Cyber, insider threats and more from the annual PSC conference
By
Nick Wakeman
The Professional Services Council keeps the media out of its annual conference but its Twitter feed gives some insights on what industry is thinking behind closed doors.
The Professional Services Council is holding its annual conference this week in Williamsburg with a stellar line up.
There are leading executives speaking from companies such as Accenture, Deloitte, Unisys and CGI. There also are government speakers from the Navy, the Senate, the Homeland Security Department and the Defense Security Service.
The doors are also closed to the press. Always has been, probably always will. I’ve complained about this before to my friends at the PSC, whose reasoning has always been that opening the event to the media would put a damper on the candor of discussions that take place.
But at the same time the organization maintains an active Twitter feed over the two-day conference. Search #pscconf on Twitter and you’ll see PSC and many attendees tweeting.
As a journalist it all goes against my nature. But open or not, the Twitter feed provides a rich vein of the issues and topics that are top of mind with government contractors.
Among them are cybersecurity, innovation, insider threats, international business and, of course, a dose of politics with a review of the first 100 days of the Trump administration (ironically, a panel of journalists), and a look at the budget.
A lot of the tweets are more congratulatory in nature, such as “great panel” or “getting ready for the keynote.”
Several offer good tidbits like this one quoting Kierston Todt of the Presidential Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity.
Kierston Todt - Harmonizing overlapping and conflicting regulation is key to improved cyber security. #pscconf
— Susan Becker (@susanbeck53) April 24, 2017
The insider threat panel explored how these threats are not limited to cybersecurity. I would like to hear more about that one.
Dan Payne, director of the Defense Security Service, said insider threats are the most significant aspect of industrial security moving forward.
Scott Gould, former U.S. deputy veterans affairs secretary, talked about how trust plays a critical role in improving acquisition as part of his moderator duties of a panel on innovation and business challenges.
Gould: improving acquisition needs trust between public & private sectors; understanding flexibilities; neutral forums; PSC agrees! #PSCConf
— PSC (@PSCSpeaks) April 24, 2017
The panel on international business would have been a good one to sit on as well given this factoid shared on Twitter: 81 percent of global economic growth will occur outside the United States over the next five years.
Global economy is on the rise, making international trade more important than ever. #PSCconf @PSCSpeaks https://t.co/snvdLxsn1g
— ABBTECH (@ABBTECH) April 24, 2017
The PSC conference ends today, so I’ll check in later for some wrap up tweets and see if I can pick up some more on the budget and where it is headed.
And maybe, just maybe, I’ll be there live next year. But I’m not holding my breath.