Billington CyberSecurity Summit, October 6-8, 2021
Following is the chronological agenda for the 2021 CyberSecurity Summit. All sessions will take place in the Hopin platform (register now (opens new window)), in order, on the dates indicated. Please note that the below times are estimated and specific timing is forthcoming.
- Wednesday's events begin at 12 noon ET.
- Thursday's events begin at 9:30 a.m. ET.
- Friday's events begin at 9:00 a.m. ET.
Wednesday, October 6, 2021
Opening Videos
Day 1 Opening Remarks
12:00-12:05 PM
Thomas K. Billington, Chair of the Summit, makes opening remarks welcoming the participants and outlining the three-day event.
Thomas K. Billington
Host, 12th Annual Billington CyberSecurity Summit
Keynote Address and Q&A
12:05-12:39 PM
Fireside Chat with Rob Joyce
12:39-1:03 PM
Rob Joyce will kick start the conference with a strategic view of the current cyber landscape, how this year’s major cyber events are shaping new ways of thinking about cybersecurity, and what is needed in a more enhanced private-public partnership.
Fireside Chat with Chris Inglis
1:03-1:29 PM
How does cybersecurity fit into the Biden Administration’s list of priorities? The speaker will provide an overview of the Administration’s top cyber security priorities with the new Executive Order, how it fits with other major initiatives, and White House views of key engagements needed to meet the next cyber threat challenges.
Break + Sponsor Videos
Main Session Panel – Cyber Threats and Challenges
1:45-2:13 PM
Who are the key cyber adversaries, what are the key trends in how they conduct their business, and how are they adapting to emerging cyber defenses? A panel of government and private sector experts will highlight what they are seeing in terms of key trends, what recent events such as the SolarWinds and the Microsoft Exchange discoveries tell us about the adversary, and what you can expect to see in adversary behaviors over the next six months to a year. Some key areas sure to be covered include:
- What are the trends in the ways that the adversary is targeting information systems today?
- What surface area are the adversaries focused on in terms of attack?
- What is motivating the cyber threat actors?
- What are their current preferred methodologies?
Main Session Panel – The Ransomware Threat
2:13-2:52 PM
How is ransomware and the emergence of cybercrime cartels changing the National Security picture? A group of Government and Private sector experts will discuss the emergence of ransomware, the recent attacks against the Colonial Pipeline, one of America’s largest pipeline operators, and the rise of cybercriminal groups’ impacts on the cybersecurity environment.
- How is ransomware and the emergence of cybercrime cartels changing the National Security picture?
- What role does the Federal Government have in protecting companies working to provide the critical infrastructure – energy, transportation, communication, and financial – necessary to keep the country’s economy strong?
- Can international cyber norms help to address the growing rise of cybercrime?
Breakout Panel – Telehealth: Enhancing Security, Privacy and Trust in the Aftermath of COVID-19
2:54-3:25 PM
What are the next cybersecurity steps health care providers will need to think about in the wake of the Covid pandemic? The COVID-19 pandemic sent the health care community scrambling to figure out how to provide new online and remote services to patients quarantining at home. In this rush to technology, adversaries were quick to take advantage of the vulnerabilities exposed by increased teleconferencing and online patient information exchange. What are the next steps in the cyber security business to shore up this game changing time and securely alter how we fully take full advantage of both current and future technologies in the health care business?
Breakout Panel – Ensuring Cybersecurity In The Transition To 5G
2:54-3:25 PM
How will 5G impact the future of cybersecurity? This session will explore the one- to three-year cybersecurity implications as the US Government embraces 5G. The engagement will cover the implications of integrating 5G with existing 3G and LTE leveraged systems, the new Wi-Fi 6 standards, and the implications of a faster, high bandwidth network pushing real-time decision-making algorithms to the edge.
Breakout Panel – New Frontiers in Securing Crypto Financial Systems
2:54-3:25 PM
As the world continues to explore new types of electronic currency, how is cybersecurity keeping up to meet the exchange points between the old and the new, an increase in digital banking, and the emergence of large digital crime syndicates eager to exploit vulnerabilities? This session will focus on the cybersecurity issues associated with today’s complicated financial systems and considerations for deploying zero trust architectures and secure supply chains in today’s money marketplace.
Breakout Panel – Cyber Risks to OT & Critical Infrastructure: New Solutions
2:54-3:25 PM
How do you effectively deploy good cyber hygiene to networks that cannot fail, require remote management, and leverage unique technology that controls powerful systems that could impact thousands if a disruption occurs? This session will explore cybersecurity’s role in protecting critical operational networks particularly as the Biden Administration pushes to deploy alternative energy solutions and as 5G pushes decision making to the edge of computing.
