TechHub: Digital Transformation in Chicago, Transform 2017 Keynote Kristi Woolsey & Ransomware in Industrial Networks

Chicago: The New Silicon Valley

Chicago’s technology community has been booming in the last five years.

A new KPMG report lists Chicago as a hopeful candidate to be the next international hub for innovation due to its talent and infrastructure, according to Inc. Magazine.

The city fosters a developing startup ecosystem, which raised more than $1.7 billion in funding in 2016, and ranks among the best in the country for growth of tech jobs.

Whereas Silicon Valley has shifted away from innovation to a lifestyle, landing tech leaders like the Snapchat CEO on the front page of a major fashion magazine, Chicago fosters a culture of no-nonsense leaders based on the value of hard work and dedication, according to Inc.

The rooftops at Wrigley Field. Source: CNNMoney

The digital revolution is making more millionaires than ever, pooling together the most brilliant minds on the plant to cultivate an innovative mindset that focuses on creating value.

Join GrayMatter and GE Digital for an interactive session on digital transformations in Chicago on Wednesday, June 21.

Designed for you to learn and share your thoughts, there will be a chance to network with peers and watch the Cubs play the Padres at the exclusive rooftop suites at Wrigley Field.

Nate Arnold, VP of Manufacturing Digital Technology of GE Digital and GrayMatter CEO Jim Gillespie will reveal specific insights on the best paths to success in digital manufacturing and reveal what’s gone wrong in past cases.

Space is limited, so be sure to reserve your spot today.

[ut_button color=”red” target=”_blank” link=”https://graymattersystems.com/best-practices-digital-transformation-process-chicago/” size=”medium” ]Reserve My Spot[/ut_button]

Inc. Magazine’s Best Workplaces of 2017 Announced

Inc. Magazine recently announced the 2017 best workplaces in their annual list, featuring GrayMatter.

Inc. recognizes the top companies to work for, asking thousands of employees about the places they work. For GrayMatter, transforming operations and empowering people includes our own people.

Transform 2017: MAYA’s Kristi Woolsey as Keynote Speaker

GrayMatter is proud to announce that Transform 2017, the annual GrayMatter conference in Put-in-Bay, Ohio, will feature MAYA Design’s Kristi Woolsey as a prominent keynote speaker this year.

Kristi Woolsey, MAYA Design

Woolsey is a dynamic speaker with a long track record of providing insightful presentations that put today’s initiatives into a future context.

Most of her talks revolve around behavioral strategy, the technique of influencing employees and customers towards desired behaviors including greater loyalty, innovation, collaboration, and productivity. These talks and workshops challenge business leaders, HR, IT, and CRE professionals to create lasting branded experiences that increase employee and customer engagement, driving improved business outcomes.

GE Digital’s Sr. Service Director Paul Casto will also present as a keynote speaker. Presenting the power of brand new applications that can be leveraged in the cloud to provide extremely fast, easy to access information about all your assets, he will help cut through the chaos and decipher your digital priorities and first steps.

Transform 2017 is a three day conference in Put-in-Bay, OH, from August 1 – 3.  Professionals in all verticals who are passionate about operational technology and transforming into digital, industrial operations should plan to attend.

View our full agenda and register before June 9 to get the early bird special.

[ut_button color=”red” target=”_blank” link=”https://graymattersystems.com/transform-2017-agenda/” size=”medium” ]View Agenda[/ut_button]

Industrial Networks at Risk of Ransomware Attacks

In recent weeks the news has been filled with reports of the newest malware, WannaCry ransomware, which has infected more than 200,000 systems worldwide.

An alert was published by the Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team, a division of Homeland Security, which advised operations to update security software, create backups, train employees and configure access controls to block unauthorized access to sensitive systems.

Industrial environments are particularly susceptible to these types of attacks for several reasons, including the improper segmentation of IT and OT networks, unpatched Windows machines and the presence of SMB on devices hosting HMIs, engineering workstations, historians and other systems, according to Security Week.

Phil Neray, VP of Industrial Cybersecurity at CyberX, believes that patching the vulnerability is not easy in the case of ICS.

“It’s worth noting that many of the SCADA applications embedded in our electrical grid and manufacturing plants were developed years ago and are tethered to older versions of Windows — so the fix isn’t going to be easy,” Neray said.