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.

Upcoming Conferences in early 2018

There are several local security conferences coming up in my general area, some of which I'll be speaking at.

Here are the ones over the next few months:

* SecureMiami 2018, co-located with BrewMiami.  Organized by DigitalEra, this is the second time for this half day event at the main campus of Florida International University.  Held on Saturday, February 10th.  Registration is open NOW and I encourage people to attend.

* ISACA South Florida Chapter's 11th WOW Event is coming up on Friday, February 16th at FIU's Biscayne Bay campus.  The theme: The InfoSec of Things: Emerging issues in Privacy and Security, and have great lineup of speakers.  So register NOW.

* BSides Tampa 2018 is coming up Saturday, February 17th again at Stetson Law in Tampa.  I will be speaking here on the topic of "SOC for Cybersecurity".  I think they are sold out, but check anyway.

* BSides Orlando 2018 is coming up on Saturday, April 7th.  Location this year will be Full Sail Live Venue in Winter Park.  CFP is open, and I've submitted some proposals, and registration is open NOW.

* HackMiamiCon6 is coming up May 18-20.  This year they will be at Sea Coast Suites in Miami Beach.  I will be speaking there on protecting your organization with resilience and disaster recovery.  Registration is open NOW.

So, there are more coming down the road.  Stuff in the summer and stuff coming up in the Fall, especially in October do to Cybersecurity Awareness Month.

Check back for more.  I will be doing postings reporting on these events after they are done.

Upcoming Conferences in South Florida 2017

There are several conferences in the South Florida (and general area) that I plan to be at in the coming months, and some I hope to speak at.

The South Florida ISACA Chapter will be having their 10th WOW event on Friday, February 24th. [UPDATE: Friday, April 21st] This will be an all day event at the FIU Biscayne Campus as usual.  Registration is already open and the focus is on "Emerging Threats in Cybersecurity".

The South Florida ISSA Chapter will be having their biannual security conference on Friday, March 10th.  This will be an all day event at the Signature Grand.  Registration is open, sponsors are being lined up and a call for presenters is open.

BSides Orlando will be April 8th, again at University of Central Florida.  Unlike past years, this will be a one day event, but will again be right before SANS Orlando.

HackMiami will be back with their 5th conference on May 19-21, again at the Deauville Beach Resort in Miami Beach.

So some great events and I look forward to them.

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.

SFISSA's 2016 Hack the Flag/Chili Cookoff FINAL UPDATE

The South Florida ISSA Chapter is again holding our annual Hack the Flag/Chili Cookoff in 2016.  This is looking to be our biggest ever.

New location.

New stuff,

Want to be a part of it???  Register TODAY!!!  Go HERE to register.  Want to be a sponsor?? Let us know!!  Only a few slots are available.

SFISSA 2016 Hack the Flag/Chili Cookoff UPDATE

The South Florida ISSA Chapter is again our annual Hack the Flag/Chili Cookoff in 2016.  This is looking to be our biggest ever.

New location.

New stuff,

Want to be a part of it???  Register TODAY!!!  Go HERE to register.  Want to be a sponsor?? Let us know!!

Upcoming Security Events (I plan to be at) in 2016

Well, there are several upcoming events I hope to be involved within the coming months.  Several of these I hope to have further postings to promote them, but here is a quick run down.

South Florida ISSA's 2016 Hack the Flag/Chili Cookoff event

For as long as I can remember, the South Florida ISSA Chapter has been hosting an annual Hack the Flag/Chili Cookoff.  We have a 'capture the flag' event, where teams work against each other to hack a system and collect 'flags'.  We've accompanied this with a chili cookoff (along with food and drinks), as not everyone does the CTF.  Most years we've had some kind of theme (russian, brazilian, asian, etc), and the last few we've had t-shirts.  Over the years we've been in a few different places (I can recall 5 different ones).  A couple of years ago we added a lockpick village as well.

Our event was bigger last year as we were celebrating our 15th Anniversary.  We had a bounce house and some other things.

SFISSA's 2015 Anniversary Party/Hack the Flag event

The South Florida Chapter of ISSA is celebrating their 15th Anniversary this year.

Every year an event they put on is the Hack the Flag/Chili Cookoff.  At this event, they usually have 2 "hack the flag" events, one for beginners and another advanced.  The advanced game had been done by our local friends at Kommand && KonTroll CTF (part of HackMiami).

Upcoming Information Security Events (& Organizations) in the South Florida area

As an information security professional, it's important to stay up on the latest trends.  One great way of doing so is to attend conference and meetings and learn from your peers thru the presentations, panel discussions and just networking and chatting.

Here in the South Florida area (Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beaches) there are several opportunities for such, but sadly, too many don't take advantage of them.  Here are some to keep in mind for the coming year.

2015 SFISSA Biennial Security Conference

On March 20, 2015, the South Florida Chapter of the Information System Security Association (ISSA) had our biennial Security Conference.

Each time we do these conferences, we try to have a theme.  The one I had come up with was regarding Cloud Security, as that seems to be a big concern.  So I called it "Pirates in the Cloud: Security Issues, Threats, and Trends in Cloud Computing".  We encouraged people to submit proposed that tied into that, and would fall into one of 3 broad categories: technical, management, law/compliance.

With a sort of "Air Pirates" idea, we developed some interesting name badges and plaques.  I wanted to get away from the standard conference stuff.

Getting involved locally- joining, learning, networking

So its been too long since I've posted.  Something in the back of my mind is my observations of my collegues in the IT and IT Security realm.  What has long disappointed me was how many never bothered to keep learning and being involved in the larger "community".  Other then taking some training courses, many didn't bother to keep up with what is going on in the industry- didn't read journals (either print or on-line), didn't get engaged with local groups or events or the like.

For me, I joined USENIX and SAGE when I got involved as an IT admin.  When I got involved in IT Security, I joined ISSA and got involved in the South Florida ISSA chapter.  I was briefly involved with ISACA (and thought about getting back involved).  I know about other groups (we have a chapter of ISC(2) getting formed) and have looked at others to see if they were worth joining.

I tried to get involved with local events tied with those groups (my chapter runs a security conference every 2 years, and has an annual "hack the flag" event), as well as others.  Last year in December we had the ITPalooza event, which will happen again this year.

So my advise to you is if you want to succeed in your IT career: GET INVOLVED.  Depending on what your interest or focus is, see if there are groups that are appropriate for that, and join them.  Especially get involved with local chapters of these groups.  Maybe think about becoming an officer.  If you are the type, consider making a presentation, even its at a local event.

So, if you've had experience getting involved, comment about what you've done and what you've gotten out of it.

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!!!

Smartphone as bank account

In 2012 I made a presentation at our local security conference (South Florida ISSA Chapter) on smartphone security.  Part of what I presented was the trends I was seeing at the time, based on reports.  Some most people are aware of:  smartphones overtaking "feature phones", smartphones overtaking laptop/PCs in sales, etc.

Another trend I point out I think is not so well known, at least here in the "developed world".  That of smartphones becoming the first, maybe only computing device of people in the "developing world", but of also becoming for them the equivalent of a credit card or bank account (checking account).