Breakout Panel – Ransomware Lessons Learned
2:54-3:25 PM
What is it like to deal with a cyber ransomware attack as it is happening? This expert panel will highlight key observations from their work addressing and mitigating ransomware attacks. They will highlight common weaknesses they have observed that Ransomware operators take advantage of during the commissioning of an attack, and identify areas where private and public sector cyber defenses could enhance to make it more difficult for cybercriminals to be successful against their organizations.
Breakout Panel – Systems Engineering: Building and Securing your Network’s Infrastructure
2:54-3:25 PM
Is your underlying system up to date and secure? Have you checked for network backdoors or thought about how to micro-segment your network to protect it from malware that might already be on your network? This panel of experts will discuss why systems engineering and continual network assessment is so important to helping ensure that your network is secure and continuously checked to look for defense improvements. Potential Questions:
- What is the discipline of systems engineering and why is it such an important part of a healthy cyber defense program?
- Describe a good “red teaming” effort and how can it be used to ensure robust cyber security?
- Where does the human fit into the cyber security program and how can systems engineering help ferret out human error and mismanaged applications?
- What is micro-segmentation and how can it help you in protecting your network?
Michael V. Hayden Lifetime Achievement Award
Break + Sponsor Videos
Main Session Panel – DOD Data Management Roundtable
3:51-4:22 PM
How are USG organizations planning to ingest, manage and share their data in a zero trust world? How do they create an environment that allows users access to large data pools and tools that they need to do their jobs while protecting them and their data from cyber threat actors?
A panel of DOD Chief Data officers will discuss what data management challenges are keeping them up at night, what things they are doing to adapt their internal environments to improve cross domain and remote information access while ensuring both data integrity, privacy, and security.
- As DOD embraces the cloud and jettisons older legacy systems, what do you see are the key cybersecurity issues and needs that will provide the best assurance that data is used both securely and productively in your networks?
- Do you think that you can effectively create an environment where data is both shared and protected in a way that makes your world more productive?
- How do you plan on accomplishing this?
- What are your plans to protect the data supply chains that your organizations use to support your missions?
Award
International Award
Closing Remarks
Day 1 Adjourn
Sponsor Videos
Thursday, October 7th
Day 2 Opening Remarks
10:00-10:02 AM
Thomas K. Billington
Host, 12th Annual Billington CyberSecurity Summit
Fireside Chat with Jen Easterly
10:02-10:29 AM
The Biden Administration is turning to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to lead the US Government’s engagement with state and local governments and the private sector to improve the country’s overall cyber security posture as well as lead the Federal Government effort to plan for and respond to cyber security attacks that impact national security. The Director of CISA will highlight key initiatives and plans, and continued areas of development and challenges that will impact overall US cyber resiliency over the next one to three years.
Opening of Innovation Showcase
10:29-10:31 AM
William "Terry" Burruss
Senior Content Director, Billington CyberSecurity
Innovation Showcase – Innovation Showcase: Zero Trust Micro-Segmentation Presented by Illumio
10:31-10:51 AM
The work from anywhere has significantly increased the attack vector allowing an unprecedented increase in malware, ransomware and other cyberattacks. Come hear how you need network visibility first to show the back-end application and workload connections, and why micro-segmentation or ring-fencing will reduce the attack vector and stop the lateral movement of cyberattacks.
Mark Sincevich
Federal Director, Illumio
Moderator:
William "Terry" Burruss
Senior Content Director, Billington CyberSecurity
Innovation Showcase – Cyber Threat Intelligence and Data Sharing Presented by Cloudera
10:51-11:06 AM
Ideas to capture, assess, and share the “right” data that can significantly improve cybersecurity and proactive defense.
Innovation Showcase – Disruptive Cyber Technology: Self-Learning AI Presented by DarkTrace
11:06-11:19 AM
Ideas on how to address new cybersecurity threats as the next cyber and communications technologies—like edge computing, 5G, new forms of artificial intelligence, and quantum computing—become reality.
Innovation Showcase – Insider Threat Presented by Code42
11:19-11:40 AM
Ideas on better assessing potential malicious behavior such as data theft from within a network while minimizing the impact on day to day business.
Innovation Showcase – Securing Operational Networks Presented by Endace
11:40-11:55 AM
Ideas for designing, building, and implementing better secure operational networks for critical infrastructure.
