KNOXVILLE — The University of Tennessee, the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Federal Bureau of Investigation will co-host the region’s first Cyber Security Summit Oct. 19-20.
The two-day event at the UT Conference Center, 600 Henley St., will bring together computer and technology security experts from private industry, government and higher education to share information about crimes committed against or through the misuse of computer networks. Anyone with an interest in computer-related law enforcement and security issues should attend.
Conference information and registration is available on-line at http://cybersecurity.utk.edu.
Brice Bible, UT assistant vice president for information technology and interim chief information officer, said “cyber-crime” is a growing problem.
“Our modern computer networks are a marvel of efficiency, but there always will be criminals using that efficiency to look for ways to commit crimes electronically, such as identity theft, cyber-attacks, or blackmail,” Bible said.
He said higher education, government and private industry have an obligation to help law enforcement fight this type of crime.
“In today’s networked world, we’re all better positioned to spot cyber-crime, so we as educators, businesspeople and government employees should communicate more with law enforcement, and help the public learn more about the dangers of cyber-crime,” Bible said.
The Tennessee Valley Authority and its Inspector General’s Office and Information Services Information Technology Security organization are also sponsors of the conference.
“All businesses and users of information technology resources face adversities in protecting against worms, viruses, financial and identity thefts,” said Anthony Smith, TVA’s IS IT security senior manager. “Insights from this conference will help raise awareness of the importance of protecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the systems we all rely on daily.”
FBI Special Agent David Whitlow said the bureau has always placed a high value on pursuing cybercriminals.
“The FBI’s Criminal Computer Intrusion Unit in Washington D.C. has devoted a tremendous amount of resources to stopping computer crime, and the work is ongoing,” Whitlow said.
“Bringing this conference to East Tennessee helps strengthen federal, regional, state and local law enforcement efforts,” he said.
“Cyber-crime investigations are ranked as the FBI’s third investigative priority after counterterrorism and counterintelligence,” Special Agent in Charge R. Joe Clark of the Knoxville division of the FBI said.
TVA Special Agent Tim Gangloff said his agency has a special interest in secure computer networks.
“TVA’s power-generating plants and water control facilities are computerized and networked, and we have built very strong defenses against computer intruders who would try to disrupt power production activities,” Gangloff said. “We’re very committed to protecting the power generation capacity of the seven-state TVA service area, and we need computer security to do that.”
Among the list of speakers at the event:
– Charles Atchley, assistant United States attorney, Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section coordinator for the Eastern District of Tennessee;
– Erkan Chase, unit chief of the Criminal Computer Intrusion Unit at FBI Headquarters, Washington, D.C.;
– James Goldston, UT electrical engineering alumnus, Air Force veteran and private computer security consultant;
– Bob Kuykendall, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, expert on identify theft;
– Kevin Mandia, Red Cliff consulting, expert on computer forensics;
– Randy Marchany, director of Virginia Tech Computer IT Security Testing Laboratory, computer incident response expert;
– Ronald E. Plesco Jr, information security attorney, expert on hacking countermeasures;
– Howard Schmidt, former chief security officer for eBay and Microsoft, most recently chief computer security strategist for Dept. of Homeland Security;
– Joel Michael Schwarz, trial attorney, U.S. Dept. of Justice Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section;
– James Van Pelt, chief counsel for FBI’s Knoxville division.
—
Contact: Brice Bible (865-974-0320)
Charles Primm (865-974-5180)
###