The financial services sector is the backbone of our economic strength as a country. The markets depend on its strength and stability, and it’s what allows us to make deposits and payments, provide credit, make investments and transfer financial risks.
That’s why it’s so important that we protect it.
The digital age has brought great advancements to the financial sector, but as with all advancements, comes security risks. Events like large-scale power outages or cyberattacks pose threats to our cyber infrastructure that the financial services sector depends on.
So how do we protect against these threats?
At S&T, our cybersecurity portfolio prioritizes this area through our Next Generation Cyber Infrastructure Apex Program to develop and test new technologies and tools to confront advanced adversaries when they attack the sector’s critical information infrastructure and networks. Specifically, we are working on cybersecurity solutions in the areas of dynamic defense, network characterization, malware detection, software assurance and insider threat.
And today, through S&T’s Silicon Valley Innovation Program (SVIP), we are convening technology startups, investors and financial service sector leaders and stakeholders in Boston to discuss unique opportunities to develop new solutions for the security of the sector’s critical infrastructure. We are looking for creative ideas and solutions to thwart cybersecurity threats to our country’s financial stability.
We know we need to think differently to achieve this, and our November 14 Boston Homeland Security Day aims to educate partners on S&T programs, the technologies being used to combat cyber threats, and technical areas of interest to S&T and the financial services sector. It is also an opportunity to discuss the unique funding mechanisms at our disposal created through SVIP to make these new partnerships and innovation ecosystems possible.
This is part of our larger effort to reach out to all of the innovation communities across the nation and around the world to harness the commercial research and development ecosystem for government applications, co-invest in ideas and accelerate transition-to-market.
I’m looking forward to the productive discussions in Boston today to protect our financial sector now and in the future.