WCC Corner: How to stay cyber-safe — give malware the boot

Wilson Community College, in partnership with Greenlight and Gig East, is hosting a free virtual event soon, and anyone is welcome to attend. In fact, this is the fourth time we’ve partnered with them to host an event of this nature. 

“Cyber Safe in the Gigabit City v4.0: Give Malware the Boot!” is set for Thursday, Oct. 6, from 10-11:30 am.  You’ll get to hear from a panel of local business and industry experts on malware, its common infection paths, the types of information malware can steal from a compromised system and how to defend against malware.

“There are very few aspects of our lives now that do not have some type of fingerprint online. It’s more important than ever for people to be aware of ways to protect themselves from cybercriminal activity. This annual event gives our community the opportunity to hear from the best of the best on how to do just that,” said Wes Hill, dean of continuing education at WCC.

WCC’s information technology instructor, Kendra Faulkner, said, “We are so excited to continue this event for a fourth year, and even better, hear about cybersecurity from a military perspective.” 

This year’s keynote speaker is Alex Reinwald, cyber-threat intelligence division chief for the North Carolina National Guard’s Cyber Security Response Force. His previous duty assignments include Japan, South Korea, Arizona and Alaska. He holds a bachelor’s degree in geography from the University of Alabama and a master’s in geographic information science and technology from North Carolina State University. 

He has twice led the fusion and intelligence cell for the largest unclassified cyber incident response exercise in the United States. He currently holds GIAC certified incident handler, GIAC penetration tester, GIAC cyber threat intelligence and GIAC information security professional SANS certifications.

Our panelists include Fred White, network technician for the city of Wilson/Greenlight Community Broadband; Joseph Vellucci, technician/project manager for Computer Central; Nona Young, network security specialist for the N.C. Department of Information Technology; and Susan Weekley, IT…