Archives For Cybersecurity

Governor O’Malley signs cybersecurity tax credit, InvestMaryland bills

Emily Kimball —  May 3, 2013
Cybersecurity Investment Incentive Tax Credit

Governor Martin O’Malley signs the Cybersecurity Investment Incentive Tax Credit.

Governor Martin O’Malley on Thursday signed legislation intended to foster Maryland’s cybersecurity industry through a new Cybersecurity Investment Incentive Tax Credit. The governor also signed legislation that modifies the state’s InvestMaryland program to make it easier to negotiate with venture capital firms. The bills represent major priorities of the Maryland Department of Business & Economic Development.

Funded at $3 million, the Cybersecurity Investment Incentive Tax Credit provides a refundable tax credit to qualified Maryland cybersecurity companies that seek and secure capital from an in-state or out-of-state investor.

“The passage of the bill is very exciting. It’s going to reinforce the dynamic nature of what’s happening in this industry. We started out largely with government-driven activity in cybersecurity. Now we have a lot of new companies that are developing cybersecurity products for both federal government and government in general, as well as banks, utilities and retailers. And yet, venture capital investors don’t really know much about what’s happening in this community. This is really a way of increasing our profile with those investors, and that’s going to be one of the biggest benefits with this tax credit,” said Ursula S. Powidzki, Maryland DBED Assistant Secretary of Business & Enterprise Development.

Maryland DBED Secretary Dominick Murray said the legislation complements the industry’s comparative advantage in Maryland.

“Cybersecurity is one of our strengths and you always capitalize on your strengths. We have that critical mass here, including one of the most highly educated workforces, especially in math and science. We’ve got the land, air and sea covered, but now there’s this extra domain on the Internet, and Maryland will be able to participate in protecting our nation and our state,” Murray said.

The tax credit also specifically encourages out-of-state investors to contribute to Maryland cybersecurity companies. ”We don’t have all the capital here in the state of Maryland, so we’re encouraging worldwide investment,” he added.

The governor also signed into law changes to Maryland DBED’s InvestMaryland Program Initiative. 

“We want to make it easy to invest in venture funds that will in turn partner and invest our money in Maryland companies,” Murray said.

Since 2012, select Maryland companies and venture capital firms have benefitted from the program, funded by $84 million raised by the state’s first online auction of premium insurance tax credits. Legislators approved adjustments to the program during the 2013 session to ensure proper authorization of investments and allow for easier negotiations with participating venture capital firms.

Find a wrap-up of business-related legislative priorities signed into law by the governor here.

Governor Martin O'Malley signs adjustments to the InvestMaryland Program.

Governor Martin O’Malley signs adjustments to the InvestMaryland Program.

“Maryland’s policy makers delivered on our biggest priorities: stronger incentives for R&D and biotechnology, new incentives for cybersecurity investments, and corporate tax code certainty for employers. We have many strong advocates in Annapolis who understand that Maryland’s technology and biotechnology companies are catalysts for innovation, job growth and prosperity.”

Larry Letow, chairman of the Tech Council of Maryland, on the 2013 legislative session

Posted by Emily Kimball on April 11, 2013 In Bio/Life Sciences, Cybersecurity, DBED, Education, Finance & Services, Industry News, Innovation & Tech, Job Creation, Maryland Economy, Maryland Living, Workforce , , ,
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Session wrap-up: Maryland legislators support worker training, cybersecurity

Emily Kimball —  April 10, 2013
Maryland flag Annapolis

Maryland legislators completed the 2013 session on April 8.

Maryland lawmakers drew the 2013 session to a close Monday night.

Legislators, government leaders and economic development partners in business, tourism and the arts supported several new initiatives associated with the Maryland Department of Business & Economic Development.

Key bills and priorities, related to the economy and approved by the legislature, include the following:

Maryland Employment Advancement Right Now (EARN) Program (full text)

  • Provides $4.5 million in grants annually to invest in Maryland’s workforce
  • Allows the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation and DBED to work together to equip workers with the skills demanded by industries such as construction, manufacturing, cyber and health care
  • Develops training programs with workforce centers, community colleges and employers that demand skilled workers
  • Establishes the “Train Maryland” website to connect job seekers with training programs to develop the skills they need to compete for jobs

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‘The Talent Show’ to feature Maryland tech, business experts

Emily Kimball —  April 9, 2013

What does the future hold for Baltimore’s economy? ”The Talent Show,” a gb.tc forum, hopes to both predict the future and change it for the better.

