By

on behalf of Robert G. Kennedy III, AMW General Chair

Greetings, and welcome to Virtual AMW.

As you know, early last month (which seems like forever ago) we decided to cancel AMW46 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  This may surprise you, but once we fully appreciated the gravity of the situation, it was not a hard decision.  In lieu of that, we have begun the effort of organizing some virtual events to keep our community entertained, educated, and prepared – and I am proud to announce to you the details of our first such event.

Inspiration for this effort came in large part from the late Becky Bace, and from her unforgettable laugh. She was a longtime participant at our Workshops, so her friends and colleagues established the Bace Cybersecurity Institute (BCI, https://www.bacesecurity.org/ ) to honor her memory and carry on her vital work.  Many of you attended the “Remembering Becky Bace” event on the Friday afternoon after AMW43 in 2017.

There is no cost to attend this online event, but you do have to register. FYI, I am cross-posting a similarly-worded invitation to my 2000-ish fellow Fellows at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and hence my long .sig line.

Best wishes to you, and I hope to see you online.

Robert G. Kennedy III, PE

General Chair, Asilomar Microcomputer Workshop – www.amw.org

1994 AAAS/ASME Congressional Fellow, U.S. House Subcommittee on Space

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Webinar: Responding to How COVID-19 is Changing the Cybersecurity Landscape

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen a massive increase in cyber-attacks. Opportunistic cybercriminals are exploiting fear and uncertainty created by the pandemic to take advantage of already-vulnerable businesses and individuals, especially in light of the increase in people working from home who perhaps have a lesser degree of protection. There have been especially brutal cyber-attacks on the supply chain that provides the equipment and materials necessary to fight the virus, and on hospitals and medical institutions fighting at the front lines to save lives.

Bace Cybersecurity Institute (BCI, https://www.bacesecurity.org/ ) is kicking off a series of bi-weekly webinars ( https://www.bacesecurity.org/page/2686 ) describing the problem, how to immediately respond to it, and how to prepare better for the next global pandemic.

Our first webinar in the series ( https://www.bacesecurity.org/page/2686 ) will be held on Wed, April 22, from 11am-Noon PDT/2-3pm EDT. We will be kicking off the conversation with top cybersecurity experts to exchange information about what is happening, how we can fight back to shut down these attacks, and how we can help those who have already fallen victim. The webinar will be followed by “Office Hours” on Fri, April 24 at 11am PDT/2pm EDT for smaller group discussions and Q&A. 

This initial webinar will be followed every other Wed. at the same time, with detailed discussions on specific topics.  You will receive announcements of these on this listserver for at least some period of time, and management and publicity of these will likely fully transition to the BCI.

Register at https://www.bacesecurity.org/page/2686

Our Speakers

  1. Diana Neuman, Executive Director of BCI: Welcome Remarks
  2. Mark Cummings, CTO of BCI: Discussing the need to learn from our current situation to better prepare for the next one
  3. Fleming Shi, CTO of Barracuda: An overview of the current attack landscape
  4. Marc Rogers, VP Cyber at Okta: Leading the charge with an international team of volunteers helping those who have been attacked and disabling the attackers
  5. Joel Holland, CTO at Security On-Demand: Reviewing the challenges caused by the recent increase in the use of the cloud for remote work
  6. Nina Alli, Executive Director of the Biohacking Village at DEF CON: What the cybersecurity community can learn from the biohacker community

Register at https://www.bacesecurity.org/page/2686 to join us live next week to learn about the threats we are currently facing, how you can help, and what we can do to be better prepared for the future.

Can’t make it live? A recording of the webinar will be posted on the BCI Website, with a link sent to all registrants.