This event will stress the importance of cybersecurity and offer unique challenges and opportunities to the San Diego Community. The City of SD recognizes the potential this occasion could bring to the city and has provided financial support to take this event to the next level.

Code with us for Hack-o-ween

Join us for Hack-o-ween, a VR/AR Hackathon produced by the AT&T Developer Program and CyberTECH. Hackathons are coding competitions, where individuals and teams build apps and games from scratch over a specified time period. The apps are then pitched to judges and prizes award for the best apps. Hackathons are a great opportunity to learn new technologies, network with fellow developers, enjoy some food, most importantly have some fun!

The Hackathon will be held in downtown San Diego at CyberTECH’s cybersecurity incubator and shared workspace, CyberHive, starting the evening of Friday, Oct 27 and ending the evening of Sunday Oct 29. See the full schedule below.

It’s Hack-o-ween!

Code in costume if you want! Bring your favorite cosplay, neopixel wearable, or that SpongeBob outfit. Street clothes are fine also!

TO REGISTER CLICK HERE

Schedule

The following is a list of the weekend’s agenda:

Day 1 – Friday

6PM – Dinner is served and networking
7PM – Event kickoff
8PM – Pitch ideas, form teams, and start coding!
9PM – Equipment loaning
12AM – Venue closes for the night; you may continue working on your project offsite.

Day 2 – Saturday

9AM – The fun continues with breakfast served in the morning! Work with the teams from Day 1 to complete the app.
1PM – Lunch is served
4PM – TEAM REGISTRATION DEADLINE
7PM – Dinner is served

CyberTECH will be open OVERNIGHT on Saturday! Thank you to CyberTech for keeping the hackathon non-stop!

Day 3 – Sunday

9AM – Breakfast served
1PM – CODE FREEZE. First round of judging. Lunch is served
4PM – Top teams present and winners announced

Prizes

The following prizes will be awarded after the fast pitches are completed and the judges have convened:

Best Hackathon Overall App
$1000 in Amazon gift cards for the team
Membership to CyberTech ($1680 value)

Best Smart City Hack
$500 in Amazon gift cards for the team
3 month hot desk at CyberTech ($750 value)

Best VR/AR Hack
$500 in Amazon gift cards for the team
3 month hot desk at CyberTech ($750 value)

Judging Criteria

Apps will be judged based on the criteria below and weighted accordingly.
33% Weight – Ability to clearly articulate what your app does
33% Weight – Originality of idea
33% Weight – Creative use of technologies discussed at the event

TO REGISTER CLICK HERE

Hackathon Legal

Hackathon terms: http://bit.ly/2fb1fdH

We expect all participants to abide by the Hack Code of Conduct: http://hackcodeofconduct.org/attdeveloper

FAQ: https://goo.gl/26H8rZ

Social Media

Follow us @attdeveloper and @CyberHiveSD for live updates and photos from the event
Use #atthack in your tweets
Like us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ATTDeveloper

Speakers

Darin Andersen is a distinguished Internet of Things (IoT) and cybersecurity professional with over 15 years of experience in the security industry. In 2013, Mr. Andersen founded CyberTECH (CyberHive and iHive Incubators), a global cybersecurity and IoT network ecosystem providing cybersecurity and IoT resources, strategic programs and quality thought leader IoT Forums across the nation. Darin is also founder of CyberUnited, a cybersecurity, big data and predictive analytics firm that applies a behavioral psychology framework via machine learning, data, analytics and inferential algorithms to determine and prevent identity and insider threats within the enterprise, academic and government organizations.

Sponsors

Autistic People Can Solve Our Cybersecurity Crisis

Wired, November 26, 2016

Alan Turing was the mastermind whose role in cracking the Nazi Enigma code helped the Allies win World War II. He built a machine to do the calculations necessary to decipher enemy messages and today is hailed as the father of the com­puter and artificial intelligence. He’s also widely believed to have been autistic.

Turing was not diagnosed in his lifetime, but his mathematical genius and social inelegance fit the profile for autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

And his story illustrates how society benefits when it gives a voice to those who think different. Until he came along, no one perceived the need for a com­puter; they simply needed to crack the code. It took a different kind of mind to come up with that unexpected, profoundly consequential solution.

