Aspen Digital

We’re less than 4 weeks out from the 2024 Aspen Cyber Summit. In its 9th year, the Aspen Institute’s flagship cybersecurity and technology conference will be one for the memory banks. 

We have a little bit of everything in store, from keeping sporting events secure with the CEO of the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games to navigating the global cyber threat landscape with top leadership from all of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance.

As we gear up for another exciting event, we’re looking back at some of the “greatest hits” from 2023. Keep reading here for highlights. And remember to register to join us in Washington, DC, or virtually this September 18!

Highlights from the 2023 Aspen Cyber Summit

In a book talk on Your Face Belongs to Us, New York Times Tech Reporter Kashmir Hill explained how the owner of Madison Square Garden uses Clearview AI facial recognition technology against lawyers who have lawsuits against the company, barring them from entering the venue. As Hill explained, with facial recognition, our face becomes a key to knowing anything about us, linking us in the real world to everything knowable about us online.

Meanwhile, in a session on cyber education, then-President of Stillman College, Cynthia Warrick, shared her experience navigating a ransomware attack in 2017. After the school was hit, they received a request for $10k in bitcoin to get the data back. The system crashed as a result, and Stillman, a small HBCU, spent half a million dollars to rebuild it.

Another 2023 highlight was the panel on critical infrastructure, where Department of Energy Cybersecurity Director Puesh Kumar put cybersecurity threats to systems like our waterways and electrical grids in context, calling it an engineering problem. As Kumar explained, adversaries are building native capabilities to control operational environments by leveraging engineers.

In a much-awaited session looking ahead to the 2024 US elections, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson gave a peek behind the curtain of elections administration. As Benson explained, for several elections, Michigan has kept a field team within 5 minutes of local polling places. With the increased speed at which AI can spread disinformation, the state has even more people in place to identify the truth and get it out there quickly.

In a special session that included a bagpiper solo, Birds Aren’t Real Public Information Officer Peter McIndoe shared what he’s learned about conspiracy theories: what drives people is belonging rather than belief. A conspiracy theory gives people something they aren’t necessarily getting in their everyday lives: a community.

We hope you’re as excited for the 9th annual Aspen Cyber Summit as we are. Dig into what we have in store below, and make sure to register!

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