Keynote Speakers

Thursday, March 4, 2010

8:00am - 9:15am

  Dr. Eugene Schultz, PhD, CISM, CISSP Network Security,
Chief Technology Officer & Chief Information Security Officer of High Tower Software

Dr. Schultz has been in information security space for nearly 25 years, having been involved in both academia and the business world.  He hs done things such as teach courses and conduct research in various areas of information security, but particularly firewalls, incident response, intrusion detection, and human factors in information security. He also founded and managed the US government’s first incident response team (CIAC) and have consulted for a variety of commercial and non-commercial organizations. He has been the editor-in-chief of information security journals such as Computers and Security (2002 – this year) and Information Security Bulletin (2000 – 2001) as well as the associate editor of or contributor to a number of others.  Dr. Schultz has written or co-written five books.

Launching a blog to share his experiences and lessons learned with you as well as his perspectives concerning a wide range of issues that information security professionals face or will likely face sometime in the future. Dr. Schultz is interested in a wide range of issues—information security governance, security program progress indicators, security training and awareness, security convergence issues, identity management, computer crime-related legislation, intrusion detection and intrusion prevention, insider attack detection and deterrence, incident response, professional certification, usability considerations related to information security, and more. If you have ever read his editorial comments in the SANS NewsBites (for which he serves as a member of the editorial board), you can be confident that he will fully speak his mind. Certain developments, such as known attackers of computer systems escaping punishment for their computer crime-related activities, incite him to express strong objections.

Keynote Address: " Data Security Breaches: An Unstoppable Epidemic?"

Thursday, March 4, 20010

12:15pm - 1:45pm

Mark Weatherford, Director and Chief Information Security Officer,

California Office of Information Security

Mark Weatherford was appointed to his position as Director and Chief Information Security Officer of the California Office of Information Security in June 2008 by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.  In this role, he has broad authority over California’s cyber security activities and is responsible for state government information security program policy, standards, and procedures and well as enterprise security incident response and disaster recovery program administration.

Mr. Weatherford previously served as the Chief Information Security Officer for the State of Colorado where he was appointed by two successive governors.  A former U.S. Naval Cryptologic Officer, Weatherford led the U.S. Navy’s Computer Network Defense operations and the Naval Computer Incident Response Team and as a member of the Raytheon Company, he successfully built and directed the Navy/Marine Corps Intranet Security Operations Center (SOC) in San Diego, CA.

Mr. Weatherford holds a BS from the University of Arizona and an MS from the Naval Postgraduate School.  He holds the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) certifications.  He was awarded Information Security magazine’s prestigious “Security 7 Award” for 2008 and was a runner-up for the North America Information Security Executive (ISE) of the Year Award in 2009.

California state government, like other states, the federal government, higher education, and the private sector, faces daily challenges while protecting the sensitive and confidential information entrusted to us.  Organizations such as the Department of Motor Vehicles, Health and Human Services, Franchise Tax Board and Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation are subject to daily attempts to breach their IT perimeters and cyber-defenses. 

The California Office of Information Security was established in 2008 to provide enterprise policy guidance and directions to more than 150 state agencies, departments, boards and commissions regarding the appropriate implementation of information security policies and procedures.  Mark Weatherford, the California Chief Information Security Officer and Director of the Office of Information Security will provide a lively discussion on the activities occurring at the state level to ensure we are appropriately protecting our valuable state data and assets against the ever growing global cyber-threat problem.

Keynote Address: "Cybersecurity in California State Government"

Thursday, March 4, 20010

Reception

5:30pm - 6:30pm

Chris Valasek, X-Force Advanced R&D Manager, IBM

The threats that IT security experts face in safeguarding their environments are constantly increasing in their frequency and complexity. Attackers constantly adapt their techniques to bypass new security measures and while known threats weaken the security perimeter, unknown threats can compromise your entire systems.

Come hear the results of a newly-released study specifically focused on all aspects of online threats that affect Internet security at companies and organizations, including software vulnerabilities and public exploitation, malware, spam, phishing, web-based threats, and general cyber-criminal activity.  

• What do hackers know about security environments and where are they targeting their latest attacks?
• What techniques are hackers launching to try to bypass existing security methods?
• What countermeasures can I use to protect my organization from these ever-changing threats and emerging vulnerabilities?

This presentation is specifically designed to help security experts at enterprises understand the changing nature of the threat landscape and what might be done to mitigate emerging vulnerabilities.

Chris Valasek is a leader of the IBM Internet Security Systems X-Force Advanced Research team focusing on vulnerability analysis, vulnerability discovery and exploit development.  Chris has been responsible for discovering a number of disclosures and Chris' research informs the widely disseminated bi-annual IBM X-Force Threat Insight Reports and IBM X-Force Risk and Trends Report, which provides vital information about all aspects of threats that affect Internet security, including software vulnerabilities, malware, spam, phishing, web-based threats, and general cyber criminal activity. The world-renowned IBM ISS X-Force research and development team culls threat data from their database of 45,000 computer vulnerabilities, 150 million daily intrusion attempts, 40 million spam and phishing attacks and 10 billion web pages and images to assemble a complete picture of the threat landscape. The report, which is covered by media around the world, is designed to help customers, fellow researchers and the pubic at large understand the changing nature of the threat landscape and what might be done to mitigate it.  Chris received a BS in Computer Science from the University of Pittsburgh.

Keynote Address: The Evolving Threat Landscape

Friday, March 5, 2010

8:00am - 9:15am

Stephen R. Kovac, Area Vice President

Verizon Global Services, Federal, Government, and Education Markets, Security and IT Services

Once defined by the traditional campus setting, many higher educational institutions find they are operating in a changing environment. Campuses are no longer defined by the boundaries of the institution. Today, campuses connect students, faculty, staff, researchers, alumni, suppliers, remote facilities, the community, and in some cases – global partners. Verizon Business calls this operating environment  “the extended campus”.

IT leaders need to enable these educational communities by giving them secure access to content, data, and applications where information and knowledge flows freely with a consistent experience no matter where they are located – locally, nationally, or around the globe.  Institutions must maintain the right bandwidth and speeds available to transfer data securely and reliably.

Verizon Business will present the latest trends in security and IT for higher education instutions and how IT leaders are tackling these challenges.

Keynote Address: "Security and IT Trends For Higher Education"

Friday, March 5, 2010

1:00pm - 2:15pm

Keynote:  eDiscovery Roundtable Discussion