Will Feature National Experts in Cybersecurity

BEAUFORT, S.C. – Gov. Henry McMaster will be the keynote speaker March 7 at the inaugural South Coast Cyber Summit, which will be held on March 7-8 in Beaufort, S.C. The event is free but registration is limited.

The Cyber Summit is being presented by the South Coast Cyber Center and will feature a number of prominent experts in cybersecurity, one of the fastest growing career fields in the United States.

Retired Lt. Gen. Dan O'Donohue, now senior vice president of Owl Cyber Defense based in Columbia, Md., will be the keynote speaker on March 8. Other speakers include John LaCour, founder and chief technology officer of PhishLabs, a cyber threat intelligence company; Mary Galligan, managing director in cyber practice for Deloitte; Dr. Dean Bushey, director of Cyber Security Education at University of South Carolina Beaufort; and Dr. Shankar Banik, chairman of Cyber and Computer Sciences at The Citadel.

Topics at the two-day summit will range from cyber crime and phishing threats to building a cybersecurity ecosystem in the Lowcountry.

The Cyber Summit is the latest initiative of the South Coast Cyber Center, which was launched in 2019 as a collaborative including the City of Beaufort, Beaufort County, USCB-Beaufort, the Technical College of the Lowcountry, the Beaufort Digital Corridor, and the Beaufort County Economic Development Corporation. Its mission is to establish the educational infrastructure needed to groom a potential cybersecurity workforce, including those exiting the military. Cybersecurity experts are in great demand throughout the country, and there is not enough workforce to fill that demand.

"The world is moving extraordinarily fast, and cybersecurity is something we are dealing with in all our organizations," said City of Beaufort Mayor Stephen Murray, who is vice chair of the South Coast Cyber Center. "We've got a whole host of nationally recognized speakers who will be here to help people network and learn more about this critical issue."

The South Coast Cyber Summit will be held at Tabby Place, 913 Port Republic St., and will offer ample opportunities to network, according to Warren Parker, chairman of the South Coast Cyber Center. Registration is free. More details, including the agenda, speakers, and registration, can be found at southcoastcybersummit.com.

About the South Coast Cyber Center: We are working to establish a world class center of excellence for cybersecurity and cyber defense education, research, innovation, and business. The South Coast Cyber Center will promote the growth of a vibrant ecosystem leveraging the University of South Carolina Beaufort, Technical College of the Lowcountry, the Beaufort Digital Corridor, the Beaufort County Economic Development Corporation, government, and the private sector.