Great Conference in Los Angeles The Eighth Annual ISSA-LA Security Summit is coming to the the Universal City Hilton on Friday May 20th. On May 19th there will be four in-depth training classes at unbelievably reduced pricing. Jack Daniel, one of our industry’s most well respected experts, will deliver the Opening Keynote. Cory Doctorow, co-editor of the popular weblog Boing Boing and a contributor to The Guardian, Publishers Weekly, Wired, and many other newspapers will deliver the Closing Keynote. Of course you are getting many emails to attend lots of conferences, but the line-up of speakers at this Summit is of the highest caliber. Are you a CISO or want to rub elbows with CISOs, and learn about the key issues? Come to the CISO Forum and hear from Malcolm Harkins, ex-CISO of Intel and Mark Weatherford, former DHS First Deputy Under Secretary for Cybersecurity, and the former first CISO of California. Are you in Healthcare? Join in the Healthcare Privacy and Security Forum. Want to learn how to properly protect your applications? Come listen to Jeremiah Grossman, founder of Whitehat Security, Jim Manico, OWASP Board member and Java expert, and Chenxi Wang, former VP at Forrester. And our world class speakers don’t stop there. We have Bob Bigman, Former CISO of the CIA, Dr. Robert Pittman, CISO, LA County, a Law Enforcement Panel, and a CTF for those who are technical experts. And don't forget our exciting panel: Privacy vs Security, Apple and the FBI. Visit: summit.issala.org and sign up now to join 1,000 of your peers, before prices go up April 20.

Looking Back at 2015

As we look back at 2015, we find ourselves thinking about a tumultuous year. IoT has finally hit center stage, with the potential to revolutionize our society, while at the same time setting the clock back in advancements in Information Security. Security companies continue to be absorbed into IT companies, a trend that started 5 years ago and just keeps on rolling. Mass shootings on the domestic front have increased the cry for more gun control, while ISIS has gained even more prominence, and is utilizing social media more than any terrorist organization before. Many of us find ourselves troubled and in deep thought as we still have two recent horrific events fresh in our minds, one in Paris, and one in our own backyard in San Bernardino. These physical attacks come in the midst of years of ongoing successful cyber-attacks, creating a world where both our personal and online safety are being assaulted. We must stand strong and united, and networking organizations such as ISSA-LA have a large role to play. ISSA-LA has hundreds of fellow professionals as a part of our community, and the more we share, the more we meet and talk together, the better we will all be prepared for the next attack. Sadly, for cyber-attacks, it is now not a matter of if, but a matter of when. For the more dramatic and scarier physical attacks, we must not think of compromising what and who we are, by allowing any reductions in our freedoms. We cannot lose our identity as a great country founded on the principles of FREEDOM. After 9-11, the Patriot Act was such a compromise. It led to the NSA surveillance activities, where all of us were spied upon by our own government. Obviously we find ourselves in a very difficult situation. If our loved ones were lost in one of these physical attacks, we would most likely be filled with rage and unbelievable sadness, and probably be willing to sacrifice individual freedoms to stay safer. In some areas of life, many Americans appear willing to accept additional hassles, with airline travel coming to mind. We must be careful not to become who we are protecting ourselves from.