California’s Cybersecurity Community Comes Together for Sixth Annual Education Summit

A message from Vitaliy Panych, State Chief Information Security Officer 

November 2, 2022 – It was great to be back in person at the Oct. 20 California Cybersecurity Education Summit. Over 800 participants registered for the event demonstrating the security community’s commitment to sharpening skills and sharing expertise to improve the state’s overall security posture.  

Once again, the Cybersecurity Awards Ceremony was an event highlight. Awards were presented to:  

  • Todd Ibbotson – Employment Development Department – Leadership Award 
  • Daniel Temisanren – Los Angeles County – Leadership Award  
  • Chris Lopez – CA State Lottery – Leadership Award    
  • Cesar Gamez – MISAC & MS-ISAC Partnership – Collaboration Award  
  • Jason Balderama – on behalf of County of Marin – Collaboration Award  
  • Julian Shelby – on behalf of County of San Diego – Innovation Award  
  • Albert Gehami – City of SAN JOSE – Privacy Award  

 While this October is significant because it marks our first in-person event since the pandemic, it is also the one-year anniversary of the release of Cal-Secure, the state’s first cybersecurity roadmap. By prioritizing people, process and technology, we’ve already seen a 19% decrease in high-risk vulnerabilities as of this February. California has completed all of its year-one initiatives and made significant progress on our year-two goals, but there’s more work to be done.  

Finally, please join me in encouraging the next generation to register now for CyberStart America, a free online gaming program designed to help high school students develop skills, compete for scholarships and pursue a career in cybersecurity. Let’s build on our successes of the last two years and get more California kids enrolled and winning training and scholarships.