MITRE won its first Silver Anvil for ATT&CKcon, a new event experience to empower the global community of cyber defenders, in Events and Observances/Seven or Fewer Days/B2B at the 2019 PRSA Silver Anvil awards on June 6, in New York City.
The Silver Anvil awards are the society’s highest honor for outstanding communications campaigns and attract global brands such as HP, IBM, Leidos, Wells Fargo, Allstate, Michelin, and Duke Energy. Of special note, the United States Strategic Command received a Silver Anvil for “Reputation/Brand Management/Government” and an Award of Excellence for “Integrated Communications/Government.”
ATT&CKcon, hosted in October 2018 at the McLean MITRE campus, assembled the cyber defense community to share knowledge on how to use the MITRE ATT&CK™ framework to improve cyber defense. In-person attendance at MITRE’s inaugural conference sold out in two days; thousands more watched the event online.
“ATT&CKcon demonstrates how we’ve transformed Strategic Communications and are strengthening awareness of MITRE and the important societal problems we're addressing externally,” explains Rachel Richelieu, director of Strategic Communications.
“We created an immersive event experience for attendees—both in person and online—that integrated creative design and branding, social media, media relations, and community engagement to develop a unique two-day experience, the first event of its kind that MITRE has ever hosted. We are working with the ATT&CK team to make the 2019 event even better.”
Partnership Produces an Award-Winning Event
ATT&CKcon’s success was driven in part by the partnership between the MITRE ATT&CK technical team and Strategic Communications. The two teams forged a close relationship that continues to support the advancement of a threat-informed defense approach to cybersecurity. Planning for ATT&CKcon 2.0 is well underway, and the team is planning another fun and innovative event.
“This event was an incredibly effective way of catalyzing the community and exchanging information about how we’re using ATT&CK in our environments and helping each other improve our cyber defenses,” says Richard Struse, chief strategist for Cyber Threat Intelligence.
“The partnership with Strategic Communications began early and was essential to the success of the two-day event. They bring a perspective and skill set that complements our technical expertise resulting in an exciting and innovative event generating a memorable connection to MITRE.”
PRSA is the nation’s largest professional organization representing communications professionals; its 30,000 members span every industry sector nationwide. Since 1944, the Silver Anvil has been awarded annually to organizations that have successfully addressed contemporary issues with exemplary professional skill, creativity, and resourcefulness.
—by Debbie Mangis