smart technologies and cyberspace.
Through the conference, WiCyS attempts to formulate methodologies that can be used to prevent the misuse of technology and, thus, move towards a safer, smarter, and more connected online world.
City of Cleveland Mayor Justin M. Bibb will welcome attendees at the start of Friday morning's keynote session. In addition, several industry leaders will be giving keynote addresses at the conference, including Jen Easterly, the Director of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency; Allison Miller, the Chief Information Security Officer at Optum; Latanya Sweeney, Professor at Harvard University; and Anna Squicciarini, Associate Professor at Pennsylvania State University (PSU). The conference will be chaired by Dr. Janell Straach, WiCyS chair of the board and faculty at Rice University.
There will be several events at the conference, each catering to different participants. These events include:
- Technical workshops and presentations to address the innovations, research and development of projects in cybersecurity
- Lightning talks that will provide fresh perspectives and emerging trends
- Panel discussions to discuss current topics of relevance
- Birds of a Feather (BoaF) in which informal discussions on topics related to cybersecurity will be held
- Student poster competition in which students will showcase their creative cybersecurity talent
- The Software Engineering Institute (SEI) at Carnegie Mellon University is also hosting the Capture the Flag (CTF) competition, a cybersecurity competition
- Career village for students to receive career advice, mock interviews, resume reviews, and more
The event is open to anyone interested in the recruitment, retention and advancement of women in cybersecurity. For more information on how to register, please visit www.wicys.org.
