• Governments worldwide are pushing for the ban of TikTok from government devices, citing threats to national security
• Chinese company ByteDance, the owner and creator of TikTok, believes the ban is premature and has not had the opportunity to answer questions relating to information security
• Haugli explains that default permissions, including location, contacts, media, and more, are required at the time of download – making it possible for ByteDance to store data and metadata that could pose a risk

Deteriorating relationships between China and other world governments have raised concerns about how much data is shared on popular social media apps like TikTok. TikTok is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, and the default permissions required when downloading the app include location, access to contacts, media, and more. Due to the app’s data collection practices, governments are banning officials from downloading the app on their devices – citing a potential threat to national security.

Brian Haugli, CEO of SideChannel (OTCQB: SDCH), a cybersecurity services and technology provider, recently participated in an interview with Forum Daily’s Nima Rajan, discussing privacy concerns and how to limit the amount of information shared with the app (https://ibn.fm/mabW4).

The Canadian government has joined the United States in banning TikTok on government devices. China has responded to the bans, saying that it has not been allowed to answer questions or address the security concerns of these governments regarding an app it claims is “beloved by millions.”

Although China has offered to answer questions, Haugli talks about how the company and the country have made little effort to do this. The only good-faith efforts have been to move the data offsite and incorporate Oracle – but they have not exhibited an approach that provides peace of mind regarding the security of the data being collected.

The primary concern, as discussed between Rajan and Haugli, is China’s ability to use the data to track government officials, potentially see classified locations, and access the contact information of anyone associated with the government phone.

During the interview, Haugli pointed out that the default permissions on the app give ByteDance access to critical data and metadata, including where the user is, who they are around, their contacts, and more – making it possible for the company to track user information and store it.

Haugli explained that in most cases, the app is used for entertainment and can continue to be used for those purposes with a little more precaution. Android and Apple users can change the permissions in their app settings and deny TikTok access to critical data points like location, contact lists, etc. Haugli concluded the interview by stating that it is possible to change the permissions granted by default to the app during its download.

SideChannel’s mission is built upon the belief that all enterprises, big or small, can have top-tier security guidance at a manageable cost. The company acknowledges the growing concern of cybersecurity threats, including data theft, hacking, and ransomware, which has grown by more than 600% during the COVID-19 pandemic (https://ibn.fm/1qRM6). These threats have forced industries to embrace new solutions and adapt quickly to the ever-changing cybersecurity landscape.

With a team of virtual Chief Information Security Officers (“vCISOs”), SideChannel possesses a combined 400-plus years of experience in cybersecurity. The company has honed its skills and abilities in places like Anthem, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Best Buy, TD Bank, and the Pentagon. The company lends its talent to clients, creating value through a bespoke cybersecurity program that fits growing enterprises. To date, SideChannel has created over 50 multi-layered programs for its clients.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.SideChannel.com.

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to SDCH are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/SDCH

In a time of unprecedented public fear and distrust of institutions, life science companies must be more careful than ever to cultivate KOL (Key Opinion Leader) relationships that lend credibility to their products. As regulations grow stricter, and demand for niche products and personalized treatment rises, KOLs are set to play an even more important role in winning acceptance among the medical community.

The increasing trend toward personalized healthcare research online and via other forms of media has created a greater need for medical product developers to competitively market their messages across a wide spectrum of media audiences and prioritize getting the right products into their patients’ hands.

The 3rd KOL Engagement Forum, organized by Dynamic Global Events (Life Science Leader in B2B Conferences), provides an opportunity for Medical Affairs, Medical Science Liaisons (“MSLs”), and KOLs to discuss the latest strategies for effective KOL/HCP engagement.

At the two-day event, attendees will learn a variety of strategies for identifying KOLs and establishing metrics for tracking their reach to end targets. The conference will feature insights on identifying the greatest outreach challenges, how to deal with difficult KOLs, and skills to create strong relationships. In addition, attendees will gain business acumen to optimize business relationships, adapt field medical execution to limited resources, learn about crucial legal and regulatory changes, and much more.

Key takeaways:

• The 3rd KOL Engagement Forum’s two-day conference in Philadelphia in May is designed to break through barriers impeding medical science products from reaching anticipated end users.
• Key event activities will also be live-streamed.
• Educational presentations target skill development with industry-leading medical experts as well as product marketers and KOLs.
• Networking opportunities will be available for personalized interaction between supply-side commercialization teams, consumer-facing experts, and liaisons.
• Panel discussions will feature a variety of perspectives on relevant topics, and fireside chats will cover value-add opportunities.
• Business development insights will help MSLs breaking into the field, evolving or transitioning to another role.

