Two experts in advanced cybersecurity will speak at UC Davis this June. Admission is free, and everyone is welcome.

In the first talk, a security expert at one of the world’s top technology companies will discuss trends that involve cybersecurity and “cognitive computing”—roughly speaking, technology that attempts to mimic the human brain.

In the second presentation, the chief security and trust officer at a California company that makes security software and uses machine learning techniques will address “The Promises and Perils of Emerging Technologies for Cybersecurity.”

Each event is a keynote speech at this year’s Information Security Symposium, June 20-21. You can attend either talk even without attending the rest of the symposium (registering for the full symposium costs $95). To attend the keynotes only, you will need to RSVP first; a link for doing so will be posted later this spring.

Experience at IBM and Intel

Bob Kalka, vice president of IBM’s Security Business Unit, will discuss “How Cognitive Computing Is—and Will—Impact Cybersecurity” at 10:30 a.m. June 20 in Jackson Hall in the Mondavi Center. A description of his presentation says it will cite “examples featuring IBM’s Watson,” the company’s supercomputer that uses artificial intelligence (AI) and sophisticated analytical software to answer questions (and once outperformed human contestants on the TV quiz-show “Jeopardy”).

The next day Malcolm Harkins, chief security and trust officer at Cylance, will focus his talk on:

• The innovation cycle, and how it fuels emerging technologies.
• The information risk and security implications for these emerging technologies.
• The technologies’ potential to reduce risk via prevention, rather than by reacting and responding.
• How to frame “the digital opportunities in front of us so that we can achieve digital transformation and digital safety to ensure tomorrow is better than today.”

Harkins, previously vice president and chief security and privacy officer at Intel, has an MBA in accounting and finance at UC Davis. He’ll speak at 10:20 a.m. June 21, also in Jackson Hall in the Mondavi Center.

Each talk is scheduled for 40 minutes.

Symposium is about two-thirds sold out

The 2017 Information Security Symposium will deliver two days of labs, talks and workshops on cybersecurity in higher education. The every-other-year event attracts security, technical and information professionals and administrative managers from throughout the University of California, plus guests from higher education. Read more at the 2017 symposium website. If you have questions or comments, please contact the planning team at 2017iss@ucdavis.edu.