Q&A with Kristin Judge on upcoming Michigan Cyber Security Summit in Ypsilanti
It was a strange phone call. “Did you buy $8,000 worth of soccer balls in London?” It appeared I had on my credit card, which had somehow become compromised. Thanks to the safeguards of an alert credit card company, the charge was removed before I had even received my monthly statement.
Panic sets in when you realize that your private information has been stolen. Danger doesn’t just lurk around a downtown corner; it’s in your computer with every keystroke you tap.
Kristin Judge
The all-day event on Oct. 7 is being hosted by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, and it is drawing national attention from the White House. Washtenaw County Commissioner Kristin Judge, who has been a driving force in this initiative, talked with me on 1290 WLBY and emphasized that this is an event everyone should try to attend. Judge: We’re very excited to be the national kick-off for October Cyber Security Awareness Month. We have invited U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and White House Cyber Security Coordinator and Special Assistant to the President Howard Schmidt. The governor will be speaking and Congressman John Dingell, as well. We have national speakers to talk to residents about how to stay safe online.
Lucy Ann: Give us an idea of the different issues that are going to be discussed.
Judge: Well, one of the most important things for educators is cyber bullying. We’re bringing in the Cyber Bullying Research Director from Florida and he’s going to be giving teachers solutions. We’ve asked all the speakers to not just come in and talk about how bad the problem is; so he has a workbook and some proven research to share. We’re bringing in speakers like that who have solutions. For example, we have one of the directors of the Internet Crime Complaint Center of the FBI.
Lucy Ann: You have a school-age daughter, and you understand how terrifying cyber bullying is.
Judge: And the predators. The reason I started all of this is that there were three kids at Saline High School that were affected by online predators. We have to keep our kids safe. We’re the first generation of parents with “plugged-in” teens. They have X-Box, Facebook, and all those things. We don’t want people to be scared, we just want them to be educated so that they can keep their kids safe.
Lucy Ann: The Washtenaw County Cyber Citizenship Coalition (WC4) is helping to spearhead this summit?
Judge: That’s actually what’s brought the White House and the Department of Homeland Security here. They chose us as the national kickoff to try and highlight our program. They’re using us as a national model as a grassroots way to address cyber security awareness and education. We’re very proud of that.
Lucy Ann: How is the Michigan Cyber Security Summit structured?
Judge: From 7:30 to 8:30 in the morning is registration and breakfast. The speeches start at 8:30 and the breakout sessions will end at 3:30 in the afternoon. There’s lunch and breakfast included for $20, and Facebook will be live streaming the event in the morning.
Lucy Ann: You can watch this on Facebook?
Judge: Yes. I think it’s going to be under the National Cyber Security Alliance page, but they haven’t given us all the details. They are on the board of the National Cyber Security Alliance, which is one of our partners for the coalition and that’s why they made the offer.
Lucy Ann: Is the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners involved in this?
Judge: We’re a committee of the sheriff’s office, and there’s been no county dollars spent whatsoever on it. The County Board of Commissioners is very supportive of the work we’re doing on it and they understand how important it is, but we’ve only spent money that has been given to us by AT&T and Google as donations to the program, so it’s not cost the county anything.
Lucy Ann: What is Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s interest in this?
Judge: He is hosting this summit. This is his event and he asked us to have it here in Washtenaw County and work with him because of the Washtenaw County Cyber Citizenship Coalition, so we’re very excited.
Lucy Ann: What kinds of things do you think the local municipalities, the county, and the state can do around this idea of cyber security?
Judge: There are a lot of great federal programs that are free to communities and that’s something we’re trying to showcase here. The Department of Homeland Security has the Stop, Think, Connect campaign. With that you can get brochures, curriculum, bumper stickers, and bookmarks. Then there’s the multi-state Sharing and Analysis Center, and they are a nonprofit that is paid for by the Department of Homeland Security. They have tool kits for the month of October. I just got a thousand posters, a thousand bookmarks, so there are resources out there, but you need people on the ground like WC4 to help get all of this material to the people who need it. I’m actually going around the country to teach other county governments what we’ve done here.
