Quarter-Century Milestone: UNC Charlotte’s Cybersecurity Symposium Celebrates 25th Year

UNC Charlotte’s College of Computing and Informatics (CCI) hosted the annual Cybersecurity Symposium on Oct. 22-23 on the University’s campus, marking the event’s 25th anniversary. The annual gathering once again provided a forum for students, researchers and industry professionals to interact, sharing best practices and career advice while looking forward into the next quarter-century of cybersecurity.

A sold-out crowd of over 700 cybersecurity professionals convened on campus Oct. 23 for a day full of captivating keynotes, insightful panel discussions and numerous breakout sessions on hot topics in the current cyber defense landscape. 

Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Jennifer Troyer led the day’s proceedings with opening remarks.

“We’ve witnessed incredible transformations in terms of technology, society and the global landscape since the turn of the millennium, yet one constant has been UNC Charlotte’s commitment to collaboration with industry partners, ensuring that we stay at the forefront of these security trends,” Troyer said.

“For more than two decades, UNC Charlotte has been a national leader in cybersecurity,” Troyer continued. “We’re addressing the critical shortage of talent in the industry, and our researchers are doing leading work in information infrastructure, energy and power grid management, manufacturing and cyber-physical systems, all helping to address critical issues faced by business and society.”

This year’s symposium was also in part a celebration of Bei-Tseng “Bill” Chu, CCI’s longtime professor of software and information systems and director of the CyberDNA Center for cybersecurity research. 

From the earliest days of UNC Charlotte’s cybersecurity efforts, Chu worked to make inroads with prominent business partners and to secure investment for groundbreaking cyber defense research, all while creating invaluable opportunities for UNC Charlotte students along the way.

In honor of his contributions, the University and several industry partner organizations announced the formation of the Bill Chu Endowed Scholarship, a new scholarship fund for aspiring cybersecurity students.

On its first day, the symposium hosted dozens of students and working cybersecurity professionals to take part in industry expert-led training and information sessions, designed to provide tangible experience developing new skills crucial to the field, in addition to career readiness exercises like resume review sessions. 

The symposium’s second day was kicked off with remarks from Troyer, Chu, and Charlotte Information Systems Security Association (ISSA) President Brent Bigelow, who introduced the morning’s first panel discussion: “Cybersecurity: A 25-year Journey. What’s Next?” moderated by Managing Director of Information Assurance Advisory Roger Callahan and featuring Mastercard Cybersecurity Fellow Ron Green and George Mason University Scalia Law School National Security Institute Fellow Sounil Yu. 

The panel fostered a lively discussion on the continued evolution of cyber threats including the use of artificial intelligence, adaptive malware and quantum computing techniques by increasingly sophisticated hackers, as well as a discussion on the geopolitical implications of cyber warfare and the need to focus cyber defense efforts on cutting edge threats.

Next was a keynote from Shawn Gunsolley, Bank of America SVP and Information Security Executive leading Identity & Authentication Services for Cyber Security Technology, who discussed how compromised user identity information was at the root of multiple recent major cyber-attacks. He then explained how data about identity information could be more secure if it was stored in a decentralized way instead of being stored in one location or database.

The afternoon was filled with a wide array of breakout sessions on numerous timely topics in the field, with exhibitor booths available to visit between sessions. A panel of cybersecurity executives discussing the evolution of the Chief Information Security Officer role. Moderated by Todd Inskeep, Incovate Solutions founder and senior director, the panel included VP & Global Chief Information Security Officer at Hanesbrands Inc. John Opalla, Lowe’s Global CISO Marc Varnet, and Head of the Office of the Chief Information Security Officer for Wells Fargo Amit Metha.

This year’s symposium was made possible by a number of industry partner sponsors, including Presenting Sponsor Bank of America; Silver Sponsors Booz Allen, Pryon, Duke Energy, Wells Fargo, Lowe’s and Stratascale; Reception Sponsors Charlotte ISSA and Tevora Dazz; Bronze Sponsors Tenable, TIAA and Ally; and exhibitors ServiceNow, Netrise, NWN Carousel, Island, Kodem, Dexian and Trellix.