Mount Saint Mary College and members of the Orange County Government introduce the Hudson Valley Regional Cyber Scholarship at the Hudson Valley Regional Cybersecurity Summit on Tuesday, March 11. Left to right, Amanda Dana, Orange County Director of Tourism; Nikki Khurana-Baugh, vice president for Advancement at the Mount; Steven M. Neuhaus, Orange County Executive and Mount alumnus; Lee Fothergill, professor of Mathematics; and Sagar Raina, associate professor of Information Technology.
Nearly 500 attendees strengthened their efforts to protect our community from cyberattacks at the Hudson Valley Regional Cybersecurity Summit at Mount Saint Mary College on Tuesday, March 11.
The event was hosted by the Orange County government and sponsored by the Mount.
After opening remarks by Evan Merkhofer, Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs, and Mount alumnus Steve Neuhaus, Orange County Executive, the audience heard from keynote speaker Mishaal Khan, an ethical hacker, author, and chief information security officer.
Khan is hired by companies to test their cybersecurity defenses and identify any vulnerabilities or security issues.
As bad actors invent increasingly clever ways to access systems and steal information, cybersecurity professionals must also think outside the box, Khan said. In the current tech climate, there’s a lot of techniques cybercriminals use beyond simple email scams. Additionally, even if a bad actor doesn’t get much for their efforts, it doesn’t mean the defending company has “won,” Khan notes: Users still need to be informed of their personal information possibly falling into the wrong hands, which damages a company’s reputation.
So how can businesses protect themselves?
“My number one recommendation here is awareness,” said Khan. “Train your employees to identify [cyberattacks] through awareness and testing. And keep your training up to date with huge stuff like AI technology, voice cloning, and stuff like that.”
He added, “As a hacker, I always say, if you haven’t tested it, it doesn’t work. Test your systems, test your people. Have simulated phishing scenarios. Have simulated hacking scenarios…look at cybersecurity as a wholistic, team effort. There’s no one defender, there’s a team of defenders, from technical to managerial positions.”
Before Khan gave his presentation, the Mount and members of the Orange County Government introduced the Hudson Valley Regional Cyber Scholarship. The scholarship, funded by the proceeds of the Cybersecurity Summit, will be awarded to a Mount undergraduate student within the college’s Cybersecurity major, with preference given to students from the Hudson Valley. If you’re interested in supporting this scholarship, please contact Nikki Khurana-Baugh at 845-569-3216 or at Nikki.Khurana-Baugh@msmc.edu
Attendees also enjoyed three panels featuring local professionals and other leaders of the cybersecurity field. Topics included “Preventing a Cyber Crisis: A NYS Collaboration Success Story,” “Modernizing AI and Cybersecurity Tools,” and “Cyber Tabletop Exercises: Battle Ready for Tomorrow’s Threats.”