John Attala
VP, Worldwide Sales, Endace
Fireside Chat – Top Priorities of the CIO's Office, DOD
11:55 AM-12:21 PM
Hear from Dr. Kelly Fletcher, Performing the Duties of the Chief Information Officer for the Department of Defense, chart their top cyber priorities addressing questions such as:
- What steps are the DOD taking to actually enact Zero Trust?
- What are some of your key cybersecurity concerns as DOD transitions to a multi-cloud environment over the next couple of years?
- What is the state of DOD's Cybersecurity workforce and what steps is DOD taking to ensure that they will have adequate internal cyber support over the next decade?
- Where does DOD's cybersecurity program fit in with US Cyber Command's Persistent Pursuit plans and how is DOD's offensive cyber arm keeping you and your cybersecurity teams in the loop on their discoveries and lessons learned?
- What are your top four priorities in terms of cybersecurity over the course of the next year?
- How is DOD working to support the recent May Presidential cybersecurity EO? Where do you see continued gaps that DOD will need to fill to further enhance cybersecurity?
Fireside Chat with Chris DeRusha
12:21-12:47 PM
The May Cybersecurity Executive Order has Federal Government officials hustling to meet the aggressive timelines of seven initiatives that – taken together – could significantly improve US cyber defenses across multiple fronts. The Federal Government's CISO, Chris DeRusha, will provide an update on where the administration is in meeting the aggressive EO deadlines, highlight key areas that could move the EO even further in defending federal systems, and make observations of what appears to be working stemming from the EO and other cyber initiatives before it that are having impact.
Break + Sponsor Videos
Main Session Panel – Outsmarting Your Cyber Adversaries By Leveraging AI
1:03-1:33 PM
How is your system designed to self-learn and move faster to detect and neuter threats both at the perimeter and within your networks? How is AI being applied by cyber adversaries to improve their attack methodologies while attempting to stay ahead of cyber defense? This panel of private sector and government experts will discuss the current AI/ML state and where it is heading to support cyber defenses while enabling the cyber attackers. Key areas to be covered include how AI is and will be used to support autonomous secure networks in reducing false negatives while improving proactive defense, new ways adversaries are using AI such as attacking edge devices and automatically identifying new attack vectors leveraging AI-fueled autobots. Potential Questions:
- Where is AI being deployed effectively in the cybersecurity community to date and what are the lessons learned?
- How is AI being applied by cyber threat actors to identify unpatched vulnerabilities and develop new kinds of malware?
- How are you working to address the potential for bias and cyber influence being interjected into tomorrow’s edge computing AI algorithms?
General Session – Next Steps in CDM and Information Sharing
1:33-2:06 PM
What are the changes needed to ensure the overall Federal network is discovering and mitigating cyber threats faster and with greater efficiency and speed? This session will explore DHS/CISA’s Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation Plans, where it is, what continues to need to get done and areas such as better data sharing that will require continued interaction and management across the entire Government, including the Department of Defense and the National Security Systems.
Breakout Panel – AI/ML: Enhancing Threat Identification To Deter Adversaries
2:08-2:42 PM
What kinds of data and algorithms are needed to improve your automated cyber defense systems and proactively identify and neuter threats as they attempt to target your networks? This session will explore ways that Artificial Intelligence can proactively discover and mitigate your network’s vulnerabilities and efforts to target them by bad actors.
Breakout Panel – Software Supply Chain Security at Origin: How to Guarantee Trust?
2:08-2:42 PM
What are the things that need to be done to ensure better security into the process of building and delivering the commercial software that you use on your network? This session will explore the new secure factories and testing methodologies being built to strengthen the trust in the software being used on Government networks and the process of delivery updates.
Bill Evanina
Founder & CEO, Evanina Group
Bob Kolasky
Assistant Director, DHS Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, National Risk Management Center
Breakout Panel – State & Local Cybersecurity
2:08-2:42 PM
How are State and Local Governments meeting the cyber threat challenge? What kinds of cooperation would be essential to assist both of these Government entities while helping the Federal Government get a better sense of the threat at the local level? A panel of local and federal government and private sector experts will discuss the similarities and differences in addressing the cyber threat at different levels and where collective efforts could benefit all. Potential Questions:
- What is most on the mind of State and Local Government in regard to cyber threats, key challenges to cyber security, and how to build effective cyber programs?
- What do you see are the key differences in the ways that State and local governments have to deal with the cyber threat from national efforts?
- What areas would be most beneficial to cooperate on in regard to addressing the cyber threat?
