ISACA expert speakers, past board directors and chapter leaders provided insight and new research while ISACA representatives highlighted ISACA certifications and training solutions at Infosecurity Europe 2019, 4-6 June in London. With more than 400 exhibitors and 240 educational sessions, the annual exposition and conference attracts the largest infosec and cybersecurity crowd in the region.
Vilius Benetis, president of the ISACA Lithuania chapter and CEO at NRD Cyber Security, presented twice at Infosecurity Europe: “Building or Modernising Own CSIRT/SOC: Practical Tips” and “National or Sectorial Cybersecurity Capability Build-Out: Capability Assessments, CSIRT/SOCs, Threat Landscapes & CIIs.” Benetis shared that if organizations have sensitive data, heavily automated processes, or are part of critical infrastructure, establishing a computer security incident response team (CSIRT) or a security operations center (SOC) will ensure they are ready to respond to threats with internationally accepted incident response methodology.
Leading a team, Benetis said, requires more than technical expertise. “You should be smiling and leading. Concentrate on the manager role when leading a team.” Also, relying on a third party does not mean that responsibility is handed over. “There are experienced consultants to help your journey, but the actual work is done by you,” he said. Benetis will be presenting “Auditing with SOC-CMM: Cyber Security Detection and Incident Response” at Africa CACS 2019 (19-20 August in Johannesburg, South Africa) and Euro CACS/CSX 2019 (16-18 October, in Geneva, Switzerland).
Session presenting is not the only way to reach an audience at Infosecurity Europe. BrightTalk films panels and interviews on the expo floor, taking advantage of the global thought leaders and experts in attendance to tackle hot topics and critical issues. ISACA expert speaker Raef Meeuwisse moderated a BrightTalk panel, “Protecting Against Phishing, Ransomware & Social Engineering,” where industry insiders discussed the imperatives of knowing where your data is, safeguarding your credentials, and educating your staff. Panelists debated whether an organization should identify and protect data depending on its value, or if all data should be protected. Meeuwisse also interviewed Carl Leonard, principal security analyst at Forcepoint, on “How to Protect your Business in the Cloud.”
ISACA Past Board Director Allan Boardman moderated a session dedicated to “Proactive Privacy and Security” – the impact of GDPR one year after implementation, the challenges of achieving compliance with the internet of things (IoT), and best practices for data protection and privacy. Boardman also sat for an interview of his own; BrightTalk visited the ISACA booth and filmed an interview on ISACA’s 2019 State of Cybersecurity Part 2 report, which was released in conjunction with Infosecurity Europe. Boardman will be presenting on “Implementing a Cybersecurity Skills Competencies Framework” and “Strategies for Dealing with an Increasingly Sophisticated Cyber Threat Landscape” as well as a workshop, “Cybersecurity Risk Management: A Practical Approach” at Africa CACS 2019. He also will present “Strategies for Dealing with an Increasingly Sophisticated Cyber Threat Landscape” at Euro CACS/CSX 2019.
CMMI Institute, an ISACA subsidiary, was also an exhibitor at Infosecurity 2019, demonstrating the CMMI Cybermaturity Platform for enterprises. Ivo Maritz, Leiter Cyber Security (CSO/CISO) at BKW, spoke with other attendees about the platform’s assessment tool and how using the platform identified gaps in various business units in the enterprise. “The ultimate goal is to change attitude and behavior … to have the company and individuals operating in a cyber-safe way, to make it part of their daily work and responsibilities,” Maritz said.
Infosecurity and ISACA are teaming up for the first Infosecurity ISACA North America Expo and Conference 2019, 20-21 November, in New York City.