Almost daily, the media report incidents of malicious interference with computer systems, ranging from simple pranks, stealing personal data, industrial espionage, ransomware, and corrupting databases, all the way to disabling major utilities. There is clear demand for technologies that help detect, block, and recover from the effects all sorts of attacks. The October 2017 session of the Caltech Entrepreneurs Forum will be devoted to identifying entrepreneurial opportunities for providing tools to combat cyber threats. We will focus on market segments, what it takes to establish credibility as a small company, and what types of strategic alliances with larger companies can be used to overcome the challenges of starting and operating an emerging company capable of developing and selling leading edge security technology to large and potentially very conservative customers.

Our keynote speaker will be Dr. Stan Stahl, president of Citadel Information Group and SecureTheVillage. Dr. Stahl’s cybersecurity career extends from his in-the-trenches security engineering work nearly 40 years ago to protect our nuclear missile arsenal to his community leadership today creating cybersecurity culture. Dr. Stahl will give us an overview of cybersecurity from the perspective of the need different classes of buyers have for new cybersecurity products and services. After his talk, we will turn to a panel of entrepreneurs in this burgeoning field who will report their varying experiences and approaches to financing, developing and selling cybersecurity products.