By guest blogger – Ruben Barrales, President and CEO, San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce
At the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, we advocate on behalf of San Diego businesses on a local, regional, state, national or international level to help make San Diego a better place to do business. As San Diego
continues to grapple with the effects of the recent economic downturn, many eyes are looking to the Internet as a powerful way to bolster economic and
job growth in our region. However, cybersecurity, or lack thereof, has the
potential to hinder growth critical to our already weakened economy.
To help address these concerns, I was in Washington, D.C. today as a
panelist at the U.S. Department of Commerce¹s Internet Policy Task Force’s symposium to discuss cybersecurity policy with industry and government
leaders.
In particular, I am here to highlight the efforts of San Diego’s Securing Our eCity initiative, which is focused on fostering public / private partnerships at local, state, national and international levels, and helping to create a cybersecure community. This initiative, which was created by ESET, is a testament to how public and private organizations can work together to help achieve a common goal.
The San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce is a proud partner of the Securing Our eCity Initiative with ESET and more than 200 other community partners, whom I represented here today.
Thanks to the efforts of ESET and other local partners, "Securing Our eCity" is helping to position San Diego as a leading region in raising awareness about the importance of cybersecurity. The Securing Our eCity initiative has been so successful that it was recognized earlier this month by the White House and Department of Homeland Security as a winner of the National Cybersecurity Awareness Challenge.
In addition to sharing the knowledge we’ve gained through the Securing Our eCity initiatives on a national platform, today’s discussions – including
participation from U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra, White House Cybersecurity
Coordinator Howard Schmidt, and others – have fueled further thought on how we can continue toward our goal of making San Diego the most cyber-secure city in the nation.
Ruben Barrales
President and CEO
San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce
