2020 SecureMiami Conference

This past weekend I attended the 2020 SecureMiami Conference.  This was the 4th time this conference was held, again at FIU's Graham Center and co-located with BrewMiami held later that day at the FIU stadium.  I've been to all of these events, promoting the South Florida ISSA Chapter and had a good time.

This event was organized by DigitalEra and again had a great number of speakers and panels, and a good set of sponsors and exhibitors. 

I enjoyed Jorge Orchilles talk.  He is a past president of our chapter.  Hacker Hector Monsegur was the final speaker, and I wasn't previously aware of him.  He gave a great talk from the point of being a former 'black hat' who has become a 'white hat.

I look forward to next years event.  This one sold a quickly with a large waiting list.  Will they move to a new location because of this?

SFISSA Security Conference

On March 22, 2019, the South Florida ISSA held their biannual 2019 Security Conference.  This time the theme was "A New Year, a New Era of Cybersecurity".

The conference had 4 tracks of speakers, as well as a 2 hour workshop on your cybersecurity career.  A keynote address was given by Dave Aitel of Cygtera, and a CISO panel was held with 4 local CISO from different companies.

An array of sponsors were present as well.  Breakfast and lunch were provided, and everyone had a great time.

The next event of the chapter will be their annual Hack the Flag/Chili Cookoff held September 7th at FIU's Graham Center.

SFISSA's 2018 Hack the Flag and Chili Cookoff

The South Florida ISSA Chapter is again held our annual Hack the Flag/Chili Cookoff in October of 2018.  For the third year we were hosted at FIU's Graham Center on their main campus.

As always, we had 2 games, a beginner and an advanced.  We had a lockpick village.  We had food and drink.  And we had a keynote speaker!   Oh, and our chili cookoff.

2018 ISSA International Conference

This past week I attended the 2018 ISSA International Conference in Atlanta.  I've attended the last 4 conferences (San Diego, Austin, Chicago, Orlando).  There were good and bad points about this year's conference.  I'm not sure where the 2019 conference will be, but hope I can attend it as well.

The day before the conference, I attended the ISSA Chapter Leader Summit as the president of the South Florida Chapter.  I've attended the prior 4 as well.  I was at the conference with 3 other chapter officers, and I know we had 2 others from our chapter in attendance as well.

Report on BSides Miami 2018

Saturday, September 22, 2018 we had our first Security BSides conference in the South Florida area: BSides Miami.  Hosted at i2 Labs on Biscayne Bay, we had two tracks of speakers, several panels, and about 80+ participants.

I spoke at the conference on the topic of Security Maturity Models.  Interestingly, the presidents of the South Florida ISACA Chapter and HackMiami also spoke at the conference.

For a first time conference, it was overall good.  There were problems, which will happen with a first time event.  I hope they address this for the next time, and I do hope there is a next time.  I was bothered by the emphasis on blockchain.  For my view, BSides should be a conference by and for the whole infosec community.  We should have sessions that appeal to and be of value to a wide range of folks: those getting into the field, mid-level folks, experienced folks, etc.  I do like that seeing other activities at BSides conferences, like job fairs, hack the flag games, lock picking, etc.  A blockchain track is one thing, but it shouldn't overwhelm the overall conference.

Do to the problems with my presentation, I'll be posting a summary here soon.

Report on SecureMiami 2018

On Saturday, February 10, 2018, DigitalEra hosted their second "annual" security event, Secure Miami at FIU, co-located with Brew Miami.  Their first event was in December of 2016.

Attendance was pretty good at this event, with about 350 registered to attend.  This year they moved it to the larger Graham Center in the University Center.  Lunch was provided.

There were several security vendors in attendance.  The South Florida ISSA Chapter assisted, so we were there with a booth. 

Speakers were a good selection of national level folks, along with a panel discussion with various security leaders.  These included:  Malcolm Harkins with Cylance, Hollis Howell from Rapid7, and Kevin Reardon with Symantec.  Panelists were from FIU, Trapezoid, Network Health, and Trend Micro.

Overall, a very nice half-day security event.  I believe DigitalEra is planning on doing this again next year, and I look forward to it.

2017 SFISSA Security Conference Report

This past Friday, the South Florida ISSA Chapter held its 2017 Security Conference.  The chapter holds these every 2 years, and this year's event was our more successful one to date.

We had 4 tracks of talks, include a track of workshops (twice the length of a regular presentation), a breakfast and lunch keynote, and a CISO Panel of 4 local CISOs.

South Florida ISSA Security Conference 2017

Well the South Florida ISSA Chapter has announced our 2017 Security Conference.

Our conference website is setup HERE with full info, including call for sponsors and call for presenters.  Registration is already open.

Check it out.  We have some new ideas for this next conference.