In a partnership with gb.tc, University of Baltimore’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation plans to host the event between 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on April 25, at the university’s Student Center at 21 W. Mt. Royal Ave. in Baltimore. It will include two panels of notable Maryland technology and business experts who will focus on the talents needed to succeed in the changing economy.

Panel participants will include the following:

  • Jeani Park, Maryland Director of Cyber Development
  • Jeff Salkin of Maryland Public Television
  • Darlene Smith, Dean of the Merrick School of Business, University of Baltimore
  • Jennifer Vey of the Brookings Institution, and author of “Building from Strength: Creating Opportunity in Baltimore’s Next Economy”
  • Charles Butler, Aol Advertising.com
  • Justin Musterman, CEO MediaGlu
  • Mike Gruen, Director of Engineering, Red Owl Analytics

Tickets are $10 each. Further details are available through Eventbrite.

VIDEO: Maryland Spotkick CEO talks hacking prevention on CNNMoney

Emily Kimball —  April 8, 2013

As more devices, ranging from kitchen appliances to streetlights, become connected to the Internet, the threat of malicious hacking has reached new levels.

Eric Fiterman, CEO of Baltimore-based cybersecurity company Spotkick, recently explained how hackers are using the search engine Shodan to reveal systems’ security weaknesses. Spotkick is part of the bwtech@UMBC research and technology incubator group.

Watch his interview with CNNMoney here or embedded below.

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NYTimes: Maryland CEO keeps New York high-rises secure

Emily Kimball —  April 3, 2013

Building security officers shouldn’t feel trapped behind a desk, according to William F. Peel III, CEO of Datawatch Systems. The Bethesda-based company specializes in remote security monitoring for commercial buildings.

Peel’s work with high-rise buildings in New York City recently drew the attention of the New York Times, which featured him in its “The 30-Minute Interview“ series.

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Experts: Changes to Maryland cybersecurity bill could jeopardize investment

Emily Kimball —  March 29, 2013
Cybersecurity in Maryland

Maryland legislators are reviewing a cybersecurity investment bill.

A landmark bill—expected to appear before the Maryland Senate Budget and Taxation Committee on Tuesday, April 2—is slated to significantly incentivize investment in Maryland’s job-creating cybersecurity industry.

But while the Maryland House of Delegates passed the Cybersecurity Investment Incentive Tax Credit bill on March 24, amendments changed key provisions that would have allowed investors outside of Maryland to take advantage of valuable tax credit incentives.

A broader investment base not only creates jobs, industry leaders say, but helps ensure that successful companies stay and grow in Maryland.

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“Though Maryland has built up one of the most highly-skilled workforces in the nation, too many of our workers lack the skills they need to compete for the jobs in highest demand. The EARN initiative will help us bridge that skills gap by creating employer-driven partnerships with businesses so together, we can grow our State’s economy and ensure that every Marylander has the opportunity to learn and earn.”

earn bill

Maryland workers will benefit from workforce training grants promoted by Gov. Martin O’Malley.

Gov. Martin O’Malley on passage of the EARN bill for worker training grants

Posted by Emily Kimball on March 14, 2013 In Bio/Life Sciences, Cybersecurity, DBED, Education, Entrepreneurs, Finance & Services, Industry News, Innovation & Tech, Innovation & Tech, Job Creation, Labor Statistics, Maryland Economy, Maryland Living, Programs , , , ,
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“Though Maryland has built up one of the most highly-skilled workforces in the nation, too many of our workers lack the skills they need to compete for the jobs in highest demand. The EARN initiative will help us bridge that skills gap by creating employer-driven partnerships with businesses so together, we can grow our State’s economy and ensure that every Marylander has the opportunity to learn and earn.”

Gov. Martin O’Malley on passage of the EARN bill for worker training grants

Posted by Emily Kimball on March 13, 2013 In Cybersecurity, DBED, Education & Research, Finance & Services, Industry News, Information & Technology, Innovation & Tech, Innovation & Tech, InvestMaryland, Programs, Small Business , , , ,
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InvestMaryland Challenge: Q&A with Light Point Security

Emily Kimball —  March 5, 2013

Check back for Q&A profiles on all the competition finalists.