Behind the scenes:

The 3rd KOL Engagement Forum is a conference hosted by Dynamic Global Events (“DGE”). DGE’s market and content team has successfully built a variety of live, virtual, and hybrid life science conferences on topics ranging from women’s leadership opportunities in the pharmaceutical industry to clinical trial agreements and setting up quality virtual clinical trials (“VCTs”). DGE events help connect professionals with solution providers in a broad range of disciplines.

For more information about this event, please visit https://ibn.fm/xmFLn.

• Cepton unveiled its Vista(R)-X120 Plus earlier this year at CES 2023, one of the largest tech tradeshows this year, where it was named a CES 2023 innovation award honoree for next-generation lidar products
• Vista(R)-X120 Plus features a wider field of view, software-definable regions of interest, and faster data transmission with a target price below $500, enabling high-volume production and faster mass-market adoption
• Vista(R)-X120 Plus is smaller and lighter, allowing for seamless integration without significantly affecting vehicle design
• Cepton collaborates with many global OEMS, and recently won the largest commercial lidar deployment contract in the tolling sector to date

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (“ADAS”) make roads safer by using sensors, cameras, and other technology to control speed, monitor blind spots, prevent collisions, and automate emergency braking. While the technology has advanced rapidly in recent years, some challenges remain, including data integration from multiple systems, information processing power and speed, and sensor reliability and accuracy. Cepton’s (NASDAQ: CPTN) latest automotive-grade lidar solution — the Vista(R)-X120 Plus — addresses those challenges and features improvements that set new standards for perception technology. Integrated ADAS sensors must accurately and reliably detect objects in all weather and lighting conditions, and discern which objects are most important when making decisions. What makes Cepton’s lidar technology stand out is its ability to see things on the road that the driver may not. Even in low light conditions, Cepton’s lidar becomes an asset to driver safety. For example, the latest Vista Plus model bridges those critical technological gaps with a 30-degree wider field-of-view and a software-definable region of interest (“ROI”) that rotates the sensor 360 degrees to capture higher levels of environmental detail. Furthermore, the Vista(R)-X120 Plus transmits data 500% faster, enabling the system to quickly detect, analyze, and respond to the movement of vehicles, pedestrians, animals, and other moving objects. The Vista(R)-X120 also offers a 50% reduction in height and a 20% reduction in overall size, allowing manufacturers to seamlessly integrate the technology without significantly affecting the vehicle’s design. In addition, the model’s target cost for high-volume production is below $500, enabling mass-market deployment for a larger range of vehicles at varying price points. CPTN engages with all top 10 global automotive OEMs and collaborates with numerous worldwide partners to develop lidar solutions for an extensive range of applications. These include early-warning intrusion detection systems, crowd analytics solutions, free-flow e-tolling, and lidar technology for smart transportation infrastructure. Most recently, the company secured the largest commercial lidar deployment contract in the tolling sector to date, which involves the deployment of Cepton’s Sora series sensors on several major tollways in the Tri-State area and Northern California (https://ibn.fm/sBKyI). “We’re proud to announce our new contract win with one of the largest tolling system operators in the U.S. and contribute to the infrastructure rebuilding initiative,” said Dr. Jun Pei, Co-founder, and CEO of Cepton. “In addition to superior performance, our Sora lidars were designed using the same auto-grade building blocks that have been validated by OEMs through our flagship automotive lidar program, and are reliable, embeddable, scalable, and energy efficient, which are key advantages for tolling applications.” Founded in 2016, Cepton commercializes high-performance, high-quality lidar solutions through engagements with multiple global partners, including all top 10 global automotive OEMs. The company is headquartered in San Jose, California, with a center of excellence facility in Troy, Michigan. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Cepton.com. NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to CPTN are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/CPTN

