Panel on Data Security Added to 2017 Retail Summit

A bonus panel discussion, “Avoid Being Tomorrow’s Headline: Securing Data in Your Organization,” has been added to the agenda for this year’s Retail Summit, to be hosted by The University of Texas at Tyler’s Center for Retail Enterprises (CRE) on Tuesday, Feb. 21.

The major theme for the 2017 summit will be cybersecurity, according to Dr. Robert Paul Jones, director of the CRE. The center provides continuing education and professional development to the retail community, with a strong emphasis on small businesses.

As previously reported, R. David Mahon, chief security officer of Monroe, La.-based CenturyLink Inc., will keynote the event with a talk on “Emerging Trends & New Technologies in Cybersecurity for Retail & Services.” He will provide attendees with the whos and whys of breaches, what hackers are looking for, how they get in and what they do with breached data.

Mahon will also participate in a bonus panel discussion with UT Tyler's Dr. A.J. Burns and Dr. Paula Anthony-McMann on securing data in retail organizations.

The summit will also introduce attendees to the university’s new Cybersecurity Center, which focuses on digital forensics, IT risk assessment, ethical hacking and research methods.

UT Tyler’s new Retail Research Convenience Store Lab, due to open in 2018, will also be discussed at the 2017 Retail Summit. The lab/store will be a unique retail and learning research operation managed and run by students. Using new technologies like smart shelving, eye tracking, aroma and lighting, students, researchers and industry professionals will be able to learn more about what motivates shoppers – particularly Millennials – to buy.

Click here for more information on the 2017 Retail Summit.