Forward into 2021

 Well, here we are in 2021.  A lot has happened to all of us this past year.  I think all the security conferences I usually attend this past year from March on were either cancelled or went virtual.  And it looks like the same will occur thru some of this year.

I've also been behind in trying to post regularly on this blog and hope to address this and aim to post at least twice a month.  I am planning on tackling some additional certifications in the cloud and privacy areas, and will be posting on this, as well as areas I have an interest in.  Futher, I plan on presenting at upcoming conferences and events, so will be posting on that.

Here in Florida, I know that BSides Tampa will be virtual in 2021, and I have proposed a few ideas.  Not sure about BSides Orlando.  South Florida ISSA does plan on doing their Hack the Flag, hopefully live.  Both SFISSA and HackMiami will be having regular meetings on-line, as well as South Florida ISACA.

If anyone has any ideas or suggests, please post them.

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.

Report on ISACA South Florida's WOW Event

The South Florida Chapter of ISACA has been holding an annual one-day conference each year in February known as the WOW! Event.  In 2018, they held their 11th conference on Friday, February 16th at FIU's Koven Conference Center at their Biscayne Bay campus.

This year's theme was "The InfoSec of Things: Emerging issues in Privacy and Security".  There were about 250 people in attendance for the day, with several speakers and a panel discussion with several local CISOs.

Speakers included:

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.

Recent events: ITPalooza and SecureMiami

This past week I attended a couple of events here in South Florida.

First up was the 5th ITPalooza.  A bigger event then last year, the South Florida Technology Alliance organized the event and moved it to Signature Grand, a large banquet/conference center here in the area.  The event took over the whole place, which I've never seen.  Usually I'll be there and there will be 3 or 5 other events going on.

They had a large exhibit hall with various vendors, organizations, schools, and recruiters.  Unlike past years, they didn't have the recruiters relegated to another room.  I was there helping man the South Florida ISSA booth, promoting our org.  Had several people drop by, so hope we will get more members.  We also talked with some vendors and local universities.

In addition, there where several tracks of speakers.  The CIO track was exclusive to the iCoast CIO Council, others were open to all.  Here good things about those, but missed out.

For a first time event with new people in charge, I saw good and bad.  There is always room for improvement.  They have already set the date for next year's event as December 7th, 2017.  Look forward to it.

A new event held this year was SecureMiami.  This was held in conjunction with the existing BrewMiami event at FIU.  SecureMiami was organized mainly by DigitalEra and was located at the Graham Center from 2-5pm.  There was a keynote speaker, Jack Daniels, with speakers from 3 other vendors followed by a panel discussion with several VP Infosec/CISOs.  All the speakers were good.  It seemed the bad weather in the area discouraged some from coming, but they missed out.

Afterwards most went over the BrewMiami, where we had a VIP section just for the SecureMiami folks.  Here one could sample various beers and food from local brewers and vendors.

Not sure if they will do this event again, but if so, they will have a lot of work to top this one.

HackMiami 2016 Conference

The 2016 HackMiami Conference will be coming up in a few months on May 13-15.  This will be the fourth time for this annual conference.  Been to every one and plan on attending again as I will be speaking (for the second time).

A change for this year is they have a new venue:  Miami Beach Deauville Beach Resort.  I think they had some problems with the prior location.  Hopefully things will be better with this one.

They have announced their keynote speakers, and John McAfee is returning as an announced speaker.  (last year he was a surprise keynote speaker).  This year's general theme is a return to the start of the hacker/cracker culture.  They are still taking proposals, so don't yet know what will be the speakers and tracks.  There will again be the lockpick village and "capture the flag" event as before, and training on the first day.

If you are in Florida, check out this conference.  It's a lot of fun.

Upcoming South Florida Security Event: State Sponsored Hacking

For those IT Security professionals in the South Florida area, there is an upcoming security event they should know about.

Hosted at Nova Southeastern University on July 23rd, its on State Sponsored Hacking.  Its organized by SherlockTech Staffing.

Full info and free registration at Eventbrite:  http://nsu-securityevent-es2.eventbrite.com

Signup today!!!