Cyber Education and Research Center hosted annual security conference

MURRAY, Ky. – The annual Patterns of Distinction – Security Matters Conference took place on April 20 in the Curris Center at Murray State University, with more than 200 industry leaders, students and staff attending the conference. For more than 15 years, Murray State’s Cyber Education and Research Center and Community Financial Services Bank (CFSB) co-hosted the conference, the largest annual security conference in the region.

At the conference, keynote speakers discussed emerging cybersecurity threats, strategies to find and identify cyber threats and train users to be on the lookout. Speakers included Tim Weber, Vice President, Channel Growth, Cyber 74; Steve Sanders, Chief Information Security Officer, Computer Services, Inc.; Dustin Childs, Head of Threat Awareness, Trend Micro Zero Day Initiative; Jason Manar, Chief Information Security Officer, Kaseya; and Mike Hamilton, Founder, The PISCES Project

“This year’s lineup of speakers were excellent and timely at Security Matters, providing relevant and needed information to our students and the professionals in our region,” said Dr. Michael Ramage, director of the Cyber Center. “Each year, this conference provides such a fantastic opportunity to network with regional cybersecurity leaders, alumni and students.”

The conference included the 15th annual Cyber Awards Luncheon, hosted by the Murray State Cyber Education and Research Center. The luncheon featured Nathan B. Stubblefield Distinguished Lecture Award recipient Mike Hamilton, founder of the PISCES Project. Hamilton shared the story of the project’s creation and its goals: providing network monitor services in need of security assistance while also providing Murray State cybersecurity students with real-world data to analyze.

This year’s Cyber Awards luncheon was extra special as Dr. Mike Bowman, retired Murray State faculty member, was in attendance and able to award two students with the Mike and Cindy Bowman Scholarship. The scholarship is awarded to either part or full-time students at Murray State who are sophomores, juniors or seniors studying in the Cybersecurity and Network Management program. Award winners for the 2023-2024 school year were Jonathan David Green of Cypress, Illinois and Trent William Perry of Clinton, Kentucky.

Ramage presented awards to industry professionals, Murray State alumni and faculty members who have made an impact in the field of technology and cybersecurity at Murray State within the region and across the country. Award winners recognized during the event included:

Dr. Gene Wells Ray Lifetime Achievement Award: Mike Hegeman, vice president - business development, Fleet Enable

Dick Anderson Leadership Award: Dr. Chris Sanders, founder, Applied Network Defense and founder of Rural Technology Fund 

John Williams Entrepreneurship Award: Chaz Robinson, founder and CEO, Total Tech Solutions

Gary Brockway Faculty/Staff Excellence Award: Clark Duncan, lecturer, Department of Computer Science and Information Systems, Murray State University

Cyber Distinguished Alumni Award: Kevin Latta, vice president of network and security, Computer Services, Inc. and Dr. Marcia Combs, assistant professor and coordinator of the graduate program in cybersecurity management, Department of Computer Science and Information Systems, Murray State University

Lana Garner Porter Women in Technology Award: Sarah Kennedy, consulting cloud SecOps engineer at Healthcare Corporation of America

The conference and luncheon were streamed online and recorded on the Cyber Center YouTube channel at  youtube.com/MurrayStateCyber. 

The Cyber Center and the Cybersecurity and Network Management program are part of the award-winning Program of Distinction at Murray State University. The program provides degree tracks in cybersecurity, wireless communications and network, and systems administration. Cybersecurity and Network Management focuses on cybersecurity and network infrastructure in the rapidly growing technology industry. It is an interdisciplinary program that provides students with a solid foundation in cybersecurity technologies and applying those technologies in a business environment.

In addition to the Security Matters Conference, the Murray State Cyber Center will host its annual IT Matters Conference at the Murray State University Paducah Regional Campus in September and once again host its annual Security Matters conference next April with CFSB. 

For more information, visit murraystate.edu/cyber.