While Turing’s renown has arguably never been higher, today we are failing to recognize the potential in millions of other talented minds all around us. Like Turing, many of them are also capable of exceptional technological expertise that can help to safeguard our nation.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that more than 70 million people worldwide—1 percent of the global population—are living with autism. In the US, an upward trend in diagnosis means that the number of adults with ASD is expected to top 3 million by 2020. And today, according to expert estimates, 70 to 90 percent of them are unemployed or underemployed.

The common prejudice is that people with ASD have limited skills and are difficult to work with. To the extent that’s true, it’s a measure of our failure as a society. Almost half of those diagnosed with ASD are of average or above-average intellectual ability.

And we have clear evidence that job-focused training and support services, especially in the transition to adulthood, can make a huge difference, leading to higher levels of employment, more independence, and better quality of life.

But few are getting such help. Programs for adolescents and adults with ASD receive less than 1 percent of all autism-related funding in the US, public and private. (Most spend­ing is on research into the causes of the syndrome and on programs for children.) That we are not preparing these individuals for the future is more than just a personal tra­gedy; it’s a monumental waste of human talent.

In what kinds of jobs could we match the interests and passions of people with ASD and our country’s needs? Well, it just so happens that there is a massive labor shortage in the vital field of cybersecurity. Globally, the damage from cyber attacks by criminals, terrorists, and hostile states is projected to exceed $2 trillion by 2019. Yet the number of unfilled jobs in this area is growing and will likely reach 1 million worldwide next year.

At the same time, more than three-quarters of cognitively able individuals with autism have aptitudes and interests that make them well suited to cybersecurity careers. These include being very analytical and detail-oriented as well as honest and respectful of rules. And there are many other areas in which these talents could quite literally be employed.

A few innovative firms, including Microsoft, SAP, and Freddie Mac, already have pilot programs for hiring people with autism to fill sophisticated IT jobs and other positions. The Gates Foundation, the Milken Institute, and the Hilibrand Foundation have also funded valuable employ­ment and research programs.

But given the coming tsunami of adults with autism, a much broader effort will be required. We need a national strategy, coordinating the efforts of public agencies, companies, and organizations, to bring these valuable minds into the work­force. Such an initiative should focus first on providing meaningful job opportunities for adults who are cognitively able and eventually branch out to more of the autism spectrum.

This effort needn’t start from scratch. Let’s begin by convening those working on the issue in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC—areas where strong research and clinical programs are up and running and where tech industry jobs are readily available. By capitalizing on this existing network, we can seed job hubs around the country for adults with autism.

These hubs would create programs to cultivate expertise in cybersecurity and would teach workplace social skills and independent living skills. They’d also work with industry partners to develop a talent pipeline and help them under­stand how best to integrate autistic employees.

Half a century ago, Turing’s extraordinary abilities helped us win a war and launched the technology that is still reshaping our world. Today we’re facing a new threat, and we must once again band together. This is a tremendous opportunity—to use one social challenge to solve another—and a potentially transformative moment.

Let’s take full advantage of it.

SOURCE: WIRED, November 26, 2016

U.S. says cybersecurity skills shortage is a myth

Nov. 21, 2016

The U.S. government has released what it claims is myth-busting data about the shortage of cybersecurity professionals. The data points to its own hiring experience.

READ MORE

In October 2015, the U.S. launched a plan to hire 6,500 people with cybersecurity skills by January 2017, according to White House officials. It had hired 3,000 by the first half of this year. As part the ongoing hiring effort, it held a job fair in July.

At the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), “We set out to dispel certain myths regarding cybersecurity hiring,” wrote Angela Bailey, chief human capital officer at DHS in a blog post Monday.

One myth is this: “There is not a lot of cyber talent available for hire,” said Bailey. “Actually, over 14,000 people applied for our positions, with over 2,000 walking in the door. And while not all of them were qualified, we continue to this day to hire from the wealth of talent made available as a result of our hiring event.

“The amount of talent available to hire was so great, we stayed well into the night interviewing potential employees,” said Bailey.