The first-ever InvestMaryland Challenge is down to its final round with just 33 companies competing for more than $300,000 in grants and business services. The final winners will be announced during the Governor’s Cup Awards Ceremony on April 15.

One of the companies, selected out of more than 250 applicants, is Baltimore-based Light Point Security. To find out a little more about this growing company, founded in 2010, we spoke to co-founder Zuly Gonzalez.

Q. What does Light Point Security do, and how would you explain it to the average person?

A. We have a virtualized web browser and we prevent network computers from getting malware by allowing people to browse the Internet from remote browsers that does all of the dangerous parts of parsing and rendering a website and only sends back an interactive display of that website, so there’s no harmful content and no scripts that run on the end computer. It’s just a piece of software so companies basically just buy that software and install it on their computers and their network and it just runs and protects their networks as well as their employees from malware.

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InvestMaryland Challenge: Q&A with RedOwl Analytics

Emily Kimball —  February 28, 2013
Baltimore-based RedOwl Analytics is competing in the InvestMaryland Challenge.

Baltimore-based RedOwl Analytics is competing in the InvestMaryland Challenge.

Check back for Q&A profiles on all the competition finalists.

The first-ever InvestMaryland Challenge is down to its final round with just 33 companies competing for more than $300,000 in grants and business services. The final winners will be announced during the Governor’s Cup Awards Ceremony on April 15.

One of the companies, selected out of more than 250 applicants, is Baltimore-based RedOwl Analytics. To find out a little more about this up-and-coming company—founded in December 2011 by CEO Guy Filippelli—we spoke with Director of Business Development and Strategy Renny McPherson and Director of Product Les Craig.

Q. What does RedOwl Analytics do, and how would you explain it to the average person?

A. [McPherson] We have a sophisticated enterprise software solution which is behavioral analytics and behavioral intelligence for large companies, such as financial services or legal and investigative firms. It also could have uses later to Fortune 500 companies and to the U.S. government for the intelligence community and other government entities. What we do is ingest the ever-growing, massive corporate digital trail of emails, phone records, Blackberry messenger, Bloomberg chat, layer on our sophisticated inferential statistics, in addition to more commonplace descriptive statistics, cutting edge inferential statistics, and display that on a visually intuitive user interface to empower executives, managers and analysts to understand what’s happening in their organization, how behavior has changed and signals of problem behaviors.

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Q&A: Jeani Park on Maryland’s growing cybersecurity industry

Emily Kimball —  February 25, 2013
jeaniwide

Jeani Park is introduced by Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley.

Cybersecurity experts just might be the superheroes of information technology, guarding companies, customers, governmental agencies and other organizations against Internet threats.

Jeani Park was recently appointed director of cyber development for CyberMaryland by Gov. Martin O’Malley. Park stands at the center of this rapidly evolving industry that is adding new companies and new jobs throughout the United States and, especially, in Maryland with its high concentration of cybersecurity businesses.

Park brings more than 20 years in product development and extensive experience in consulting, speaking and writing about cybersecurity. She also has big plans for raising Maryland’s profile as an industry hub.

We sat down with Park to discuss her goals as director, as well as her first major event on behalf of the state—the 2013 RSA Conference, between Feb. 25 and March 1 in San Francisco.

Q. What are the national and international pressures related to cybersecurity? Why is it such an important issue?

A. It’s a big issue because the country’s really looking for economic growth. In the U.S., our IT industry is growing at between 2 and 3 percent. When you look at other regions, in Asia and South America, they are growing at like 20 percent in IT security. Cybersecurity is an area where there’s really pent up demand, so it can help the economy.

It’s also part and parcel for both defense and proactive protection of assets in the country. Most of the new wars are going to be cyber wars. What we saw with the Stuxnet virus in 2010, for example, was the first time nuclear power plants and other critical infrastructure were attacked from a cybersecurity standpoint. So we know in the future we’re going to see less and less traditional types of terrorism and threats and attacks—it’s really going to be in the cyber realm.

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