WATERVILLE, MAINE, January 2020 – In today’s climate of cyber-hackers intercepting online payments, accessing home security cameras, penetrating company firewalls and obtaining sensitive personal and client information, it’s critical to understand what you need to be doing in order to protect yourself, your customers, your family, and your business from cyber threats.
Thomas College’s Harold Alfond® Institute for Business Innovation and WEX, a leading financial technology service provider headquartered in Maine, are collaborating to bring cybersecurity experts from Thomas College, state and federal government and other leading technology companies for Cybersecurity Safety at Home, Work and Play on March 12 at Thomas College in Waterville. Attendance is open to the public and free.
The event is
for individuals, businesses, technology professionals and students to learn
more about the increasing threat to personal and professional data.
Cybersecurity experts will help attendees identify and understand the
fast-changing landscape of cyber and the roles everyone must place in
monitoring overall safety.
One of the experts speaking is WEX Chief Information Security Officer, Michael
Leonhirth.
“The Cybersecurity threat landscape is rapidly evolving with threat actors becoming more sophisticated, motivations becoming more diverse, and attack vectors becoming more distributed and varied,” said Leonhirth. “This presentation will explore some of the countermeasures and controls available to help combat these risks – and protect the confidentiality, availability, and integrity of critical information assets.”
Leonhirth is an information security and risk management executive with more than 25 years of information security, risk management, IT auditing, project management, and business operations experience. He has extensive experience in the financial services industry including security strategies to mitigate internal and external threats, in-sourcing/out-sourcing, managed services, Cloud migration, Board and executive management presentations, and execution of constantly evolving security capabilities. He is also responsible for addressing the critical risks inherent with the use of technology that supports business operations and the corporate mission.
“Your pre-teen, yourself, and your large corporation are not safe and there are many traps placed making it too easy for you to make an innocent mistake. Machines seeking to do harm and harvest your money do not avoid New England, Maine or you,” said Thomas College professor and nationally recognized cybersecurity expert Frank Appunn. “This conference of down-to-earth experts will address things you want to protect at home, play, and at work. Leading presenters from young to old will provide short and specific reviews that you can use to reduce risks and losses. Examples include ransomware, incidents, crises, TikTok, intellectual property theft, fraud, bad email, and website scams that can do you harm. We have no place to hide, we need to defend ourselves.”
About Thomas College
Thomas College, located in beautiful Waterville, Maine, is defining what it means to be the College of the Future. With a strong commitment to innovation, career readiness, and community partnerships, Thomas College is consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of Maine’s top colleges for social mobility. Our distinctive Guaranteed Job Program™, accelerated undergraduate degrees, and flexible graduate programs empower students to advance faster in business, entrepreneurship, education, technology, applied STEM, and arts & science fields. At Thomas, belonging isn’t a buzzword; it’s a promise. We create a supportive, welcoming environment where every student is seen, valued, and prepared to thrive in a rapidly changing world. For more information visit thomas.edu or contact MacKenzie Riley Young at [email protected] or 207-859-1313. Find us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and TikTok.