InfoSec World 2015 just wrapped up from Disney’s Contemporary Resort in Orlando, Florida. With around 1200 attendees, over 75 speakers, and over 50 exhibitors, the event provided something for everyone. In addition, MIS Training ensured attendees had opportunity to attend workshops and hands-on training to provide a top-notch educational experience.
Many attendees commented on how the size of the event was ideal – big enough to provide depth and diversity while at the same time allowing for up close and in person contact with speakers and exhibitors.
Keynote speakers included Deviant Ollam, who opened the event demonstrating weaknesses in many of our physical security controls which we rely on so heavily. Deviant’s demonstrations carried into hands-on lock picking where attendees could see first-hand how anyone with a little time can bypass physical control locks.
Walmart’s VP and assistant CISO, Kevin Walker, provided an informative lunchtime keynote which included obtaining stakeholder buy-in and driving accountability within the business. This is an area which continues to provide challenges for CISOs as security becomes a board room topic, and Kevin shared his experiences.
Day two attendees heard U.S. Secret Service assistant special agent in charge, Ari Baranoff, provide insight into the criminal world of organized crime leveraging weaknesses in security to siphon billions. The USSS shared examples from July 2014 where POS malware was identified through their efforts which may likely be undiscovered to date had they not been involved.
On the closing day, Silent Circle’s CTO and co-founder Jon Callas, educated attendees with where mobile device security and encryption is going given the explosion of its use. Jon’s rich cryptography background and days with PGP provides unprecedented vision in this space.
Speakers attending gave attendees upwards of 7 choices during the hour sessions of which to attend. Topics ranged from IoT, cloud, threat intelligence, mobile, insider threats, and software development, just to name a few. While some of the topics tend to get more buzz than others because they are hyped, attendees gained the most value from sessions providing tips on “getting back to the basics”.
For example, is threat intelligence something your organization needs? Sessions dispelled the requirement for threat intelligence and provided practical solutions for little to no investment. Also, where is your greatest risk? Look at the top 10 list of problems from firms who are repeatedly seeing the same thing from client to client. This is just a taste of what attendees were able to take back and immediately focus on having an impact versus getting surrounded in the sea of noise. Want to improve security and reduce costs? There’s a session for that, too!
All in all, InfoSec World’s growth has shown attendees and exhibitors some great value given the exuberant number of conferences hosted almost weekly in the area of security and would be one to put on the list for 2016 when it rolls around – it’s not to be missed!