After months of preparation we’re now only five weeks away from Infosecurity North America which will take place on October 4 & 5 in Boston. The whole team, including those behind Infosecurity Europe and Infosecurity Magazine, are really excited to be taking the Infosecurity brand to the East Coast of the US and we’re looking forward to welcoming the US information security community to the event.
Collaboration
One of the things that has struck me during the conversations I’ve had in the run up to the event has been the collaborative and vibrant nature of the East Coast infosec community. We know that the West Coast is a major cyber tech hub, but it’s clear that Boston isn’t far behind with access to capital for cyber companies, a huge local talent pool and major industries including financial services, healthcare, pharma and retail businesses based in the region and requiring new technologies to secure their information assets.
We’ve partnered with a host of organizations including MassTech, ACSC, EWF, EC-Council, (ISC)², MIT CSAIL, Boston College and the Cloud Security Alliance to create a truly collaborative event. John Hyde, the event director, and I visited Boston last month and the support we received for the event was overwhelming.
It seems like the region is crying out for an event to act as a conduit to bring the community together. We are thrilled to be providing that conduit to support the cyber sector in Boston and the East Coast and bring the community together.
Next-Gen
We really are serious about supporting the industry and we’re excited to be launching Next-Gen Infosec Live, the live version of the magazine’s Next-Gen Infosec initiative which will see post-grad and undergrad students invited to attend an inspirational talk from an industry leader on their career in the industry and talk about careers in cyber. This takes place on Thursday October 5 at 1.30 pm-4.30 pm.
Compelling Content
My role as content manager involves creating the keynote stage conference program and to do this we research directly with information professionals in large organizations who are at the sharp end of defending the enterprise to find out what is important to them and what we should include on the agenda. The result is a keynote stage conference that is split into four modules.
The first module is on Hacking the Human Vector. It’s well known that the human attack vector is the most commonly exploited in cyber-breaches – and no matter how good the technology, if the user makes an error or your organization has a malicious insider, the cyber-criminal will be able to access your network. Cyber-defenders are grappling with the challenges of driving secure behavior amongst users to ensure that they don’t fall victim to attacks against a backdrop of the global cyber-skills shortage. We’ve assembled an expert panel of speakers to share insight into how to mitigate human risk, including SANS Institute, LexisNexis and the CISO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Our second module covers Privacy, Security, Governance & Risk. Information security professionals are facing a host of new regulations, from vertical specific such as NYDFS Cybersecurity Requirements for Financial Services Companies and HIPAA to international such as EU GDPR. With the potential reputational and financial implications of a breach never greater, companies need to ensure that they have the measures in place for good governance and risk management to enhance the security posture of their organization and achieve compliance. The expert speakers will be from Stanley Black & Decker, Wellforce and Partners HealthCare.
The third module addresses Combating Cyber Risks & Threats. The recent ransomware cyber-attacks WannaCry and NotPetya that affected organizations across the world highlighted the vulnerability of enterprises to cybercrime. With talk of nation-state actors and claims that government has not disclosed the exploit that enabled the attack, the complexities of the threat landscape were thrown into sharp relief. This expert speaker panel discussing how to overcome risks and threats includes CISOs from Commonwealth Financial Network, Brooks Brothers and Aetna.
The final module focuses on Building Cyber Response & Resilience. With cyber-attacks on the rise, ‘It’s not if but when’ has never been more apt, and the ability to respond to and recover from an attack has never been more essential, especially as organizations become increasingly connected and critical infrastructure is impacted. The speakers who will be discussing how to build cyber-response and resilience include LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Harvard University and an FBI Special Agent.
The keynote stage is designed to provide attendees with actionable insight that they can apply to their organization and we’ve assembled a panel of CISOs and thought leaders who will share their experience and insight to make sure the sessions are as practical and valuable as possible.
Infosecurity North America really is all about the cyber community and I really hope that you’ll be part of it in Boston in October.