Lee Watson
Founder & CEO, Forge Institute
Michael Watson
Chief Information Security Officer, Virginia Information Technologies Agency, Commonwealth of Virginia
Breakout Panel – Security Interoperability in a Multi-Cloud Environment
2:08-2:42 PM
How do you ensure that your cybersecurity is sound when adopting a multi-cloud architecture and as you leverage both public and private clouds into your workflow? This panel of private and public experts will discuss the implications of organizations moving to embrace the various benefits of multiple cloud providers, system integrators, and technologies and lessons learned to maximize how to do it. Key Potential Questions:
- If you were starting from scratch, what are the three most important cybersecurity implications in getting a multi-cloud implementation right from the start?
- In your opinion, what are three most common mistakes made in moving to a multi-cloud environment?
- How and what should you be considering when setting up a capability to monitor for, assess, and mitigate potential cybersecurity threats in a multi-cloud environment?
Main Session Panel – Zero Trust: Strategy
2:43-3:28 PM
How do you secure your entire operation when you can no longer trust any part of your network or supply partners? What things within your network require to be protected at all costs secure even if hackers have breached your network? This panel of private sector and government experts will highlight and discuss the issues associated with moving your network from a static perimeter-based paradigm to where you are protecting your users, resources, and workflows with continual authorized access. Potential Questions:
- Realistically, where are we currently in deploying working and productive zero trust systems in the Federal Sector?
- How are you taking advantage of the Intelligence Community who has been working on zero-trust models inside their networks for years?
- If you were designing and building a zero trust network, where would you put the most time and energy into getting it right?
Main Session Panel – Zero Trust: Execution
3:28-4:05 PM
What are the essential ingredients of building and running a zero-trust environment for your workforce? How do you develop a policy engine and administrator that ensures the right people and the right applications continually have the right access while keeping bad actors from violating this trust? This panel of private sector and government experts will discuss how to execute a zero-trust environment to ensure effective cyber security and productive workflows. Potential Questions:
- What are the essential ingredients to building a zero-trust network that is both secure and productive?
- What kinds of personnel talent is needed to ensure that a zero-trust network will function securely and productively over time?
- How do you effectively integrate your data strategy, personal security strategy, and cybersecurity strategy in a zero-trust network?
Main Session Panel – Zero Trust and the Cloud
4:05-4:40 PM
How do the new Zero Trust operating models fit with the multi-functional and multi-tiered cloud deployment strategies? This group of experts will highlight key thoughts in successfully utilizing and implementing a zero trust model within multiple cloud designs whether it be leveraging the cloud as your infrastructure, leveraging it as a service, or leveraging it as a complex system of multiple clouds. The group will highlight key lessons learned in previous cloud deployments, key zero trust recommendations when implementing a cloud, and things to consider in regularly monitoring and keeping your zero trust model up to date.
Main Session Panel – Zero Trust and the Insider Threat: Where Do I Start?
4:40-5:19 PM
Where does an organization begin when attempting to build a Zero Trust network environment? Designing an effective Zero Trust network from the start will be key to ensuring a secure but productive working environment. This session will explore key guides and pockets of expertise to leverage when designing and engineering a Zero Trust strategy.
Fireside Chat with Lindy Cameron
5:19-5:34 PM
Lindy Cameron is the CEO of the United Kingdom's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). NCSC is an UK Government organization that provides advice and support for the public and private sector in how to avoid computer security threats. This fireside will provide a unique perspective on how the UK is addressing cyberthreat as a team sport to include information sharing, balancing important relationships, incident alert and response, and regulatory procedures.
Award
Award Block /Closing Remarks
Day 2 Adjourn + Sponsor Videos
Friday, October 8th
Opening Remarks
10:00-10:02 AM
Thomas K. Billington
Host, 12th Annual Billington CyberSecurity Summit
Sponsor Videos
Fireside Chat with Lt. Gen. Robert J. Skinner
10:02-10:28 AM
How do you engineer, build, and maintain a secure multifaceted network enterprise the size of DOD? Lt. General Skinner will discuss his vision, goals, challenges, and key needs to ensure a robust, secure and data driven information system supported by a diverse and skilled contractor and government workforce to meet the challenges required by global combatant command operations. He will highlight the goals, architectural plans, and current challenges of transforming the entire DOD collective into an integrative secure enterprise leveraging smart algorithms and self-learning adaptive systems to support its data driven and cloud centric integrative system.