However, the experience of the U.S. government seems counter to what industry studies say is actually going on.

For instance, a report released one day before the government’s job fair in July, Intel Security, in partnership with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), pointed to a “talent shortage crisis” of cybersecurity skills.

David Foote, co-founder and chief analyst at Foote Partners, is skeptical of the government’s findings, and says there’s really no unemployment among people with cybersecurity skills, “so why would they go to a job fair?”

Why would someone take a government job that will pay less than a beltway consulting firm?

The salary for a senior cyber security specialist, with five or more years of experience, in the Washington D.C. metro area is $132,837, said Foote.

The salary range for an IT specialist in cybersecurity ranges from about $65,000 to to $120,000, depending on skills, experience and educational attainment.

Foote said the appeal of getting a security clearance may have motivated some to apply for a government job. A security clearance can open to subsequent private sector jobs.

But Foote suspects that the U.S. is focusing on hiring people it can train, and not on hiring someone with experience and who would command much higher salaries than can government offer.

In cybersecurity, experience is critical, said Foote. “Cybersecurity is something you have to do, you have a develop an instinct and you only do that with hands on,” he said.

SOURCE: Computerworld, Nov. 21, 2016

Commission urges better cybersecurity

Urgent: The first 100 days of cybersecurity in the Trump Administration

The Associated Press, December 3, 2016

A presidential commission has made 16 urgent recommendations to improve the nation’s cybersecurity, including creating a nutritional-type label to help consumers shop wisely and appointing a new international ambassador on the subject — weeks before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

The release of the 100-page report follows the worst hacking of U.S. government systems in history and accusations by the Obama administration that Russia meddled in the U.S. presidential election by hacking Democrats.

The Presidential Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity urged immediate action within two to five years and suggested the Trump administration consider acting on some proposals within its first 100 days.

The commission recommended that Trump create an assistant to the president for cybersecurity, who would report through the national security adviser, and establish an ambassador for cybersecurity, who would lead efforts to create international rules.

It urged steps, such as getting rid of traditional passwords, to end the threat of identity theft by 2021 and said Trump’s administration should train 100,000 new cybersecurity workers by 2020.

Other ideas included helping consumers to judge products using an independent nutritional-type label for technology products and services.

“What we’ve been doing over the last 15 to 20 years simply isn’t working, and the problem isn’t going to be fixed simply by adding more money,” said Steven Chabinsky, a commission member and the global chair of the data, privacy and cybersecurity practice for White & Case LLP, an international law firm.

He said the group wanted the burden of cybersecurity “moved away from every computer user and handled at higher levels,” including internet providers and product developers who could ensure security by default and design “for everyone’s benefit.”

The White House requested the report in February and intended it to serve as a transition memo for the next president. The commission included 12 of what the White House described as the brightest minds in business, academia, technology and security. It was led by Tom Donilon, Obama’s former national security adviser.

It was not immediately clear whether Trump would accept the group’s recommendations. Trump won the election on promises to reduce government regulations, although decades of relying on market pressure or asking businesses to voluntarily make their products and services safer have been largely ineffective.

Trump’s presidential campaign benefited from embarrassing disclosures in hacked emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee, Hillary Clinton’s campaign staff and others.

Plus, Trump openly invited Russian hackers to find and release tens of thousands of personal emails that Clinton had deleted from the private server she had used to conduct government business as secretary of state. He also disputed the Obama administration’s conclusion that Russia was responsible for the Democratic hackings.

Under Obama, hackers stole personal data from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management on more than 21 million current, former and prospective government employees, including details of security-clearance background investigations for federal agents, intelligence employees and others.

SOURCE: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, December 3, 2016

CyberTECH is pleased to announce the opening of its in-house coffee shop, Grind. By introducing a fully functioning cafe, CyberTECH is addressing one of the challenges for workers in the Banker’s Hill area – good coffee. With very few cafes and restaurants within walking distance of the CoWorking offices at First and Fir, CyberTECH Members have struggled to fulfill their coffee break needs.

On November 10, the Grind will start providing hot drinks like mochas, lattes, and Americanos. With a focus on high quality beans and well-crafted beverages, Grind will be offering European-inspired products. CyberTECH facility manager, Mo Rahseparian, brings his years of restaurant ownership experience to ensure customers enjoy the highest quality products and services.

