Fight against hackers continues at the Cyber Security Summit

The internet’s not going away--and neither are criminals.

That means the Cyber Security Summit 2017, inside the Minneapolis Convention Center through Wednesday, could be among the best shields against the web’s perpetual menace: hackers.

“This really is more like the defense of a city than like a war,” said Andrew Borene, the Summit’s Chairman Emeritus. “This year we’ve got more than 800 leaders from businesses, the government and academia coming together to discuss best practices and solutions to help make a safer more secure cyber space.”

July’s Equifax breach, which affects nearly half of all Americans, only drives home the magnitude of the danger and the life-long consequences flimsy security leaves consumers to bear.

The collaboration across industries at the Summit is key to answering the most critical questions:

  1. How do you best and most efficiently use that technology to provide the highest level of protection?
  2. Are the attackers getting better than the defenders at a more rapid pace?

While the answers include enhancing things like multi-factor authentication, touch I.D., and facial recognition software, an ugly truth remains.

“Nothing is completely secure,” said David Notch, the Minneapolis 2018 Cyber Security Summit Co-Chair.

And without clear-cut solutions we, the consumers, could continue to put more privacy on the line and more skin in the game.

“It’s going to be an ongoing commitment to keeping cyberspace as secure as we can and doing it together in a collaborative way,” Borene said. “It’s a big challenge, but then again so is the challenge of maintaining safe cities.”

More than 750 people have registered to attend the Summit, which started Sunday. Dr. Stacy Dixon, a University of Minnesota alum now with IARPA at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, is slated to give a talk on combating short and long-term cyber threats Wednesday morning.

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