Fireside Chat with Lt. Gen. Michael S. Groen
10:08-10:55 AM
How is the DOD thinking about applying artificial intelligence at scale across the entire enterprise? Lt. General Groen will highlight the goals, architectural plans, and current challenges of transforming the entire DOD collective into an integrative secure enterprise leveraging smart algorithms and self-learning adaptive systems to support its data driven and cloud centric integrative system.
Break + Sponsor Videos
Main Session Panel – The Software Supply Chain Future
11:10-11:41 AM
How do you ensure that the hardware, software, services, or products that you are purchasing are secure from the time they are developed to their delivery, and as routine updating occurs? As the recent SolarWinds incident highlights, adversaries are figuring out how to find the weakest link in the entire supply chain to successfully target government systems either for espionage or destructive purposes. This panel of private sector and government experts will explore the implications of the new Cybersecurity Executive Order and the issues associated with protecting the entire development and acquisition chain.
- How do you see the May Cybersecurity Executive Order changing the state of the software supply chain process for Federal Agencies?
- Where do cloud services fit into the US Government’s supply chain future?
- What do you see are the key ingredients in building trust with the end user as it relates to the software supply chain?
- How will the “critical software” proposals outlined in the May cybersecurity Executive Order impact the overall security of the future supply chain?
Main Session Panel – Five Eye Defense CIO Perspectives
11:41 AM-12:12 PM
How are strategic government technology leaders moving forward in their efforts to leverage new technology while working to reduce cyber risks? This panel will consist of key DOD and foreign ally CIOs and CISOs discussing how they are embracing new technologies, some of their current challenges, and what they see as overall needs to ensure effective cyber security moving forward. Some key areas sure to be covered include:
- Secure global access to information, tools, and capabilities
- Moving collectively to a Zero Trust Model
- Managing the cost versus risk equation
- Building and leveraging the right relationships
- Cloud management and integration
Main Session Panel – Building an Effective Cyber Workforce
12:12-12:41 PM
Where is the talent going to come from that will help you ensure that your networks are secure? As Cyber Defense becomes front and center across the Federal workforce, every Agency is clamoring to find ways to fill key positions or bring in contractor talent to meet critical demands. This panel of private sector and government experts will discuss ideas that could help folks meet these key demands, ensure that they have a skilled and trained workforce, and foster an environment to retain a continual knowledgeable workforce. Key questions:
- Where is the cyber talent going to come from to meet the insatiable demand for both Government Agencies and the Contract workforce that supports them?
- What are some ideas you are seeing that have been effective in identifying and bringing in good talent to meet this growing Federal/State and local demand?
- What are some ideas that seem to be working in supporting and improving this workforce in order to retain them?
Break + Sponsor Videos
Fireside Chat with Lt. Gen. Timothy Haugh
12:57-1:13 PM
The US military has taken on an aggressive defense forward role in combating cyber adversaries who pose a threat to US national security. At this Fireside chat, Lt. General Timothy Haugh, Commander US 16th Air Force Division in San Antonio, Texas will discuss how the military is leveraging advanced tools, an agile, smart workforce, and budding partnerships to build a twenty-first century cyber fighting force.
Main Session Panel – Cyber in the Warfighting Domain
1:13-1:51 PM
How should DOD's "defend forward" efforts to persistently engage with the adversary mesh with other Government and Private sector efforts to defend against cyber adversaries? This panel of DOD, other government, and private sector experts will define the role of "defend forward" cyber in the larger cyber defensive domain and assess the potential impacts of this engagement on the private sector and other US Government work, and the need for shared responsibilities between the private sector and the state in planning these efforts and dealing with the potential outcomes.
Main Session Panel – Disruptive Technology Outlook
1:51-2:27 PM
What does the future hold in store for the cyber security environment? This panel of advanced private sector and government technology thinkers and futurists will provide their views on how the cyber environment will play out over the next 5-10 years and provide food for thought for the kinds of new developments that will be needed for the cyber security environment to keep up with the times.
- What technologies over the next 5-10 years do you believe will be game changers in terms of cybersecurity?
- What should the cybersecurity community being doing now to ensure that it will be ready for these technologies?
Fireside Chat with David McKeown
2:27-2:44 PM
David McKeown, DOD's CISO, will provide his unique perspective overseeing one of the largest and most complex networks in the world. He will focus on how he ensures that DOD can accomplish its global mission while continually looking for ways to better protect its cyber infrastructure. Mr. McKeown will provide keen insights as to what keeps him up at night, his top cybersecurity priorities and likely next steps as the DOD embraces a multi-cloud and 5G-enhanced environment.
Award
Closing Remarks
Day 3 Adjourn + Sponsor Videos