Starting with a wide selection of hot beverages, Grind will be expanding its line of products over the coming weeks and months. Cold drinks, bottled drinks, snacks, and sandwiches are all vital components to ensuring every visitor can find something to eat or drink.

And Grind will be open to everyone. Of course, the primary customers will be those Members inside the CyberTECH community. But the building at First and Fir houses office employees and healthcare workers that will be able to easily take advantage of the food services. In addition, Banker’s Hill residents and workers will have access to the Grind coffee and food. CyberTECH Members will get a hefty discount on any purchases.

Initially, operating hours will skew towards the morning with service starting before 8am. And because the shortage of lunch options in the area, the cafe will operate through the lunch hour. Extended and weekend hours will be determined based on demand and need.

CyberTECH will soon launch its Immersive and Emerging Technologies Lab, it will be housed in xHive which is located on the 2nd floor of NEST CoWork.. Because virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) continue massive expansion in the personal use and professional use markets, CyberTECH is setting aside a space to explore both personal and business uses of any and all advancements. The lab space will include all three major VR platforms – HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Sony PlayStation VR.

Three CyberTECH Members are already reserving the space for research and product development. 360 Stock VR, Built by Web 3, and MiPOV Technologies will be the first in-house users. These three companies will be working with CyberTECH staff to ensure expandable capacity while maintaining everyday ease of use.

In an effort to offer a full line of three dimensional services, CyberTECH is happy to announce its Member, SD3D, will have a permanent kiosk in the Grind Café lobby. The 3D printing kiosk offers product samples and a web-based ordering system for customers looking for three dimensional solutions.

Both the 3D printing kiosk and the VR lab will be available for trial and review at CyberTECH’s 3rd Annual Good Neighbor Taste of San Diego event on 10 November.

CyberTECH is both proud and sad to announce that 3D manufacturer and Member, Sympathetic Innovations, will be moving out of the First and Fir building and into a larger warehouse in National City. Alejandro and Matthias have been exceptional Members and we are thrilled they have used their time inside CyberTECH to grow. You’ll be missed!

As part of Good Neighbor Taste of San Diego, Thursday, Nov. 10, 6-7 pm, at NEST CoWork Space, our initial cohort of Entrepreneurs in Residence (EIR) will get a chance to present their Power Point decks to a panel of experts.

Each EIR company will have three minutes to pitch to venture cap and business judges, followed by a five-minute Q&A – a total of eight minutes per pitch. Winners will receive prizes and also advance to San Diego Startup Week Pitchfest in June 2017. The event will be led by our co-chairs Dave Titus @CooleyLLP and Andrew Berkhausen @ScaleMatrix. Ashok Kamal from @Techcoastangels will also be participating.

ABOUT CyberTECH’S Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR):

  • A six-month, low-rent program designed to build strategic relationships between early-stage companies and CyberTECH’s growing ecosystem of partners and stakeholders.
  • The innovative program leverages CyberTECH’s “Social Community Incubator Model” and is designed as a major element of CyberTECH’s Smart & Safe Cities initiative, in partnership with CyberCalifornia.
  • EIR startups will work independently with the support of the CyberTECH community. In some cases, EIRs may be embedded directly in departments or with Business Units at CyberTECH’s corporate partners to accelerate their business concepts and new technology products and services.
  • In addition to being assigned to a Mentorship Team, CyberTECH EIR startups will have access to no- or low-cost office space, along with discounted or low-cost software, high-speed Internet, strategic, legal and marketing professionals and other early stage startup services.
  • Some startups may be offered stipends or scholarships from CyberTECH ecosystem companies.

 

 

 

 

RIPE NETWORK COORDINATION CENTER

Sure, for some the Internet of Things is just an opportunity to make money. But what if it’s also an opportunity to share our expertise — and in the process, make the world a better place?

Addressing the topic of the Internet of Things (IoT) during RIPE 72, one of the speakers started his presentation with the observation that, “The IoT won’t make you rich.”

However, he then went on to conclude that, “You can make a living at the same time as having fun and making the world a better place.”

