Congressman Ruppersberger's Tech Trek takes him to CyberPoint
BALTIMORE, MD (July 8, 2013) — Today, US Representative Charles Albert "Dutch" Ruppersberger III visited CyberPoint's headquarters. The Congressman was on a "Tech Trek," getting a first-hand look at the cybersecurity innovation underway in Baltimore.
Rep. Ruppersberger toured CyberPoint offices and the CTIC (Cyber Technology and Innovation Center). He came to meet business and technical leaders for a discussion of how innovation is meeting the nation's pressing cybersecurity challenges.
His first conversations, however, were with some rising cyber experts—CyberPoint's summer interns. The Congressman spoke to each of them about their education, the importance of cyber careers, and the particular cybersecurity challenges they were addressing in their work. The location of the interns' lab gave the conversations an extra degree of meaning: their windows overlook the USCGC Taney—the last Pearl Harbor survivor still afloat. Experts often talk of a coming "cyber Pearl Harbor" and the ship serves as a reminder that cyber conflict can be sudden, surprising, and devastating.
Next stop was the CTIC, where he received an overview of CyberPoint by Neil Furukawa, the company's COO, and a live demonstration on how easily vulnerabilities can be introduced into the electronic devices we use every day.
These were followed by an explanation of DarkPoint, CyberPoint's new automated malware analysis framework. DarkPoint synthesizes the complex tools and processes of reverse engineering into a simple tool that anyone (regardless of experience) can use to understand malware threats and the steps an enterprise can take to defend against them. With highly trained technical cyber expertise in short supply (or excluded due to cost considerations), DarkPoint enables experts and non-experts alike to address the grave vulnerabilities organizations and businesses of all sizes face.
The conversation soon moved to the extraordinary challenges of ensuring security in a globalized technology marketplace—a matter of immediate concern to Congress. CyberPoint's Jerry Caponera talked about Prescient, and their success securing foreign technologies for US commercial and Government markets. Caponera emphasized the need to find tangible and verifiable ways to secure a global supply chain against the growing international cyber threat.
Congressman Ruppersberger's visit came full-circle with an introduction to LifeJourney, a new company emerging with the help of CyberPoint. LifeJourney, headed up by Rick Geritz focuses on inspiring students to pursue STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) careers, and building the "cyber generation" needed to address the nations future cyber challenges.
Representative Ruppersberger's Tech Trek was made possible in part with the help of the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore.
About CyberPoint
At CyberPoint, we work to create a future where individuals and organizations from across the globe can operate safely and securely in cyberspace and benefit from the technological innovations that increasingly connect our world. A rapidly growing cybersecurity company, CyberPoint integrates and delivers innovative, leading-edge services, solutions, and products to protect what's invaluable to customers worldwide. We discover the threats and vulnerabilities that expose data, systems, and infrastructure to compromise, we quantify risks, and we design defenses that provide critical protection. Learn more here.