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PSA TEC 2017 | Cybersecurity Committee Session Summaries

This was the year that cybersecurity went mainstream with PSA integrators.  Three years of hard work by the PSA Cybersecurity Committee was rewarded when the polling of this year’s session attendees revealed that nearly two-thirds of the various cybersecurity track session attendees were allocating budget and resources towards cybersecurity.  They are hardening their internal networks and processes.  They are training their staff.  They are working to cyber-secure the systems and products that they are installing. This compares with approximately 10-percent who reported being cyber-engaged at PSA TEC in 2016.

Managing Cybersecurity Assurance for Physical Security Implementations

The first PSA Cybersecurity Committee sponsored session focused on best practices for hardening, documenting, and managing the cyber security life cycle of installed security systems and equipment.  The session was expertly guided by Sal D’Agostino, Founder and CEO of IDmachines, who was swamped with additional questions after the session and at the Eidola product booth during Wednesday’s floor show. There are a lot of great tools out there to help with this task, and it was gratifying to see the attendees taking the protection of their client’s systems to heart. This is a new vision on physical security technology for many, and I can now state unequivocally that many of the PSA integrators are up for the challenge!

UL Series 2900 – Building Standards for Cybersecurity

The second PSA Cybersecurity Committee session brought real world experience to attendees with insight from of Matt Meade, Co-Chair Cybersecurity and Data Protection for Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, and David Willson, Attorney/Security Consultant for Titan Info Security Group. Alongside their legal expertise, Darnell Washington, President and CEO of SecureXperts, and Larry Wilson, Chief Information Security Officer for the UMass President’s Office, added government and enterprise academic experience to a conversation that explored the variety of laws, liabilities, and compliance management issues that are implicit with end-user vulnerabilities.  Once an organization’s technical defenses have been bypassed, educated employees are the final defense on the cyber warfare battleground.  David Willson summed up the session expertly with his final comment, “Don’t do dumb sh*t,” to a roar of applause from the audience. Had David been standing vs. seated, he could’ve just dropped the microphone - boom.

Mahalo,

Andrew Lanning, Chairman

PSA Cybersecurity Committee