Lucy Ann: You’re co-chairing this upcoming summit?
Judge: Dan Lohrman, Michigan’s chief technology officer and I are co-chairing the event. We’re doing all the behind-the-scenes stuff together to get it ready. I happened to be sitting next to a gentleman who works in the White House when I was at a national county meeting in Nashville two years ago. I told him about the issues we were having here and he said, “Your federal government wants to help.” You know, government really does work, and since then he has helped me create this and I’ve had the support of the White House all the way through.
The Michigan Cyber Security Summit Friday, Oct. 7 is at the Ann Arbor Ypsilanti Marriott at Eagle Crest. No registration will be available the day of the event, due to security details. You can register online. Visit www.michigan.gov/cybersecurity for more resources to help you stay safe online.
Lucy Ann Lance co-owns Lance & Erskine Communications, which produces “The Lucy Ann Lance Business Insider” (M-F, 8 a.m.-11 a.m.) and “The Lucy Ann Lance Show” (Saturdays, 9 a.m.-12 p.m.) on 1290 WLBY. The programs are live streamed at www.1290WLBY.com, and podcast on www.lucyannlance.com. The above interview is a condensed version of a longer conversation that is edited for clarity. The complete audio interview is posted online at www.lucyannlance.com.
Comments
Justice4all
Sat, Sep 24, 2011 : 12:16 p.m.
Great job Commissioner Judge. Who are current WC4 members?
Sallyxyz
Sat, Sep 17, 2011 : 5:01 p.m.
Also wanted to add that I took classes at EMU a few years ago, and it was literally NOT possible not to get an ID that included a charge card. I had to spend tons of time inactivating the charge part of the card, and still received activity emails, even though I never used it for anything and was told it was inactivated as a credit card. Not good. EMU needs to have an option for issuing an ID that is NOT a credit card.
Sallyxyz
Sat, Sep 17, 2011 : 4:58 p.m.
So, how did the soccer balls charge get onto her card? There needs to be an explanation of how this might have happened. Every time you use your credit card anywhere, you are exposing yourself to potential theft. I stopped using my BoA card in April 2007, and received a letter in Dec 2010 from BoA that my account was being closed and a new card issued due to a compromise by a 3rd party (there were no fraudulent charges on the card). The only explanation I was given was that when I made a prior charge "somewhere" that that vendor was compromised and BoA decided to cancel all cards involved. I looked at my 2006 and 2007 activity and the card was only used a few times (no online purchases) in places like Macy's and Dillard's. I only use my current cards once or twice a year, and only when there is absolutely no other choice.
tdw
Sat, Sep 17, 2011 : 1:46 p.m.
Not to nit-pick here but Eagle Crest is in Ypsi Twp
Basic Bob
Sat, Sep 17, 2011 : 1:38 p.m.
Some cybersecurity issues (as it is widely understood) deserve recognition as real crime: identify theft, frauds and scams, theft of personal or corporate data, network breaches and attacks. But in our area full of knowledgeable scientists and Internet researchers, only teenage cyber-bullying gets any traction. Because it's for the kids. This is turning into another ultra-conservative law-and-order reaction against personal freedoms, foisted on us by the so-called Washtenaw progressives.
Kristin Judge
Sun, Sep 18, 2011 : 3:45 a.m.
Thanks for your interest Bob. Actually, we completely agree and that is why this summit is not just about cyberbullying. We also have speakers coming in from the FTC to speak about Identity Theft. There is a track for business, law enforcement and government as well. Protecting critical infrastructure, FBI Cyber Complaint Center and other topics will be discussed with speakers from all over the country. There are only about 80 seats left, so you may want to register now.
lumdum15
Sat, Sep 17, 2011 : 1:06 p.m.
Kristin Judge is a leader who does the role of leadership: she leads! We are lucky to have her working hard for us.