Each year our lives move further into a digital frontier. Each wave of this transformation brings with it exciting opportunities and grave risks. Unfortunately, the risks we face are a threat to the very western values which fostered our opportunities in the first place.

The risk of tyranny from below (investors and executives who neglect their responsibilities to protect, a government who stands by and watches, and the attackers who leverage these gaps to harm), which if not curbed may very well lead to tyranny from above (the development of a security and surveillance state, and the nationalization of industries and critical infrastructure deemed “to big to let fail”).

This calls for a great awakening. A need for our society at large to better understand the nature of these risks, our shared responsibility to address them, and the paths to achieve it while preserving our values and way of life. To this end, we look to achieve the following goals with this platform:

• To demystify and distill the complex and technical world of cybersecurity and privacy to the larger population.

• To show the leaders of our nation, our economy, and our communities how alignment with cybersecurity and privacy contributes to shared goals and objectives, and inspire them and society to strive for greater outcomes.

• To challenge those within the field to reject status quo thinking, and to drive continued innovation.