October 2025 Strengthening Security with a Limited Budget

Hosted by NEW AITP

Date: Tuesday October 28, 2025

Time: 5:00pm Doors open, food & networking

• Come hungry! Plenty of hors d'oeuvres (veggies, fruit, wings and pizza) will be served

5:45 pm Welcome & Speaker Presentation, additional networking to follow

Event location: Holidays Pub & Grill, Appleton, 3950 N. Richmond Street, Appleton WI

Cost: $0 Members (free), $20 non-Members, $10 Students with school ID

5:45pm Welcome & Speaker Presentation, additional networking to follow

Join Ben Dumke, System and Network Manager at Lawrence University, for a candid and practical look at how organizations can strengthen security - even on a tight budget.

• Real-world insights: Learn from an actual cybersecurity incident and how it was managed under resource constraints.
• Prioritize smartly: Discover how to identify your most critical security risks and allocate limited funds effectively.
• Low-to-no-cost solutions: Implement practical, affordable steps that align with NIST standards to strengthen your defenses.
• Baseline–Good–Better framework: Get a simple roadmap for scaling your security posture as your resources grow.
• Adaptable strategies: Walk away with tools and templates from K12SIX.org that can fit any organization’s size or budget.

Ben Dumke is the Network & Systems Manager at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, leading a team responsible for networking, servers, desktops, and application deployments.

Before transitioning to higher education, Ben spent more than two decades in K-12, supporting Microsoft technologies and IT infrastructure, budgeting, and long-range planning.

He has contributed to national K-12 cybersecurity initiatives through K12SIX.org, co-authoring their Incident Response Runbook and Essential Cybersecurity Protections.

Ben also serves on the WiscNet and NEW AITP Boards of Directors and volunteers with the Wisconsin Cyber Response Team. He has presented at Brainstorm K20, WiscNet events, the Wisconsin Governor’s Cybersecurity Summit, and the Midwest Management Summit.

• IT professionals and system administrators
• Technology leaders in education and business
• Anyone seeking affordable ways to improve cybersecurity

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