Opkalla opens Cybersecurity Awareness Month with Charlotte tech summit

Opkalla will host its fifth annual Tech Summit in Charlotte on Oct. 1, bringing together IT leaders, cybersecurity professionals and technology vendors for a day focused on risk reduction and security strategy. The event lands as organizations face rising pressure to defend against AI-enabled fraud, deepfakes and other fast-moving threats.

Why it matters: - Cybersecurity Awareness Month opens with a regional event aimed at helping organizations sharpen defenses as threats become more complex. - The summit centers on practical strategies for resilience, from enterprise security planning to AI risk management and zero trust. - Opkalla is using the event to convene practitioners and technology vendors around tools and tactics organizations can apply now.

What happened: - Opkalla, a technology advisory firm, will host its fifth annual Tech Summit on Oct. 1 in Charlotte, North Carolina. - The all-day conference will bring together IT leaders, cybersecurity professionals and technology innovators. - The event is designed to mark the start of Cybersecurity Awareness Month. - Registration is now open.

The details: - The agenda includes keynote speakers, breakout sessions and panels focused on current cybersecurity challenges. - Session topics include protecting data in a dark web economy, building an enterprise security posture for mid-market organizations and getting ahead of risk. - Other sessions will cover AI defense, next-gen SIEM, deepfakes and AI fraud, securing AI adoption, zero trust by design and security speed in the AI era. - Eric O’Neill, a cybersecurity expert and former FBI counterintelligence operative known for capturing spy Robert Hanssen, will present “Spies, Lies & Cybercrime: Protecting Your Data in a Dark Web Economy.” - The summit will also feature one of the largest technology expo halls in North Carolina. - Exhibitors and sponsors include Arctic Wolf, Axonius, BlinkOps, CATO Networks, CheckMark, CrowdStrike, CyberMaxx, Darktrace, Delinea, Elisity, Expel, Gradient Cyber, Horizon3.ai, LevelBlue (Trustwave), Rapid7, Sophos, ThreatLocker and Zero Networks. - Opkalla says it serves more than 700 organizations and has completed more than 1,500 cybersecurity evaluations. - The company says that work gives it visibility into common security challenges and informs the summit agenda.

Between the lines: - The event reflects how cybersecurity has become a business issue, not just an IT function, especially as AI changes both defense and attack surfaces. - The mix of vendor-heavy expo space and practitioner-led sessions suggests Opkalla is positioning the summit as both a learning event and a market showcase. - The focus on mid-market organizations points to a segment that often needs enterprise-grade security guidance without enterprise-scale resources.

What's next: - Attendees who register will get access to keynotes, breakout sessions, networking and the expo hall. - Opkalla will continue framing the summit as part of the broader push to improve security awareness and resilience heading into the rest of the year. - More information and registration are available through the Tech Summit registration page.