• BiondVax Pharmaceuticals is a biotechnology company developing, manufacturing, and commercializing innovative NanoAb immunotherapeutic products, primarily for the treatment of infectious diseases and autoimmune diseases
• Company CEO Amir Reichman recently presented at the BIO-Europe Spring conference, where he talked about BiondVax’s successful preclinical in vivo results of its innovative inhaled COVID-19 treatment and additional pipeline plans
• The in vivo results have shown that the company’s inhaled COVID-19 therapy, formulated using alpaca-derived nanosized antibodies (“NanoAbs”), resulted in milder and shorter illness, virtually eliminated the virus from the lungs, and prophylactically protected against illness
• Since he was appointed CEO in early 2021, Reichman has overseen the adoption of a de-risked strategy that entails developing and commercializing biobetter NanoAbs with known mechanisms of action and fully validated target molecules
• The company aims to address diseases with underserved medical needs and attractive large market commercial opportunities

Amir Reichman, CEO of biotechnology company BiondVax Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: BVXV), recently presented at the 17th annual BIO-Europe Spring conference in Basel, Switzerland. Hosted by EBD Group, the three-day in-person conference, which was held March 20-22, brought together more than 2,800 executives from biotech, pharma, and finance companies. It not only featured presentations and exhibits from some of the most promising companies in the biotechnology space but also allowed these companies to engage in more than 15,000 one-on-one meetings with the attendees (https://ibn.fm/hbDbu).

As part of his presentation delivered on the morning of Tuesday, March 21, Reichman focused on BiondVax’s successful preclinical in vivo results of its innovative inhaled COVID-19 treatment. He also touched on additional pipeline plans, including the development of alpaca-derived nanosized antibodies (“NanoAbs”) or VHH-antibodies for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, such as macular degeneration, psoriatic arthritis, asthma, and psoriasis.

The results presented were generated from a preclinical in vivo proof-of-concept study evaluating BiondVax’s COVID-19 therapy formulated using the NanoAbs. The first set of statistically significant results, reported November 29 last year, showed that the group of SARS-CoV-2-infected hamsters treated with the company’s inhaled NanoAbs experienced a milder and shorter illness. This manifested in the form of a lower average decline in weight (3.80%) among the experimental group that was given the NanoAb therapy compared to a 12.01% decline among hamsters in the control group, which were served with saline as a placebo (https://ibn.fm/gRLcJ). Weight loss in hamsters is the widely accepted proxy measurement of COVID-19 infection impact.

The second set of results, reported January 6, showed that the experimental group had over 30x lower SARS-CoV-2 viral titers in the lungs than the control group, with the levels below the border of detection, suggesting virtual elimination of the virus from the lungs (https://ibn.fm/CcE2J). Finally, the third set of results, released January 23, evidenced the NanoAb COVID-19 drug’s protective prophylactic properties. Of note, the experimental group, which received a mid-sized 0.66mg dose of NanoAb three hours before infection, experienced no significant weight loss over the six-day trial. In contrast, the untreated control group’s weight reduced 12% on average, representing a statistically significant difference (p<0.0005) (https://ibn.fm/rfq58).

These findings are the result of a renewed focus that followed the early 2021 appointment of Reichman as CEO (https://ibn.fm/FIrkI). At the time and under his guidance, BiondVax sought to maximize clinal assets and personnel and adopt a de-risked strategy centered around the elimination of four main risks typically associated with innovative drug development: (a) the identification of fully validated target molecules; (b) the mechanisms of action of the drugs on the target molecule(s); (c) composition of matter; and (d) a proven market opportunity – a disease with a large unmet need and attractive commercial opportunity. In addition to also targeting strong IP, the drug technology selected was to be derived from a platform that could generate multiple drug candidates and fit into the company’s existing manufacturing capabilities and the expertise and knowledge of its team.

Upon undertaking its due diligence and scouting many potential avenues, BiondVax entered into agreements with the prestigious Max Planck Society and its Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences and the University Medical Center Göttingen (“UMG”) for the development of NanoAbs to address diseases and disorders with significant unmet medical needs and attractive large market commercial opportunities (https://ibn.fm/FYyHQ).

BiondVax then signed an exclusive license for the development and commercialization of the first NanoAb aimed at treatment and prophylactic prevention of COVID-19. In addition, the company signed another contract, a five-year strategic agreement, that gives it an option for an exclusive license for the development and commercialization of up to nine additional NanoAbs against selected targets, according to Reichman, who was speaking in a recent episode of theTest. Optimize. Scale. podcast (https://ibn.fm/PagxG).

The strategic selection of an antibody-based technology enabled the company to solve one of the risks – the mechanism of action, considering that attacking a target molecule with an human antibody is already known to generate a good clinical response. Coupled with the fact that BiondVax had already identified and selected fully validated molecules that the NanoAbs would then target, Reichman explained, this helped the company eliminate two primary risks, shaving off $200 million and seven years of drug development.

