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Conference Agenda
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  • Thursday, May 18, 2023
    7:30 am
    Registration open
    • session level icon
    Registration Level:
    • session level iconOpen Sessions
    7:30 am - 4:30 pm
    Location / Room: Registration Desk

    Come to the Registration desk in the lobby to check-in and get your badge. SecureWorld staff will be available throughout the day if you have any questions.

    8:00 am
    Exhibitor Hall open
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    Registration Level:
    • session level iconOpen Sessions
    8:00 am - 4:30 pm
    Location / Room: Exhibitor Hall

    Your opportunity to visit our solution vendor partners, whose sponsorship makes SecureWorld possible! Booths have staff ready to answer your questions. Look for participating Dash For Prizes sponsors to be entered to win prizes.

    8:00 am
    Advisory Council Roundtable Breakfast – (VIP / Invite only)
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    Remaining Resilient and Identifying the Next Transformation Facing Cybersecurity Professionals
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    VP, Global Information & Product Security, Pindrop
    Registration Level:
    • session level iconVIP / Exclusive
    8:00 am - 8:50 am
    Location / Room: Live Oak A

    Join this invitation-only meeting for SecureWorld Houston Advisory Council members to discuss:

    • The next transformation that is going to “bite cybersecurity professionals in the @ss” and the shifts to take note of in the cybersecurity landscape
    • What transformations are coming in the next 5-10 years that cybersecurity professionals, and business leaders in general, should be thinking about
    • Resilience. How do we stress the importance of resilience when it comes to data centers?
    • What keeps cybersecurity professionals like you up at night is what you can’t even imagine is coming next.

    Come prepared to add to the discussion. The more voices, the better.

    9:00 am
    [Opening Keynote] CISO Panel: Lessons Learned and Advice for the Next Generation of Cybersecurity Professionals
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    CISO, Advisory Board Member; Founder, Cyber Point Advisory
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    CISO, State of North Dakota
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    Cybersecurity Engineering Manager, Schlumberger
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    Director, Information Security, Axiom Medical
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    Chief of Staff, Integriti; CISO & Fellow Emeritus, Schlumberger
    Registration Level:
    • session level iconOpen Sessions
    9:00 am - 9:45 am
    Location / Room: Keynote Theater (Magnolia)

    This CISO Panel features a discussion with experienced cybersecurity leaders who share their insights and advice for the next generation of cybersecurity professionals. The panelists discuss lessons learned from their experiences in the field, challenges they’ve faced, and recommendations for those who are starting their careers in cybersecurity. The session provides valuable insights for those interested in the field or looking to enhance their cybersecurity knowledge.

    Session Outline:

    • Introduction of panelists
    • Overview of the current cybersecurity landscape
    • Discussion of the biggest challenges faced by the panelists in their roles as CISOs
    • Lessons learned from past cybersecurity incidents and how they have informed future strategies
    • Advice for aspiring cybersecurity professionals, including recommended education, certifications, and skills
    • Discussion of the role of leadership and management in effective cybersecurity practices
    • Q&A with the audience to address specific questions or concerns
    9:45 am
    Networking Break
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    Registration Level:
    • session level iconOpen Sessions
    9:45 am - 10:15 am
    Location / Room: Exhibitor Hall

    Visit the Exhibitor Hall to network with attendees and connect with our vendor sponsors and association partners.

    10:15 am
    Transformational and Change Efforts: Why Do They Fail?
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    Principal, CI5O Advisory Services LLC
    Registration Level:
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    10:15 am - 11:00 am
    Location / Room: Live Oak B

    Incredible risk and disruption are driving the need for companies to adopt and drive transformational and change efforts. However, the track record and return on these investments are horrible. Success requires different skill sets. Traditional approaches are not transformative or agile enough. Oftentimes, management appears to be going through the motions on these efforts or setting them up for failure. Traditional approaches of handling cyber, analytics, edge and others as separate IT projects and not addressing these needs as various pieces of a major holistic change effort (including many non-technology aspects) are causing them to fail outright or have poor results.

