October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. The month of advocacy is sponsored by the National Cyber Security Division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the National Cyber Security Alliance, a nonprofit that works together with DHS on a public-private partnership to promote awareness and resources.
On Oct. 16, the Cybersecurity Tech Accord — a group of over 60 global companies, including Microsoft Corp., Facebook Inc. and Salesforce.com Inc. — will host an event with senior cybersecurity leadership from the federal government to discuss ways to create a more secure cyberspace in Washington, D.C. Tom McDermott, deputy assistant secretary for cyber policy at DHS, and Sujit Raman, associate deputy attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice are expected to deliver remarks.
On Oct. 17, New America, a public policy think tank with a focus on cybersecurity, will host an event in Washington, D.C., with the National Governors Association to discuss ways that states can use the various resources at their disposal to aid cities in their efforts to reduce cyberrisks. Roisin Suver, a supervisory intelligence officer for cybersecurity issues at DHS, will participate.
On a related note, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, a measurement standards laboratory and a nonregulatory agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, will host a workshop Oct. 16 to discuss the development of its privacy framework. The framework, which is currently under development, is intended to be "a voluntary tool for organizations to better identify, assess, manage and communicate about privacy risks so that individuals can enjoy the benefits of innovative technologies with greater confidence and trust."
The privacy framework is being developed in consultation with industry, other government officials and academia.
NIST's workshop will be held in Austin, Texas, where it will be able to collaborate with a group of privacy industry professionals who will be in town for a conference this week. The conference, held from Oct. 18-19, will be put on by the International Association of Privacy Professionals, a nonprofit established to create "best practices, track trends, advance privacy management issues, standardize the designations for privacy professionals and provide education and guidance on opportunities in the field of information privacy."
The conference intends to debate what combination of technology, policies and regulations promote growth and innovation without sacrificing privacy. The California Consumer Privacy Act, which will be implemented in 2020, will be under the spotlight with a daylong workshop. The law will let consumers know why a company wants to collect their data and which third-party companies have access to their data, among other provisions. Alastair Mactaggart, board chair of Californians for Consumer Privacy, an advocacy group backing privacy reform in the state, testified before the Senate on Oct. 10, where he defended the law and said it is not "antibusiness."
At a September hearing on Capitol Hill on privacy, representatives from AT&T Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Alphabet Inc.'s Google LLC, Twitter Inc., Apple Inc. and Charter Communications Inc. warned that adopting elements of privacy laws from California and other jurisdiction could embolden other states to create their own laws, which would create a patchwork of state laws that could make it difficult for companies to remain compliant.
As for Congress this week, the Senate joined the House of Representatives by taking an early recess ahead of the upcoming election. Both chambers will now be in recess through the Nov. 6 election.
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| Federal government | |||
| Oct. 16 | NIST, a measurement standards laboratory and a nonregulatory agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, will hold a workshop titled "Kicking off the NIST Privacy Framework: Workshop #1 | ||
| Oct. 18 | USTelecom, a trade group for telecommunications businesses, will host a forum with Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Brendan Carr and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue titled "USTelecom Broadband Investment Forum: The Path to Connecting Communities | ||
| Cybersecurity: | |||
| Oct. 16 | The Cybersecurity Tech Accord and Global Cyber Alliance will host an event titled "Building a path to secure cyberspace | ||
| Oct. 17 | The National Governors Association will partner with New America's Cybersecurity Initiative to host an event titled "Reducing the Cyber Risk to Cities | ||
| Industry events: | |||
| Oct. 15-16 | The Women in Cable Telecommunications organization will host a conference titled "WICT Leadership Conference | ||
| Oct. 16-17 | SportsBusiness Journal will host a conference titled "2018 NeuLion Sports Media & Technology Conference | ||
| Oct. 16-17 | The National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications will hold its annual conference in New York. | ||
| Oct. 17-18 | The National Association of Broadcasters will host a conference titled "2018 | ||
| Oct. 18-19 | IAPP, a nonprofit collective of privacy professionals, will host a conference titled "Privacy. Security. Risk. 2018 | ||
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