This new approach has allowed BiondVax to focus on a promising pipeline of innovative therapeutics that could potentially disrupt conventional human antibody treatments and equate into increased equity for its shareholders. This new NanoAb pipeline, recent clinical milestones, and the incredibly bright future are what the attendees at the BIO-Europe Spring heard about as Reichman delivered his presentation.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.BiondVax.com.

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to BVXV are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/BVXV

DGE invites industry executives, policymakers, and health providers, to attend the 7th Digital Strategy & Innovation for Medical Affairs Summit to be held in Philadelphia from May 17-18, 2023, in addition to being live streamed.

The 7th Digital Strategy & Innovation for Medical Affairs Summit is the leading and most influential industry conference for transforming the MA department into a division that executes advanced policies and patient centricity.

In a world where business models and medical science are increasingly complicated and data-driven, MA teams have emerged as the key players not only in ensuring the success of their companies but also in helping to advance patient outcomes. Underpinning this ability is their potential to engage physicians through digital channels.

While striving towards a bright future – the demand for accessible and comprehensive scientific information has never been greater. The medical affairs team must upskill and stay relevant as customers use new channels to engross information. The summit will help attendees determine best practices in demonstrating value to both external and internal stakeholders. It will be focused on the cultural digital revolution for the medical affairs teams.

Latest insights for healthcare technology leaders

Digital innovation continues to transmute the healthcare landscape. Medical affairs teams have key roles to play in shaping product approaches as healthcare experts seek user-friendly and customized information.

There is an increasing need for high-quality information and education, given the propagation of complex and specialty medicine. The 7th Digital Strategy & Innovation for Medical Affairs Summit provides medical affairs teams with an opportunity to bank on the increased response and improved efficiency of delivering medical information.

Equipped with a deep understanding of customers, and their own team’s position and capabilities, medical affairs organizations can then develop a strategic engagement policy for the digital world. The information presented at the summit will assist attendees in staying current and innovating their medical affairs department.

Key Points

• Improving competitiveness by refining data literacy
• Using advanced digital tactics, provide the best treatment for patients
• Ensuring teams are up to date on the latest trends while avoiding unnecessary fads
• An engaging, vibrant community with a proven interactive platform

To learn more, please visit https://ibn.fm/2d4ec.

• Marcus Chung, the brand’s first COO, who is leading the company’s growth strategy, played an integral role in the opening of the Palo Alto store
• Coyuchi is pushing the organic textile market forward through its circular business model, the creation of The Coyuchi Climate Council, and the foundation of C4: The California Cotton & Climate Coalition
• Regulation A+ funding is being used to expand Coyuchi’s enterprise value through expanded marketing, product category expansion, and its physical store presence that brings a direct-to-consumer experience to life, along with B2B strategic partnerships with wholesalers and online marketplaces

Coyuchi, the gold standard in sustainable luxury home goods, allows customers the opportunity to feel the quality and comfort of Coyuchi’s 100% organic cotton product line through its recently opened brick-and-mortar retail location in the Town & Country Village in Palo Alto, California. The store features an immersive “at home” retail experience to help customers envision what their home could be with the sustainable and eco-friendly products in the Coyuchi catalog.

Shoppers have access to the advice of Coyuchi’s esteemed Natural Home Advisors staffing the store, coastal design inspiration including a bountiful display of swatches, and a large interactive touchscreen to review all possible color and textile options.

Coyuchi’s Palo Alto location brings life to the entire Coyuchi experience, turning online customers into brand loyalists. Physical stores allow are important to allow shoppers to actually feel and experience the difference in the company’s luxury quality products first-hand.

“With the addition of our Palo Alto store, Coyuchi aims to give customers something they can only get in-person: the opportunity to feel the difference in quality in their own hands. This new location is more than a store to us, we see this space as an opportunity to bring the brand to life,” said CEO and President Eileen Mockus (https://ibn.fm/OustU). “We invite Palo Alto customers to make themselves at home, interact with each of our products, feel the difference in each of them, and ultimately curate a home that is unique and special to them.”

