Austin Chamber Hosts First Cybersecurity Summit

The Austin Chamber’s first-ever Cybersecurity Summit, produced in partnership with South by Southwest, was designed to help businesses of all sizes navigate the rapidly changing cyber landscape. Business owners and c-suite business leaders were invited to understand the basics of what cybersecurity is and how it is something every business needs to take seriously.

During this multitracked summit, attendees heard how to protect their businesses from top speakers, including former US national security officials, top business consultants, and industry leaders. Cybersecurity can be significantly challenging for businesses and breaches are more prevalent in the United States than anywhere else in the world. More than 2 out of every 5 cyber-attacks worldwide target an institution based in the United States.

Why is this especially important information for the Central Texas business community? Small businesses can be heavily impacted by cyber-attacks. 97.5% of businesses in the Austin MSA employ less than 100 employees. Unfortunately, 60 percent of small businesses that experience a successful cyber-attack go out of business within 6 months.

Our outstanding speakers across our three panels gave practical advice on prevention and incident response.

Speakers & Sessions

Understanding the Cyber Landscape - Opportunities & Threats

Speakers:
Lucian Niemeyer - CEO of Building Cyber Security
Richard Seline - Co-Founder and Managing Director of the Resilience Innovation Hub and Collaboratory Network
Our first speakers presented data from World Economic Forum on overall disasters and crisis and projections for cybersecurity's future impact. Our speakers also discussed malicious cyber activity against the US, the role of cyber insurance coverage, risk mitigation, and cyber hygiene, and how all this fits into ESG and sustainability – which are key focal points for almost every organization. They all discussed how business owners share that cybersecurity is the single thing that keeps them up at night over all other challenges. In today’s business environment, that says a lot!
Protecting Your Business

Speakers:
Bobbie Stempfley - Vice President and Business Unit Security Officer for Dell Technologies
Ioana Bazavan - Security Managing Director for Accenture
Moderator: Hugh Forrest - Chief Programming Officer for South by Southwest
Hugh Forrest, from SXSW, moderated a panel with two industry leaders who shared their expertise on how organizations of all sizes can take small steps to ensure that they are not part of the more than $10.5 trillion in cybercrime damage that will be done globally by 2025. The discussion focussed on businesses' weakest link, which is often human error. This is why it is important to focus on training and having a zero-trust framework for your business.
Under Attack: Practical Cyber Advice for Small & Medium-sized Businesses

Speakers:
Elizabeth Rogers - Partner with Michael Best
Violet Sullivan - Vice President of Client Engagement for Redpoint Cybersecurity
Carlos Kuri - General Counsel for South by Southwest
According to Forbes, small businesses are three times more likely to be targeted by cybercriminals than larger companies and C-suite accounts are the top targets of nefarious actors. Our experts discussed what happens when your business is attacked. All three speakers shared personal experiences with cybersecurity and lessons learned from responses that they have participated in. They shared their suggestions including having cyber policies offline, having basic step-by-step response plans, and knowing who your first calls are going to be after a cyber attack.