President Jonathan J. Sanford, Ph.D. | University of Dallas website

The University of Dallas recently hosted its annual Cyber Summit, organized by the Satish & Yasmin Gupta College of Business. The event focused on cyber resilience and gathered over 60 participants, including students, alumni, and industry professionals from companies such as Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Comerica, Lockheed Martin, and Humana.

Sandra Blanke, PhD, CISSP, Director of Cybersecurity at UDallas stated: “The UDallas cybersecurity program of study is entering its 21st year as a Center of Academic Excellence as designated by the National Security Agency. Our annual Cyber Summit provides an opportunity to bring together community leaders, alumni, faculty and cybersecurity students.”

Three presenters were featured at the summit. Brian Wrozek from Forrester discussed "OT Security: Playing Catch-Up to IT Cybersecurity Maturity," emphasizing the growing importance of cybersecurity in industrial control environments due to digital transformation.

Wrozek explained: “A successful attack against these environments can lead to serious consequences to human life, the environment and availability of public services. Due to legacy equipment in OT environments, lack of skilled cybersecurity resources, and increased attacks, this situation will only get worse before it gets any better.”

Teresa Merklin from Lockheed Martin spoke on "Separating the Signal From the Noise," addressing the shortage of skilled workers in cybersecurity. She remarked: “We do a pretty good job providing new people with foundational knowledge and skills but we struggle to teach them advanced techniques that are necessary to truly excel."

Donovan Farrow from Alias Cybersecurity conducted a live presentation demonstrating tools used in ransomware situations and penetration testing.

Wrozek advised students: “Be a cybersecurity champion in any role by practicing and promoting strong data protection measures in your daily activities.”

The university's Master of Science in cybersecurity program is currently accepting applications for the upcoming spring semester.