Presenters from CISA, Northeastern University, and Others to Focus on Latest Cyber Threats, Trends, and Tips

Albany, NY – October 2, 2024 – FirstLight, a leading provider of digital infrastructure services to enterprise and carrier customers throughout the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, announced the dynamic line-up of speakers for a November 7th IT conference focused on cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and other timely issues.

The event, called the Boston Cloud Connect Summit, features industry and government experts from among the world’s leading IT security and cloud organizations. FirstLight is a co-sponsor of the event, along with Veeam and Ciena. The Cloud Connect Summit will be held at the Simons Theatre at the New England Aquarium.

Among the speakers:

  • Joe Flores is the Massachusetts Cybersecurity Advisor for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which maintains 10 regional offices around the country. Joe champions cyber resilience through partnership engagement, consultation and cybersecurity assessments with the public sector and private companies.
  • Professor Guevara Noubir is the Executive Director of Cybersecurity Programs at the Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University. Professor Noubir’s research spans a range of problems on the theory and practice of privacy, security, and robustness in networked systems. He specializes in mobile and wireless systems security.
  • Rick Vanover is Vice President of Product Strategy at Veeam, one of the most trusted organizations for backup and recovery platforms. He is an expert in intelligent data management, and sits at the crossroads of many types of storage. Whether it is storage systems, critical application data, data in the cloud or data anywhere in between. Rick has experience in the data management practice as IT practices change with new technologies.
  • Erich Kron is a self-proclaimed geek, author, regular contributor to cybersecurity industry publications, and an experienced information security leader. His record of advancement in the industry spans a broad spectrum of experience including security roles, large scale technical project management, hands-on technical work and senior leadership roles. His many certifications include CISSP, CISSP-ISSAP as well as Microsoft and ITIL certifications.
  • Greg Sysak is Senior Manager of Sales Engineering at Ciena. With an impressive 25-year career, Greg has gained extensive experience working with enterprise customers across various industries, building some of the largest and most intricate optical networks. His tenure and expertise provide him with a unique perspective on the business trends that drive connectivity requirements. His deep knowledge of optical connectivity and architectures allows him to anticipate current and future trends in the industry, ensuring he can provide strategic insights and guidance to customers and colleagues.

Past summits in Boston and other cities including Burlington, Vermont; Albany, New York; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania have attracted hundreds of attendees with rave reviews.

Event check-in begins at 2:00 p.m., with a start time of 2:30 p.m. and ends with a networking social from 6 to 7 p.m. To register for the event and for more information, visit www.cloudconnectsummit.com.