Marcus Chung, hired as the brand’s first Chief Operating Officer in May, is leading Coyuchi’s growth strategy. Chung was instrumental in bringing the Palo Alto store to life. In addition to providing customers with first-hand product experience, the Palo Alto store is a step toward fostering Coyuchi’s growing community – providing space to bring together industry leaders and partners, educating customers and the Palo Alto community, and raising awareness for the brand’s mission of sustainability.

Coyuchi continues to push the organic textile market forward through a circular business model that contributes to fighting against climate change with its take back and recycling program. The company is also a founding member of the C4: The California Cotton & Climate Coalition, which includes innovative, sustainable fashion, apparel, and personal care brands like MATE the Label, Outerknown, Reformation, and Trace. C4 creates a structure for investing in regionally grown, Climate Beneficial(TM) cotton and directly supports the livelihoods of the farmers that grow it. Coyuchi is the only home industry brand involved in the project.

In addition to C4, Coyuchi introduced a cross-disciplinary council with a goal of Net Zero Emissions by 2025 and Net Positive Emissions by 2030, named the Coyuchi Climate Council. The Coyuchi Climate Council brings together influential minds across fashion, regenerative farming, and sustainability who have the knowledge and experience necessary to achieve climate change.

Coyuchi is currently accepting investment as part of a Regulation A+ offering. This investment opportunity is being managed by Manhattan Street Capital (https://ibn.fm/NZAja). This round of funding will be used to increase Coyuchi’s enterprise value through expanded marketing, product category expansion, continued physical presence that brings a direct-to-consumer experience to life, and B2B strategic partnerships with wholesalers and online marketplaces.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Coyuchi.com.

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Coyuchi are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/COYU

• Glioblastoma (“GBM”), an aggressive and generally fatal brain cancer, has attracted attention as a significant unmet medical need because of its incurability, claiming the lives of more than 200,000 patients worldwide each year
• CNS Pharmaceuticals is in the middle of a potentially pivotal global Phase 2 clinical trial for its drug candidate, a novel anthracycline called Berubicin that is apparently unique in its ability to cross the blood-brain barrier to target central nervous system tumors
• CNS’s clinical trial sites have begun enrolling patients in the United States, France, Spain and Switzerland, with sites prepared to receive patients in Italy as well
• CNS has received fast-track and orphan drug recognition for Berubicin from the FDA, helping the company to streamline its path to potential commercialization, and CNS is also preparing to apply for orphan drug designation in the European Union
• CEO John Climaco reported on company developments at the Virtual Investor GBM Spotlight Event on April 4

For decades, medical science has sought an effective means of stopping the most common primary brain cancer in adults in its tracks and keeping it from recurring. In spite of multimodal treatment that includes surgical removal, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, glioblastoma tumors remain the deadliest form of brain cancer and are essentially incurable, leaving patients with a median life expectancy of about 15 months.

The field of contenders for solving this unmet medical need is competitive, with experimental clinical research introducing options that range from using magnetically controlled carbon nanotubes in nanosurgery to immunotherapy to cancer-killing cell therapies.

CNS Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: CNSP) is using its novel anthracycline Berubicin in an ongoing, potentially pivotal, global Phase 2 trial that expects to enroll more than 200 patients at sites that currently include clinics in the United States, France, Spain, Switzerland and Italy, with primary completion of the study next year and final results of the study in early 2025 (https://ibn.fm/G7G2w).

Anthracyclines are a class of chemotherapy agents used to treat other cancers for decades, but anthracyclines’ inability to cross the blood-brain cellular barrier to target brain tumors has been a limiting factor in central nervous system ailments.

Berubicin appears to have a unique ability to cross the blood-brain barrier to attack glioblastoma (“GBM”) tumors where they reside, and the ongoing trial is seeking to establish an improvement in the overall survivability (“OS”) of GBM patients using Berubicin. It follows on prior clinical trials that demonstrated the novel anthracycline’s safety in human patients and potential effectiveness against lab cells, as well as evidence of improved OS over the median rate (https://ibn.fm/6y0YZ).

Berubicin is being evaluated as a second-line treatment to stop tumor recurrence following on initial efforts to stop GBMs through surgical removal and targeted radiation therapy to eliminate as much of the cancer as possible. It has been granted fast-track status with Orphan Drug Designation (“ODD”) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”).

The company is seeking similar ODD status in the European Union, which would grant a decade of IP protection in those countries.

