UK_CYBERCON 24 draws largest ever audience to networking, educational event

University of Kentucky Information Technology Services (UK ITS) hosted its largest-ever UK_CYBERCON event this year. In all, attendees included UK students, faculty and staff as well as local K-12 and higher ed students, cybersecurity professionals and the public.

From expert keynote speakers to informal networking tables, the event provided an array of opportunities for students, professionals and anyone curious about cybersecurity basics or careers.

UK_CYBERCON Event Coordinator Jenn Edwards said the event was a success.

"University of Kentucky CyberCon 2024 attendance grew significantly this year—growing from 188 to 550 participants, it’s clear that the interest in cybersecurity is skyrocketing,” Edwards said. “This event brought together a diverse group of learners and professionals, promoting important conversations around cyber risks and resilience and career growth. We’re excited to see how CyberCon continues to grow and inspire in the coming years!" 

Speakers included University of Kentucky students, professors, UK ITS employees, the FBI and Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and cybersecurity professionals. Thanks to UK_CYBERCON sponsors, participants enjoyed breakfast from Chick-fil-a, lunch from Pasta Garage, snacks, desserts, a networking reception and giveaways that include t-shirts, bags and hats. The event also included prizes such as Stanley cups, gift cards and UK gear. This year the event was sponsored by 1Password, Cisco, Trace3, Converge, Blackwood, paloalto, Arista, Splunk and University of Kentucky Federal Credit Union.

Enterprise Chief Technology Officer of ITS Enterprise Systems Adam Recktenwald met with a group of international students interested in careers in cybersecurity. 

“These students let us know that they already use AI tools all the time – to help them with school, help translate things they don't understand and get things done faster. To them it's a tool that "is a little scary how good it is!" I think this event helped them realize that AI is a tool that is both useful for them but also for bad actors. 

UK ITS cybersecurity analyst assistant and UK student Ayah Abdeldayem discussed what led her into the cybersecurity field.

“ITS gave me the opportunity to put what I’ve learned into action,” Abdeldayem said during the event. “As a cybersecurity analyst assistant, I wasn’t just passively learning; I was actively involved in monitoring security threats and responding to potential incidents.”

It was the second year Abdeldayem spoke during UK_CYBERCON. “As a speaker at UK’s Cybercon 2024, I was thrilled to share my journey from the classroom to a career as a SecOps analyst, an experience that filled me with both excitement and gratitude,” she said. “Engaging with the audience allowed me to connect deeply with fellow cybersecurity enthusiasts, making the event not only a platform for sharing knowledge but also a celebration of our collective passion for the field.”

Jacob Alteri, a student employee assistant SOC analyst with UK ITS, also spoke during the event. “CyberCon 2024 had a wonderful array of speakers that I was lucky enough to be a part of,” Alteri said. “I not only got to share my experience as a student employee of UKY Cybersecurity, but I also got to learn from the other highly accredited speakers.” 

During the career panel session, several UK ITS employees, along with private and governmental agencies, discussed their career paths into cybersecurity, IT and offered advice about how to get into the cybersecurity field.

Nicki Wilkins, regional sales manager at BLACKWOOD spoke about how her love of cybersecurity helped her land in her current position. “CyberCon 2024 was such an incredible event. I had a wonderful time engaging with both the students and staff at the University of Kentucky,” she said. “It was truly an honor to speak on the career panel, where I could share insights about the incredible opportunities available to students through our vendor and partner community. Blackwood is very excited to continue to participate in this event for many years to come.”

Some panelists shared their insights on how students or career professionals in IT and adjacent fields can stand out when searching for job opportunities.

UK Healthcare Information Security Team Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) Manager Kristi Corum said her career began in IT supporting extension office computers and then moved on to server support, database support, applications support until she moved into the auditing field and ultimately into GRC.

For anyone looking into the cybersecurity field, Corum said some experience is a must. “If you had an internship paid or voluntary that would give you experience, course work would give you experience, all of that is going to look good on your resume,” Corum said. “It helps to know people, of course. I think certifications do help.” 

UK ITS Cybersecurity Analyst and UK student James Wong agreed that internships are important and offered advice to anyone trying to land their first cybersecurity internship.

“Take initiative. Go online and look for some free online courses about basic cybersecurity skills or you can do the ISC2 certification and it’s free,” Wong said. “Take initiative and show that you have a passion for learning. Show the employers that you are dedicated.”

Additionally, attendees asked what qualities or experience potential employers might look for when someone has no internship experience and might be pursuing a new career in cybersecurity.

Nick McClure is a software developer for UK ITS and works within CloudOps, DevOpps and identity management. He said contributing to the open-source community is a great way to gain experience. 

“There are open-source projects around a lot of things out there...so you get off work, you’ve got a couple of hours you want to spend, maybe it is a development project. You start learning how to code open-source projects,” McClure said. “ You can start contributing to real world projects, and they are public, right, so everybody can see you contribute to the project, so that’s helpful, too, because you are getting real world experience and it’s noticeable.”

UK ITS Cybersecurity Engineer Matt Dillon also stressed the importance of internships, networking and becoming a life-long learner.  

"At this day and age, everything has something to do with cybersecurity. Our refrigerators now have cybersecurity needs,” he said. “Being aware of what’s going on, cybersecurity threats and knowing that you need to keep your systems patched, you need to keep stuff up to date,” Dillion said.

Regardless of career field, Dillon added that understanding cybersecurity is important.

“We all have to understand that all of our jobs have something to do with cybersecurity at this point whether they are technical or not.”

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