Agenda

To stop an adversary, you must first understand them. This session moves beyond traditional cyber defense to explore the human element driving attacks on critical infrastructure. In “Behavioral Threat Intelligence,” we dissect the “who” and “why” behind today’s most significant threats—from nation-state sabotage to criminal campaigns. By examining the psychological drivers, cultural biases, and cognitive patterns of attackers, we reveal how to anticipate their next move. You will leave with practical strategies for integrating behavioral profiling with technical intelligence, transforming your ability to predict, attribute, and neutralize threats to the systems we all depend on.

AI-powered cyber threats are rising in higher education, with targeted phishing and deepfake attacks becoming more sophisticated. As the attack surface expands, colleges and universities must focus on securing workforce identity—often the weakest link. A layered, human-centric defense is key to protecting faculty, students, and staff.

Join Proofpoint’s Ryan Witt and Chris Montgomery for a discussion on the latest threat intelligence and strategies to help institutions better understand and defend against today’s advanced cyberattacks.

We will explore:

• Emerging AI-enabled attack trends 
• Threat insights into which departments and roles are most at risk  
• Actionable strategies to proactively defend against these advanced AI attacks 

Phishing is still the most common attack method because it taps into natural human biases. In this session, we’ll break down the key psychological triggers—like authority, urgency, and social proof—that make these attacks work.

You’ll learn how to build awareness programs that actually connect with employees by focusing on what motivates real behavior. We’ll walk through a practical framework for designing empathy-based simulations, tracking behavior change over time, and improving your training based on what works.

You’ll walk away with a proven, psychology-based blueprint and ready-to-use templates to build phishing awareness programs that cut click rates by over 30% in just three months.

Government agencies and higher education institutions face a unique and relentless cyber offensive, balancing mission-critical services with resource constraints and transient user populations. This expert panel dissects the threat landscape, focusing on the vectors that exploit people and trust. Lisa Plaggemier of the National Cybersecurity Alliance will reveal why college students are prime targets for sophisticated scams and how to build effective security behaviors. Russell Dowdell of Imprivata will address the escalating chaos of Identity Governance, focusing on third-party access, cloud sprawl, and the critical need to secure non-human identities. Join these experts for a discussion on actionable strategies to boost operational resilience and navigate the complex, often underfunded, journey toward Zero Trust in the public sector.

This presentation examines the critical cybersecurity challenges and opportunities presented by the rapid advancement of emerging technologies, which are advancing faster than society’s ability to absorb and understand them.

The first core focus is on Artificial Intelligence (AI), which acts as a double-edged sword in the security landscape. AI is a powerful enabler for defense, capable of mitigating threats through automated process monitoring, predictive analytics, malware identification, and autonomous patching. Conversely, cyber attackers are leveraging offensive AI to create sophisticated, self-mutating (polymorphic) malware that can learn from failed attacks and self-propagate by exploiting system vulnerabilities.

Next, the discussion addresses Quantum Computing, and the impending risk of “Q-Day”. Large-scale quantum computers, once operational, will be able to use Shor’s algorithm to break all current public key cryptosystems, including RSA, Diffie-Hellman, and Elliptic Curve Cryptography. This mandates an urgent global transition to new, stronger post-quantum algorithms (cryptosystems).

Finally, the presentation highlights Emerging Sector Risks, specifically focusing on the cyber vulnerabilities of commercial space and satellite systems, which are increasingly seen as critical infrastructure. Weaknesses often stem from the use of long-range telemetry with open telecom network security protocols, which offer numerous inroads for attackers.

To secure the future, strategies must be proactive, requiring substantial research investment in both AI and cybersecurity9999. Essential principles include adopting a Zero Trust architecture, implementing Security by Design, and preparing for the necessary shift to Post-Quantum Cryptography.

Government agencies at every level are on the front lines of a persistent cyber conflict, entrusted with safeguarding citizen data, delivering essential services, and upholding public trust. This presentation delivers a focused intelligence briefing on the threats facing the public sector. We will dissect recent attacks on civic infrastructure, analyze the tradecraft of nation-states engaged in cyber espionage, and map the emerging trends in criminal campaigns targeting government entities. This session is designed for public sector leaders and technical staff, providing actionable intelligence to harden defenses, ensure the continuity of government, and protect the sensitive data that powers our society.

Ransomware is a massive and persistent problem, and ALL businesses are targets. But defending against these attacks is sometimes treated like an endpoint security issue, giving ransomware groups and threat actors like initial access brokers a major advantage over businesses and organizations working to defend themselves.

In this presentation, we teach you how to defend against ransomware attacks with a “defense-in-depth” approach—from humans to identities to infrastructure to endpoints—to give you the upper hand. We’ll dive into real-life ransomware events the Huntress SOC and threat hunting team has dealt with, so you can see how a defense-in-depth approach wrecks attackers.