bdpatoday® | Cyber Security Framework

LAUREL, MD—BDPA Members, alumni, and regional students visit Capitol Technology University’s cyber labs during workshops, presentations, and Capture The Flag (CTF) activities during this weekend’s annual Cyber Saturday events.

Capitol Technology University is Washington D.C.’s premier STEM University–supplying human capital to America’s most technologically advanced government agencies and their private sector supply chains. In 2020, Capitol Tech was awarded a two-year grant from the National Security Agency (NSA) to lead the National Center of Academic Excellence (CAE) Northeast Regional Hub, which includes 14 states, the District of Columbia, and hundreds of institutions offering cybersecurity programs. BDPA’s relationships with Capitol Tech, staff, and alumni, span two decades.

***Capitol Tech staff and alumni attend annual National BDPA Career Conferences and Tech Expos.***

Dr. Kellep Charles serves as an assistant professor and chairs the Capitol Technology University’s Cybersecurity department. He completed his Doctorate in Cybersecurity at Capitol Technology University. He also holds a Master of Science in Telecommunication Management from the University of Maryland University College and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.

***Dr. Kellep Charles (above) welcomes students and guests during Cyber Saturday.***

Dr. Charles worked as a government contractor in the Washington, DC area as an information security analyst for over 20 years in the areas of incident response, computer forensics, security assessments, malware analysis, and security operations. He is the creator and executive editor of SecurityOrb.com, an information security and privacy knowledge-based website with the mission to share and raise awareness of the motives, tools, and tactics of the black-hat community, and provide best practices and countermeasures against malicious events.

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*Pre-register before* **April 20, 2022**

WASHINGTON – The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) convened a three-hour call on March 22, 2022 with over 13,000 industry stakeholders to provide an update on the potential for Russian cyberattacks against the U.S. homeland and answer questions from a range of stakeholders across the nation.

As President Biden noted yesterday, evolving intelligence indicates that the Russian Government is exploring options to conduct potential cyberattacks against the United States. CISA echoed the President’s warning on the call today and reinforced the urgent need for all organizations, large and small, to act now to protect themselves against malicious cyber activity.

On the three-hour call, CISA Director Jen Easterly, Deputy Executive Assistant Director for Cybersecurity Matt Hartman, and Tonya Ugoretz, Deputy Assistant Director for the FBI’s cyber division, encouraged organizations of all sizes to have their Shields Up to cyber threats and take proactive measures now to mitigate risk to their networks. They encouraged those on the line to visit CISA.gov/Shields-Up to take action to protect their organizations and themselves and urged all critical infrastructure providers to implement the mitigation guidelines enumerated on CISA.gov/Shields-Up, including:

Mandate the use of multi-factor authentication on your systems to make it harder for attackers to get onto your system;
Update the software on your computers and devices to continuously look for and mitigate threats;
Back up your data and ensure you have offline backups beyond the reach of malicious actors;
Run exercises and drill your emergency plans so that you are prepared to respond quickly to minimize the impact of any attack;
Encrypt your data;
Sign up for CISA’s free cyber hygiene services; and
Educate your employees to common tactics that attackers will use over email or through websites, and encourage them to report if their computers or phones have shown unusual behavior, such as unusual crashes or operating very slowly.

Director Easterly urged all organizations, regardless of size, to contact CISA immediately if they believe they may have been impacted by a cyber incident. When cyber incidents are reported quickly, CISA can use the information to render assistance and help prevent other organizations and entities from falling victim to a similar attack. All organizations should report incidents and anomalous activity to report@cisa.gov or call the 24/7 CISA Central Operations Center at (888) 282-0870.

Today’s event built on a series of briefings that CISA has been convening since late 2021 with U.S. Government and private sector stakeholders at both classified and unclassified levels. This outreach was provided to Federal Civilian Executive Branch Agencies, Sector Risk Management Agencies, private sector partners, state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) governments, and international partners. To date, CISA has hosted or participated in more than 90 engagements reaching tens of thousands of partners.

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