A decrease in the size of GBM tumors, a halt to the growth of tumors, and / or an extension of the time the tumors take to progress will be regarded as favorable outcomes of the trial. When Berubicin was initially developed by Reata Pharmaceuticals in 2006, a small-scale safety study helped establish the drug’s safety but also resulted in one patient emerging cancer-free and nearly half the other patients showing statistical improvement in their conditions, leading CNS Pharmaceuticals to take up the challenge of continuing to test Berubicin’s potential for commercial availability in 2017 (https://ibn.fm/YLnla).

CNS has a strong balance sheet for executing its trial development strategy for achieving clinical and regulatory milestones. The company reported a cash balance of about $7 million in September, which was then supplemented by a $6 million public offering in late November.

CEO John Climaco reported on GBM’s unmet medical need and CNS’s progress in battling it at the Virtual Investor GBM Spotlight Event on April 4, with a live video webcast of the event (https://ir.cnspharma.com/news-events/ir-calendar/detail/2795/virtual-investor-gbm-spotlight-event).

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.CNSPharma.com.

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to CNSP are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/CNSP

Thousands of cannabis industry and community members will gather at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, June 1-3, for three high-energy days of discovery, education, entertainment and more. 

The highly anticipated Lift Toronto 2023 Cannabis Conference and Expo, which will bring together thousands of cannabis industry professionals and consumers from all parts of the cannabis ecosystem, returns to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre from June 1-3, 2023. Hundreds of exhibiting companies will showcase the latest in cannabis products, services and innovations; industry leaders and fresh voices will take the stage; and new experiences and activations will lead to Lift’s signature a-ha moments. Registration is now open, with special “early bird” pricing available for a limited time.

The three-day event kicks off on Thursday June 1 with the Lift Cannabis Business Conference (“LCBC”), an all- business strategy forum focusing on the drivers of forward momentum, overcoming systemic challenges, and advancing innovative business and regulatory solutions that will generate meaningful change and sustainable growth in Canada’s cannabis industry. 

Session highlights from LCBC include: 

• Keynotes & Spotlight Presenters: Priorities & Progress of Canada’s Cannabis Industry, Fairness in Banking, and What the CannTrust Case Taught Us
• Canada’s Brands & World View Leadership Panels: Bullish and Bearish, New and Established, International Markets and How to Remain Competitive and Grow
• Legacy Consumers to Legal: What the Illicit Market Can Teach the Legal Market
• Plus: Winning Confidence of Lenders & Investors; The Growth of Extracts, Concentrates & Processing; and (Caged) Guerrilla Cannabis Marketing.

With An Outstanding Roster of Speakers: Anna-Sophia Kouparanis, Co-Founder, Bloomwell Group (Germany) | Guillermo Delmonte, Founder, NDLATAN (Uruguay) | Niel Marotta, CEO & Founder, INDIVA | Brishna Kamal, President, Whistler Therapeutics | John Fowler, CEO, Muskoka Grown | David Goldstein, CEO, Stoke Inventory Partners | Mike Schilling, CEO, Community Savings Credit Union | Katy Perry, CEO, TOKE Cannabis | Adam Temple, CEO, Evolved Extraction Solutions | Andrew Fischer, CEO, Protonify | Dave Marino, President, Spirit Leaf Ontario & Superette Ontario 

“We are really pushing the envelope for our next trip to Toronto with top-tier presenters on red hot topics,” says Barry Smith, Canadian Content Director, Lift Events & Experiences. “Each session has been carefully curated to energize, inspire, educate and motivate all of our audiences from across the entire cannabis community.” 

On Friday, June 2, Industry & Budtender Day will feature multiple stages with individually-crafted content to inform and spark conversations that will drive the industry forward in the coming year. Saturday, June 3, is Consumer Day, open again to industry members and budtenders, as well as everyone from the canna-curious to the canna-connoisseur. 

Session highlights from the Expo floor include: 

• Budtender Masterclass: Product knowledge, retail operations and new harm reduction toolkit. 
• Maestros of Marketing: Power panel featuring key brand and retail players. 
• Unforgettable Edibles & Beverages: New tastes for fun and relaxation. 
• Diversity Dividend: The bottom-line benefits and just good policy. 
• Cannabis Tourism Spotlight: Everything about leisure, lounges and adventures. 
• Craft Cannabis: Hitting new highs, one small batch at a time. 
• & so much more!

