The seventh North American International Cyber Summit, hosted by Gov. Rick Snyder, brought together more than 850 participants Monday to discuss solutions for the cybersecurity dangers that threaten the security of citizens and business throughout the world.
“Information technology has been at the core of nearly every major advancement made in recent history,” Gov. Snyder said. “As we embrace these new technologies to improve our lives, we also have to ensure that we are acting responsibly to secure the sensitive data being collected and shared. It takes the collaboration of leaders in all industry sectors to provide continued public confidence in our online interactions.”
Highlighting the skills needed to keep the country safe from cyber-attacks, students from Cadillac High School (Cadillac, MI) were crowned champions of the Governor’s High School Cyber Challenge after defeating the 201 other teams that competed in the third-year event.
The ten top teams after the first round of the competition battled in the finals at the Cyber Summit. The members of the winning team consisted of Josh Jacobson, Tucker Bachman and Gavin Phillips (pictured below). The team from Marquette Senior High (Marquette, MI) took home the second-place trophy (pictured above) and a team from Okemos High School (Okemos, MI) finished in third.
Additionally, Gov. Snyder announced the opening of two new Cyber Hubs at Northern Michigan University and at the University of Michigan-Flint. Cyber Range Hubs establish Michigan as the national epicenter for security training and workforce development, hosting events, exercises and training classes. Statewide hubs operate as a physical extension of the Michigan Cyber Range, the nation’s largest unclassified cyber range.
“This next installment in the Michigan Cyber Range continues the development of a robust statewide cybersecurity community,” Snyder said. “These regional cyber hubs position Michigan to be a leader in driving the next generation of cybersecurity protections and training a workforce able to support cybers initiatives across many industries.”
The hubs offer industry-recognized certifications, exercises and workshops aimed at qualifying individuals for positions and contracts in cybersecurity fields. The Hubs will be developed in partnership with Merit Network and the Michigan Defense Center, an extension of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation in the next six months and will help expand the cyber ecosystem to the Upper Peninsula and Genesee County.
National and international experts joining Snyder at the summit included Matthew Travis, Deputy Undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Dug Song, Vice-President of Duo Security Business Unit; David Cagigal, Chief Information Officer of Wisconsin; Chetrice Mosley, Cybersecurity Program Director of Indiana; Joshua D. Spence, Chief Information Security Officer of West Virginia and numerous other information technology experts.
