Cyber Summit 2024

This session will explore how student life will change by 2035. Explore a day in the life of a student and the impact these changes will have on the existing university strategies and technology systems. We will review the changing nature of the future university, as well as its technologies and practices.

We’ll start with a briefing by higher education analyst Grace Farrell, followed by a workshop facilitated by Gartner VP and Executive Partner Stephen Lefebvre. 

The workshop is applicable to anyone involved with crafting their institution’s strategy, from both a technology and student experience perspective. Target roles are CIOs, CFOs, IT Directors, PMO leaders, CISOs and other Cybersecurity Leaders, Senior Managers, Associate Deans or academic chairs.  

You’ve heard about AI tools such as ChatGPT being used to write malware and other cyberattack scripts, but how effective are they really? In this interactive session, cybersecurity experts from the University of Alberta and Cybera will simulate real-world attack scenarios using AI tools. Attendees will gain relevant context into the actual threat of AI against their institution, and see how these threats are monitored and addressed through a Security Information Event Management (SIEM) system.

Geared towards the network and security leads in education and public sector institutions, this workshop will provide a valuable learning and networking opportunity. This is your chance to walk through a variety of realistic attack scenarios, and build key relationships with other experts in the field.

In a rapidly evolving post-pandemic landscape, effective leadership must adapt to new challenges. This dynamic mixed-media presentation invites participants to rethink leadership through a creative lens, utilizing storytelling and compelling metaphors drawn from diverse fields—from ancient history to modern achievements like Apollo 11 and motorsports. Attendees will explore timeless leadership principles while gaining fresh insights into how to inspire and empower their teams. Whether you have a passion for history, art, or innovation, you'll leave with unexpected stories and ideas that will enhance your understanding of leadership and guide your team toward transformative success.

Digital research has existed for more than thirty years, but the Beowulf cluster at NASA coincided with the emergence of the web. What have we accomplished since then, and what are possibilities for the next thirty years? How might we on the Canadian Prairies best provide, use, and support digital research, and how does networking support those efforts?

In this session you will learn:
1. The current threat landscape for endpoints
2. Learnings from the recent attacks
3. Effective strategies for Mitigating known & unknown threats

Millennials and Gen Z have influenced the digital landscape, and been influenced by it. Now, they play pivotal roles in the modern workforce and economy. This presentation unpacks evaluation data from cybersecurity training programs for post-secondary women and youth in Canada, focusing on technology's impact on the generations that grew up using it. Using the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC)'s Cybersecurity Training & Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) and CyberTitan programs as case studies, it offers lessons learned on how digital culture shapes participants' learning styles and workplace communication.

Over the past three decades, the cybersecurity landscape has evolved dramatically, marked by rapid technological advancements and an increasingly sophisticated threat landscape. However, this growth has also led to a proliferation of fragmented solutions, creating a complex and often disjointed security environment. Organizations are frequently burdened with managing multiple, isolated tools, each addressing different aspects of security. This fragmentation not only increases costs but also complicates threat detection, response efforts, and creates gaps that adversaries can exploit.

This presentation will explore the evolution of cybersecurity, focusing on the challenges posed by fragmented solutions. We will discuss how these silos have hampered comprehensive threat visibility and response, often leading to increased vulnerability and risk. As the industry moves towards a future of integrated security platforms, we will highlight the benefits of consolidation, including streamlined operations, improved threat intelligence, and enhanced organizational resilience.

Join us to learn how the future of cybersecurity lies in unifying diverse security functions into cohesive, efficient platforms, ensuring a more robust defense against the ever-evolving cyber threat landscape.

Generative AI has made it exponentially easier to flood the world with junk content (a.k.a. pink slime journalism), but it is also helping responsible media companies carry out their work more deeply and efficiently. This session will explore the uses and abuses of AI in journalism, as well as what it will take to align the incentives to ensure we all get the information we need.