In addition, on both Friday and Saturday, the Lift expo floor will showcase a wide array of leading and emerging exhibitors while debuting fresh experiences, education and activations including: 

• The Diner’s Club: Don’t miss the hottest culinary cannabis trends and insights. 
• Morning Mic-Drop: A laugh out loud comedy performance from The Noobie and The Doobie, Timmy Boyle & Marijane Baker. 
• PLAY@Lift: Enjoy games, photo opps, sweets and more. 
• Outdoor Networking Lounge: The place to be for a catch-up sesh. 
• Brand Discovery Zone: See what’s new with your favorite and emerging brands. 
• Budtender Lounge: A dedicated area to mix and mingle with your colleagues. 
• Lift After Party: Enjoy live music, drinks, bites and networking to end the show on a high note. 

Event Schedule 

Lift Cannabis Business Conference | Thursday, June 1, 2023 | 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Lift Expo Industry Days | Friday, June 2 and Saturday, June 3, 2023 | 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. 

Lift Expo Consumer Day | Saturday, June 3, 2023 | 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. 

Click to view ticket types and pricing 

Up Next:
Lift San Francisco: August 2-4, 2023 | Moscone Convention Center
San Francisco speaker applications are open, and exhibits and partnerships are now available. Registration for Lift San Francisco will open later this spring. 

For more information or to schedule an interview, contact Sacha Cohen at 202-251-9417 or sacha@themaverickpr.com

About Lift

Lift Events & Experiences serve the cannabis community as both a meeting place and a destination for discovery. With dates across North America, each Lift event showcases leading-edge content and premiere exhibitors in a high-energy setting for thousands of cannabis growers, processors, manufacturers, brands, budtenders, retail

• SideChannel is a cybersecurity services company driven by a stated mission to make cybersecurity simple, accessible, effective, and affordable
• The company targets small and mid-sized businesses that are often priced out of quality cybersecurity services
• SideChannel’s services include vCISO services, vCPO services, risk assessment, cybersecurity compliance, and third-party risk management
• By providing these services, the company empowers clients to reduce risks, balance their security and privacy services investment, and build the confidence needed to operate with business-aligned security and privacy

SideChannel (OTCQB: SDCH), a company focused on addressing cybersecurity challenges for mid-market companies, startups, and small enterprises normally priced out of quality services, is driven by the mission to make cybersecurity work for small and mid-size operations. This is especially timely given the increased complexity of cyber threats, rapidly changing technology, and fast-evolving industry best practices. The company, through its team of cybersecurity experts, affordably delivers highly tailored services that reduce cyber risk, maximize investments, and give client organizations the confidence needed to achieve their objectives.

“Where we step in is identifying and knowing what can slow [attackers] down; what can stop them; [and] what can be built at an organization that allows you to feel much better about your cybersecurity posture in addressing risks, regulatory concerns, and the questions from your board or C-suite, and being able to put your customers’ at ease that you have a cybersecurity program,” remarked SideChannel CEO Brian Haugli during the company’s Investor Day presentation (https://ibn.fm/SFBsm).

Haugli’s statement introduces the company’s suite of services that includes (a) virtual Chief Information Security Officers (“vCISOs”); (b) virtual Chief Privacy Officers (“vCPOs”); (c) risk assessments; (d) cybersecurity compliance; and (e) risk management. These services, SideChannel’s services webpage highlights, are designed for the unique needs and objectives of small and mid-sized businesses (“SMBs”) and are strategically delivered as a result of the company combining an innovative and comprehensive approach with in-house expertise. This expertise takes the form of highly experienced vCISOs and vCPOs.

When a client contracts SideChannel, the company assesses the business’s needs and objectives and then pairs it with a vCISO or vCPO who works remotely (hence the ‘virtual’ prefix) with the client’s team as an extension. If the client is paired with a vCISOs, for example, this professional first establishes the prevailing security posture. Next, they identify gaps and challenges and collaborate with the client’s team and stakeholders to create a comprehensive and actionable security strategy that enables the business to maintain an effective and lasting cybersecurity program (https://ibn.fm/a0fd4). The vCISOs also understand what it takes to secure compliance and lend this knowledge to the client, helping them comply with state and federal regulations and safeguards, if need be (https://ibn.fm/X4cps).

In cases where the client is paired with a vCPO, this professional identifies the organization’s current privacy posture, pinpoints gaps and challenges, and works collaboratively with the client’s employees to develop a comprehensive and actionable security strategy that helps the organization maintain an effective and lasting privacy program (https://ibn.fm/Ntufu).

