ISSA-LA Annual Information Security Summit Highlights Solutions to Cybercrime Risks

May 22, 2012 - PRLog -- Keynote speakers Alan Paller, Director of Research at the SANS Institute, and Bruce W. McConnell, Senior Counselor for Cybersecurity at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, described steps businesses are taking to lower the economic risks from cybercrime at the Los Angeles Chapter of the Information Systems Security Association (ISSA-LA) Fourth Annual Information Security Summit held on May 16, 2012 at Hilton Universal City Hotel in Los Angeles.  More than 500 business leaders, technology professionals and information security professionals attended the one-day Summit entitled The Growing Cyber Threat: Protect Your Business.

In his opening Keynote Address, Paller described several measurably effective countermeasures organizations are implementing to keep cyber criminals at bay. “Everyone in information security has an opinion,” said Paller in his keynote address. “But the attackers are fighting us with weapons, not opinions.  That’s why it is so important to be able to distinguish strategies and tactics that work from those that don’t.”

As reported on KNX 1070 Newsradio in Los Angeles, “The Department of Homeland Security had a stark warning for business owners. ‘Take it seriously, make the investments,’ said DHS cyber-security counselor Bruce McConnell. ‘I think the key thing is to look at cyber security and manage it just like you manage other risks, financial risks, reputation risks.’”

“We’re losing a lot of intellectual property from cyber theft, and I think that’s very worrisome from the long-term competitiveness of the U.S.,” McConnell said on KNX. “It’s very serious.”

Both McConnell and Paller stated that the vast majority of companies are largely unwilling to admit when their systems have been compromised.  McConnell closed his speech with “We say there are two kinds of companies: those that know they have been hacked, and those that don’t yet know that they’ve been hacked.”

Other cyber security solutions were provided by a broad range of speakers including David Hallstrom, Security and Privacy Underwriting Director, CNA; Brad Maryman, President, Maryman and Associates; Tim Toohey, JD, Partner at Snell & Wilmer; David Marcus, Director of Advanced Research and Threat Intelligence for McAfee® Labs; Ira Winkler, President, Internet Security Advisors Group; information security consultant, Kevin Cardwell; Lance Spitzner, Training Director at SANS; Marc Maiffret, Chief Technology Officer at BeyondTrust; Robert Brown, Chief Information Security Officer at Western Bridge Corporate Federal Credit Union; Joe McCray of strategicsec.com; Rafal Los, Chief Security Evangelist for Hewlett-Packard Software; Michelle Schafer, Vice President, Security Practice at the Merritt Group; Chris Coffey, Executive Coach; and Tim Wilson, Editor of Dark Reading.

The Summit is the only educational forum in Los Angeles specifically designed to encourage participation and interaction among all three vital information security constituencies: (1) business executives, senior business managers, and their trusted advisors; (2) technical IT personnel with responsibility for information systems and the data they contain; and (3) information security practitioners with the responsibility for ensuring the security of sensitive information.

About ISSA-LA, the Los Angeles Chapter of the Information Systems Security Association:
ISSA-LA is the premier catalyst and information source in Los Angeles for improving the practice of information security. The Chapter conducts outreach programs to businesses, financial institutions, nonprofits, governmental agencies, and consumers.  ISSA-LA is the founding Chapter of the Information Systems Security Association, an international not-for-profit organization of information security professionals and practitioners. For more information visit: www.issa-la.org .