Ep.135 The New Frontline: Defending Critical Infrastructure in the State of Florida with Emilio Salabarria, Deputy Senior Executive Advisor at Cyber Florida at University of South Florida
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In this episode of The Public Sector Show by TechTables, Emilio Salabarria, Deputy Senior Executive Advisor at Cyber Florida, discusses Florida's critical infrastructure risk assessment. Emilio emphasizes the significance of cybersecurity and the challenges associated with engaging both private and public sectors in the assessment process. He shares Cyber Florida's innovative grassroots campaign aimed at fostering participation and collaboration statewide. If you're in Florida, don't miss the opportunity to attend the upcoming CyberWorks tabletop exercise in Hillsborough County on June 9th, where Emilio will provide free lunch. For more information, email esalabarria@cyberflorida.org.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Introduction
(01:00) Critical infrastructure risk assessment mission
(02:30) Importance of building relationships to get participation
(03:45) Grassroots campaign through CyberSecureFlorida.org
(05:00) Establishing a baseline for the state of Florida
(05:53) Need for detailed cyber security help
(08:30) Use of Idaho National Lab's cybersecurity evaluation tool
(11:10) Importance of ransomware readiness assessment
(20:11) Collaboration with Florida Digital Service
(21:30) Success stories of tabletop exercise for small and medium counties
(25:00) CyberWorks Workshop on June 9th, 2023, at 5:30pm
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