Max Davis-Johnson, associate vice president and chief information officer, presented “Why is Cybersecurity So Hard?” at the Virtual Westnet summer meeting, June 25-26.
Davis-Johnson shared his views on why higher education institutions struggle with cybersecurity, noting that cybersecurity is more than a technical problem – it’s also a people and process problem. The rules of cyberspace are different than the physical world and cybersecurity law, policy and practice are not fully developed. The nature of higher education complicates the problem due to the vast number of technologies Boise State supports and different levels of access and control.
Davis-Johnson also led a conference panel discussion titled, “What is the Secret Sauce?” The discussion addressed the key components of enabling an effective higher ed cybersecurity operation.
The Westnet Education and Research Consortium (WERC) is a nonprofit entity composed of organizations from the states of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. WERC holds informational bi-annual meetings that feature technical presentations from influential members and vendors.