There’s been a lot of talk about the economic opportunities that the IoT might provide, but ignoring the obvious driver to make money, what else can be done with the IoT to make the world a little bit better?

Many well-known Internet institutions weren’t founded with the intent of getting rich – in fact, you can argue that the inception of the Internet itself wasn’t aimed at obtaining any commercial success.

Many Internet organizations are established as not-for-profits, and a lot of critical Internet services are not operated with the primary purpose of making money, but simply as an enablers that exist for the good of the Internet.

Times have changed, of course, and the Internet has turned into a commercial success that allows many people to make a living – and some to even get rich.

If any, the projections for what is commonly referred to as the IoT are even more optimistic, full of forecasts that connecting everything together and processing vast quantities of data will allow even bigger commercial success and profits to be made.

Yet at the same time, many concerns have been raised – especially by those who understand the technology – about the risks involved with an ever more connected society and the dependencies this creates for our economic well-being.

These issues range from questioning the scalability of it all to the dangers of cyber warfare, where a well-aimed attack could cripple an entire country.

SOURCE: RIPE NETWORK COORDINATION CENTER, Oct. 7, 2016

When it comes to cybersecurity, changing outcomes is about unity of mission, not command, and here our government is often at odds with itself. The next president, whomever he or she turns out to be, has a chance to change that. The hack of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) made juicy headlines –but it shouldn’t have surprised anyone. Because these days, there are two kinds of presidential campaigns in the United States: Those that have been hacked and those that have been hacked but don’t know it.  If our next president is serious about preventing attacks, we need to stop waiting for the inevitable. The appointment of the nation’s first chief information security officer and the new directive for cyber incidents is a start, but good cybersecurity policy should be proactive, not reactive.

Here’s how we can get ahead of the game:

1) End the government doublespeak
In February, President Obama took the first step of writing an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal to outline his strategy for strengthening the internet. He’s spending $3 billion to overhaul federal computer systems and fix government IT, which he characterized as “an Atari game in an Xbox world.”

2) Create a new cyber technology court
Many of the laws governing cybercrime are decades old and failed to anticipate today’s connected world. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, for instance, criminalize research by ethical hackers designed to find security flaws before they can be exploited by criminals.

3) Internet security isn’t a war; the government needs help
For a global power used to flexing its muscle to solve problems, the web can be a strange place and a great equalizer. Some of the best tech talent and tools are in the private sector.

SOURCE: Federal Times, Sept. 16, 2016

NATIONAL REVIEW

Facts are in dispute, Yahoo’s explanations are conflicting, and Congress can’t agree what to do. This much we know: On September 22, Yahoo admitted that some 500 million accounts had been stolen by hackers, including encrypted passwords, names, phone numbers, e-mails, but not banking information. The breach actually occurred two years ago, but apparently Yahoo only discovered the theft some weeks before the public announcement. Beyond these bare details, not a lot more is known — a situation that has produced a cascade of questions and allegations.

For instance, Yahoo has not disclosed an exact timeline showing when it learned about the breach. The company stated, “We don’t know how the bad guys got in.” It has also asserted that the theft was perpetrated by a “state-sponsored actor,” though it provided no technical details to support this claim. There are both private and public implications stemming from Yahoo’s voluminous customer-data breach. In July, Verizon agreed to pay $4.8 billion for Yahoo’s core business. Thus, the timing of the subsequent hacking incident could have a direct impact on the proposed takeover — and has produced suspicions about when Yahoo learned of the huge theft.

Senator Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) has demanded that regulators “investigate whether Yahoo may have concealed its knowledge of this breach in order to artificially bolster its valuation in its pending acquisition by Verizon.” His suspicions no doubt deepened after learning that Yahoo had claimed in an SEC filing on September 9 that it had no knowledge of any incident that could adversely affect the sale to Verizon. In addition, a Yahoo customer has launched a lawsuit, accusing the company of “gross negligence” of customer data and seeking class-action status.

The brief suggested that Yahoo had neglected customer privacy and refused, despite warnings, to bulk up its security defenses.

SOURCE: NATIONAL REVIEW, Sept. 16, 2016