CBR To Spotlight Security’s Role In M&A

An active market for mergers and acquisitions at all levels of the media industry has technology, IT and security executives and managers alert to the possibilities of cyber mishaps and mischief.

In an effort to avert both, security executives from four major TV station groups will share perspectives on planning and executing secure company combinations at the third annual Cybersecurity for Broadcasters Retreat.

Mike Kelly, chief information and security officer at the E.W. Scripps Co.; David McLeod, CISO, Cox Enterprises; Ned Eberhart, IT security director, Tegna Media; and Ben Moreland, director, cybersecurity governance for Sinclair Broadcast Group will tackle the topic during an educational session at 1 p.m. on Feb. 13 at the Renaissance Hotel Sea World in Orlando, Fl.

The four executives will share the strategies, tactics and technologies they employed to reduce the threat of security breaches at their companies during recent M&A activity. They will also offer advice for companies that want to plan their security strategies with the possibility of being a buyer or seller at some point in the future.

“In today’s environment, media companies of all sizes need to anticipate the possibility of M&A activity,” said Kathy Haley, TVNewsCheck’s publisher and co-founder. “The right planning can ensure that security issues do not become a hindrance to transactions.”

Set for Feb. 12-13, TVNewsCheck’s Cybersecurity for Broadcasters Retreat gathers engineering, IT and security executives and managers to exchange information in a highly confidential setting. This year’s program has been specifically designed to promote collaboration between TV’s traditional engineering teams and the IT and security leaders playing an increased role in the industry’s technological development.

The 2020 retreat will open with a two-hour Incident Response Simulation of an escalating breach to the television production and distribution environment. Additional sessions will examine Engineering and IT: Breaking Down the Walls to Secure Production and Distribution; Minimizing Threats/Zero-Trust Networking; Securing the Television Supply Chain; Security in the Cloud, Communicating with the C-Suite and a collaborative workshop on Securing the News Environment in the 2020 Election Season.

In addition to targeted educational sessions, the retreat also features broadcasters-only and technology vendors-only Private Information Exchanges, where participants can share common concerns in a highly private setting.

All CBR participants must sign a confidentiality agreement in order to participate and the retreat will be held under Chatham House Rules.

To register for the Cybersecurity Retreat for Broadcasters, click here.