Cybersecurity Competition Winners Announced!
HighPoint CPAs of Laramie, the Goat Ladies of Rock River, and High Plains Power of Riverton were announced as the winners of Wyoming’s 2024 Cybersecurity Competition for Small Businesses at Wyoming’s Virtual Cybersecurity Conference on October 23.
Launched by CyberWyoming in 2018, the competition encourages small businesses across Wyoming to improve their cybersecurity posture through a home-grown program called Made Safe in Wyoming. The program has earned national and international attention as the only cybersecurity competition of its kind, targeting Wyoming small businesses and nonprofits.
“The industry has realized that you can add software and hardware as much as you want, but humans hold the key to security and that is the focus of the Made Safe program,” said Laura Baker, CyberWyoming’s Executive Director.
The participating companies were judged in three categories: No IT Help, Contracted or Consistent IT Help, and IT Help on Staff.
The first animal rescue nonprofit to win the competition, The Goat Ladies won the category of No IT help, with CEO Jennifer Clark (aka “Head Goat Lady”) leading the charge. Despite limited connectivity in their remote location, Clark completed over 80% of the group’s security goals while addressing volunteer privacy, physical security, and safeguarding their social media presence during high-traffic events.
Faced with unusual goat physical security challenges, Clark had to pen baby goats in her office during a spring freeze, yet also ensure they didn’t eat the draft security policies and plans. This was also a first for CyberWyoming, not usually considering livestock eating paperwork in physical security discussions.
“Protecting your business in the digital age—cybersecurity is not just an option, but a vital shield safeguarding your success and reputation,” said Clark.
Another Albany County company, HighPoint CPAs, took first in the category of Contracted or Consistent IT Help. Led by Shantel Anderson, Senior Staff Accountant and Nonprofit Specialist she focused on enhancing cybersecurity measures, while facing the unique challenge of merging two accounting firms and an office move, where Anderson oversaw the redesign of physical security at the new location.
“Working through this program with CyberWyoming staff helped us be assured that we are doing everything necessary to protect our company data as well as the data of our clients,” Anderson shared. During the program, HighPoint CPAs saw their cyber risk score fall from 14% to below 2%, achieved through staff training, onboarding updates, and implementing new policies.
Anderson and Clark both employed the help of the Wyoming SBDC and accessed additional business planning and cybersecurity resources through the Made Safe program. In 2023, the Wyoming SBDC won the Small Business Cybersecurity Pilot Program Grant to adopt CyberWyoming’s program, but without the competition element.
“Our company was able to work closely with the Wyoming SBDC in order to utilize some of the federal funding they received to pilot cybersecurity programs and resources for entrepreneurs and small businesses in Wyoming. We are working with them to receive funds to provide a password manager to all of our employees to ensure password safety and compliance. No need for the goats to eat our written down passwords anymore!” said Anderson. Anderson and Clark often joked about using Clark’s goats as a shredder since both companies are located in Albany County.
Winners of Wyoming’s 2024 Cybersecurity Competition for Small Businesses at Cyber Cheyenne on October 4, 2024.
Left to right Laura Baker of CyberWyoming, Joseph Whiteplume of High Plains Power, Jennifer Clark of the Goat Ladies, Mary Keane of CyberWyoming, Shantel Anderson of HighPoint CPAs, and Meagan Herrington (2023 winner) of Black Cat Construction.
High Plains Power, a Riverton power cooperative led by Joseph Whiteplume, CISO won the category of IT Help on Staff. Whiteplume improved the co-op’s risk score to 0% over the course of the competition.
“In a twist of fate, Joe had to deal with the CrowdStrike/Microsoft Windows software conflict exactly when we were working on his Incident Response Plan,” said Baker, who acted as Whiteplume’s Cybersecurity Business Counselor.
Because Whiteplume was already in cyber disaster preparedness mode during the Crowdstrike outage, Whiteplume had High Plains Power back up in under four hours. He reported that thanks to his focus on incident response, he stayed calm and had a clear to-do list ready to tackle the situation.
“Laura and the CyberWyoming team are an amazing resource for businesses of all sizes in Wyoming! They are true trailblazers, consistently going above and beyond in cybersecurity training and development. At High Plains Power, we are grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with such outstanding individuals!” said Whiteplume.
Judges focused on seven general categories for evaluating the participants’ reports: 1. Presentation, 2. Thoroughness, 3. Information Security Knowledge, 4. Culture/Learning, 5. Planning & Maintenance, 6. Progress, and 7. Innovation & Problem Solving. The company reports submitted to the judges were anonymous and there was a strict separation of duties from CyberWyoming who ran the companies through the process and the judging committee. Prathibha Muraleedhara, a CyberWyoming Board Member, was the Judging Committee Chair and recruited the 9 judges including a 2023 winner, Meagan Herrington from Cheyenne’s Black Cat LLC’s construction company.
“I am incredibly proud of our three winners this year. Each organization demonstrated exceptional commitment to security, and I look forward to seeing their continued progress,” said Baker
Winners of Wyoming’s 2024 Cybersecurity Competition for Small Businesses at the virtual conference on October 23, 2024.
Top row left to right: Joseph Whiteplume of High Plains Power, emcee Prairie Wife in Heels Cathy Holman, Shantel Anderson of HighPoint CPAs, Mary Keane of CyberWyoming.
Bottom row left to right: Jennifer Clark of the Goat Ladies, Meagan Herrington of Black Cat Construction, and Prathibha Muraleedhara of CyberWyoming’s Board of Directors.
The 2024 Competition was free to Wyoming’s businesses because of sponsorship from Campbell County Health, Capitol Communications, Casper College’s Cybersecurity Department, 307 Tech Pros (formerly CPU IT), DigeTekS, EvnTec, Factory IT, First Federal Bank & Trust, First National Bank of Gillette, Gannett Peak Technical Services, HUB International, IECA, K2 Technologies, Language I/O, the National Cybersecurity Society, PDS Manage, Sweetwater Technology Services, TEAM Networks, and Wyoming Manufacturing Works.
For more information about the 2024 Wyoming Cybersecurity Competition for Small Businesses or to register for the 2025 competition visit https://www.cyberwyoming.org/competition.
About CyberWyoming & Made Safe in Wyoming®: Founded in 2017, CyberWyoming, a 501(c)(6) nonprofit, is committed to advancing cybersecurity awareness and training across Wyoming’s small business community. Through Made Safe in Wyoming®, CyberWyoming offers high-touch educational opportunities and technical apprenticeships, creating cyber leaders statewide. For more information about the Made Safe in Wyoming® Program, contact info@cyberwyoming.org.