The similarity in how the vCISOs and vCPOs execute their responsibilities is not an inadvertent error. Instead, it stems from a shared methodology specifically designed to help them assess security or privacy risks.  The risk assessment methodology’s first step involves understanding an organization’s current profile – posture – by assessing threats, assets, strengths, weaknesses, partners, regulatory obligations, and investments through SideChannel’s research of proprietary data sources and talking to the client’s team.

Next, the vCISOs and vCPOs test relative operational and program effectiveness through scenario analysis and walkthroughs in what is designed to measure the organization’s controls and build a full understanding of its current posture and outlook. To boost transparency and clarity, the professionals deliver data-driven progress reports that aim to communicate the findings uncovered throughout this stage. Finally, the vCISOs and vCPOs develop an actionable plan that may include program, policy, and procedure documentation; strategy development; procurement and vendor negotiation; identification, implementation, and management of tools; oversight of team and program activities; and testing the capabilities (https://ibn.fm/llirI).

In executing their duties, SideChannel’s professionals draw from their years of experience, with vCISOs having previously worked at reputable organizations as CISOs and Chief Security Officers (“CSOs”) and the vCPOs having previously held privacy and legal roles in large organizations. Collectively, SideChannel’s team comprises the best and brightest from the cybersecurity and privacy industries.

Beyond risk assessments, SideChannel provides third-party risk management services that protect its clients from threats and risks born out of working with other parties. “With third-party risk management services, we help effectively respond to third-party risk assessment questionnaires and conduct third-party risk assessments of your vendors, ensuring that critical data is secure,” the company’s website explains (https://ibn.fm/2WVjv).

Ultimately, and by providing these services, SideChannel aims to help its clients reduce risks, balance their security and privacy services investment, and build the confidence needed to operate through business-aligned security and privacy.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.SideChannel.com.

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to SDCH are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/SDCH

• GeoSolar’s SmartGreen(TM) whole-home renewable energy system potentially reduces dependence on fossil fuels while lowering or even completely eliminating utility bills
• The SmartGreen(TM) system includes photovoltaic solar panels, geothermal ground loops, integrated air ducts and floor loops, CERV(R) air filtration, upgrades to lighting systems, windows, insulation
• The SmartGreen(TM) system can be integrated into new construction projects or existing buildings
• GeoSolar plans to market SmartGreen(TM) to over 120 million homes across the U.S. with various financing options, tax deductions, utility incentives

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (“IPCC”) has stated that there is over a 95% probability that the observed warming of the Earth’s surface since the mid-20th century is being caused by human activities (https://ibn.fm/KhSzI). Global policies aimed at reducing carbon emissions include carbon pricing initiatives that incentivize reduced carbon footprints, energy efficiency standards, renewable energy incentives, and international agreements.

GeoSolar Technologies (“GST”) is committed to enabling a carbon-free future with their SmartGreen(TM) Home system — a whole home renewable energy system that helps homeowners reduce or eliminate carbon use while saving money and achieving energy independence.

SmartGreen(TM) is an integrated whole-home technology system that uses rooftop solar panels to generate electricity, geothermal ground loops to heat and cool the home, and CERV(R) air filtration to maintain optimal air quality. The system can be adapted to both new construction and existing buildings, and includes upgraded windows, insulation, and lighting.

According to the Company, the SmartGreen(TM) system can reduce or completely eliminate utility bills, provide homeowners energy independence, decrease carbon emissions by approximately 8 tons per home annually, and increase the home’s value. The Company also believes that with the adoption of a SmartGreen(TM) home supports the renewable energy industry and can lead to the creation of jobs in a decarbonized future.

GeoSolar Technologies is committed to making the SmartGreen(TM) system accessible and affordable through various financing options, tax deductions, and utility incentives. With a plan to market the system to over 120 million homes across the United States, GeoSolar aims to revolutionize the residential energy industry while reducing carbon pollution by an estimated 1.9 trillion pounds per year (https://ibn.fm/shOUe).

In addition, GeoSolar Technologies is conducting a Reg A+ capital raise to give everyone an opportunity to invest in the company and own a part of the SmartGreen(TM) system for as little as $300.

For more information on GeoSolar’s Regulation A+ capital raise, please visit https://www.manhattanstreetcapital.com/geosolar-technologies-inc.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.GeoSolarPlus.com.

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to GeoSolar Technologies are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/GST