In November, the MassTech Collaborative’s MassCyberCenter and Massachusetts eHealth Institute (MeHI) divisions produced a cybersecurity tabletop exercise event focused on the healthcare sector. The event, hosted by the MITRE Corporation, covered the cyber threats facing healthcare, the challenges of responding to a cyber incident, and the importance of being prepared. 

Speakers included MassCyberCenter Director Stephanie Helm, MITRE Vice President of Engineering and Prototyping Douglas Robbins, and CISA’s Chief of Cybersecurity Daniel King. Participants included healthcare organizations of all sizes from across the Commonwealth, as well as state and local responders.

For organizations interested in bolstering their cyber readiness, the MassCyberCenter’s Minimum Baseline of Cybersecurity outlines a foundational-level of cyber preparedness, which can help organizations take their first steps towards cyber resiliency.

The Cybersecurity Mentorship Program Project Showcase took place on December 14th, 15th, and 16th. At this concluding event for the Fall cohort of the program, student mentees presented the projects they worked on throughout the session under the guidance of their mentors. Once again we saw many outstanding, innovative projects!

The Program matches cybersecurity professionals with diverse undergraduate cybersecurity students in Massachusetts. The Fall 2022 cycle of the program kicked off on October 1st and included mentees from four new Massachusetts schools and mentors from four new companies/organizations. The Program has now supported 136 diverse students from 32 schools over five cohorts. 

Peter Sherlock, the CEO of CyberTrust Massachusetts, a new non-profit that will work with business and academia statewide to grow the cybersecurity talent pipeline and promote local resiliency, delivered keynote remarks explaining how cybersecurity companies and professionals can get involved: “We see business support as being critical to CyberTrust Massachusetts and the benefits to industry as significant as we will fundamentally increase the workforce pipeline.”

Applications for the Spring 2023 cohort of the Cybersecurity Mentorship Program will open on January 9th. If you are interested in participating as a student or a mentor, complete this interest form to receive updates on when applications open.

The 6^th annual Massachusetts Cybersecurity Forum held at Bridgewater State University (BSU) on October 27 featured the announcement of grants to support new initiatives to promote the development of a diverse cybersecurity workforce and improve local cyber resiliency across the Commonwealth, including: the establishment of Cyber Ranges and Security Operations Centers (SOCs) at Bridgewater State University and Springfield Technical Community College as well as the launch of CyberTrust Massachusetts. 

Click the button below to watch the highlights of the event.

The Worcester Business Journal and reporter Livia Gershon recently covered the cybersecurity threats facing businesses in Central Mass.

The article includes insight from our director Stephanie Helm, who noted how cyber criminals use automated bots to identify vulnerable targets and how networks of bad actors specialize in targeting specific industries.

The piece also includes guidance from several cyber-focused experts in the Commonwealth, such as:

- Michelle Drolet, CEO of Framingham's Towerwall, Inc.;

- Libis Bueno, CEO of Domitek, Inc. in Worcester; and

- Helder Machado, CISSP, LTC USA of Machado Consulting Inc. in Worcester.

On November 23rd, CISA kicked off the holiday shopping season campaign. CISA is committed to helping Americans stay safe online this holiday season. In the coming weeks, millions of Americans will be looking for the best deals on the internet. Meanwhile, cyber criminals will be hard at work looking to target online shoppers.

CISA's alert states: "The holiday shopping season is a prime opportunity for bad actors to take advantage of unsuspecting shoppers through fake websites, malicious links, and even fake charities. Their goal is simple: get your personal and financial information to compromise your data, deploy malicious software, steal your identity, and take your money. But with some simple actions, you can stay safe while you shop online."

• Check your devices: Before making any online purchases, make sure the device you’re using to shop online is up to date. Next, look at your accounts and ask, do they each have strong passwords? And even better, if multi-factor authentication is available, are you using it? Multi-factor authentication (or two-factor authentication), uses multiple pieces of information to verify your identity. Even if an attacker obtains your password, they may not be able to access your account if it’s protected by this multiple step verification process.
• Shop through trusted sources: Think about how you’re searching online. How are you finding the deals? Are you clicking on links in emails or ensuring you’re on the correct vendor’s website? Are you clicking on ads on webpages? You wouldn’t go into a store with boarded up windows and without signage – the same rules apply online. If it looks suspicious, something’s probably not right.
• Use safe methods for purchasing: If you’re going to make that purchase, what information are you handing over? Make sure you understand how your information will be stored and used.

Visit CISA.gov/shop-safely for more tips on how to have a safe and successful online shopping experience this holiday season. 

Stephanie Helm will moderate a workshop titled, “Strengthening Your Municipal Cybersecurity Program and Incident Response Planning”. This workshop will focus on the importance of municipal cyber incident response planning (Cybersecurity Minimum Baseline Goal 3) and tools and resources municipal leaders can use to achieve this goal. Topics will include MIT cybersecurity benchmarking efforts, cyber insurance and breach and response services, the MassCyberCenter’s Cyber Incident Response Planning materials, and other resources from across the Commonwealth.

Workshop Panelists will include:

• Gregory Bautista, Partner at Mullen Coughlin;
• Susan Noyes, Acting Director of the Office of Municipal and School Technology, Executive Office of Technology Services and Security; and
• Taylor Reynolds, Technology Policy director of the MIT Internet Policy Research Initiative.

Come visit us at the trade booth area!

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