    As the winner of the 2022 Orbie Leadership and 2019 Superglobal CIO of the Year Awards, Al Lindseth has been a thought leader within the energy sector and IT profession for many years. He left Plains All American in mid-2022 to support organizations with what he describes as the crunch issue of how growing risks like supply chain and cybersecurity, and other major disruptive forces, are managed amid a need to democratize and expand technology within an increasingly connected workplace.

    Focusing on technology-driven disruption or change efforts, Lindseth will posit five specific reasons why these efforts fail with a goal for attendees to learn how to avoid these issues with the right approach.

    10:15 am
    Shift-Left, Shield Right: The Role of Real-Time CWPP in a CNAPP World
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    Director, Product Marketing - Cloud, SentinelOne
    Registration Level:
    • session level iconOpen Sessions
    10:15 am - 11:00 am
    Location / Room: Pecan Room

    The cloud is big business, and so is increasingly targeted by threat actors. The challenge comes down to this: how do we secure our cloud-enabled business without throttling innovation? After all, no one went to the cloud to slow down. Join SentinelOne as we speak plainly about cloud defense in depth. From build time to runtime, we will discuss the complementary roles of agentless (“shift-left”) and agent-based (“shield right”) security layers. We will cover both CNAPP (Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms) and real-time cloud workload protection (CWPP), sharing insights which hopefully help you to accelerate innovation while operating securely.

    10:15 am
    Web Application APIs: Building a Modern Approach to Vulnerability Testing
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    Principal Solutions Director | Client Solutions Architect, Winmill
    Registration Level:
    • session level iconOpen Sessions
    10:15 am - 11:00 am
    Location / Room: Elm Room

    Web application programming interfaces (APIs) present a huge, yet still under-protected, attack surface. Although business innovation pathways are crucial for growth, they also dramatically increase the web attack surface, leaving organizations exposed to attacks that target APIs in order to directly access sensitive data and functionality.

    Legacy AppSec approaches have not necessarily kept pace with technical developments, leaving organizations struggling to reconcile multiple testing tools and processes while potentially overlooking web application APIs in their security programs. The state of AppSec maturity directly impacts the ability of organizations to innovate and optimize processes crucial to ensure effective API attack surface coverage.

    Join us for an overview of the importance of including APIs in web application security testing and how you can develop a modern approach towards vulnerability testing that covers the entire attack surface of modern web applications, from development to production. Topics include:

    • The importance of web APIs and web services in software development
    • The challenges of including APIs in application security testing, and how to overcome them
    • The security and efficiency benefits of a mature, comprehensive, and integrated AppSec program
    11:10 am
    Cybersecurity Really Is a Team Sport
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    Co-Chair, Data Privacy & Cybersecurity Practice, Spencer Fane LLP
    Registration Level:
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    11:10 am - 11:55 am
    Location / Room: Live Oak B

    Why strategic leadership and an understanding of roles, personalities, and psychology is important for building and managing effective cybersecurity teams.

    11:10 am
    [Panel] There's a Bad Moon on the Rise – Are You Ready?
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    Identifying the Current Threat Landscape
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    Principal Sales Engineer, Okta
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    InfraGard Houston Maritime Cross Sector Chief
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    Director, Information Security, Axiom Medical
    Registration Level:
    • session level iconOpen Sessions
    11:10 am - 11:55 am
    Location / Room: Pecan Room

    Like the main character in the 1981 horror movie, An American Werewolf in London, cybercriminals continue to morph into something evil, lurking in the night (and day) to cause harm to people, organizations, and governments. Cue the Creedence Clearwater Revival song, Bad Moon Rising.

    The cybersecurity community is smart and more than capable of thwarting bad actors, fangs and all. They have tools, technologies, partnerships across private and public entities, and solution vendors to help them along the way. Don’t forget about the consultants working hard to stay ahead of those wanting to do harm, as well.

    Hear our panelists’ views on the current threat landscape, solutions they have to offer, and ideas they have for turning a bad moon into a harvest moon.

    11:10 am
    How to Build an Insider Threat Program
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    Director, Product Marketing, Exabeam
    Registration Level:
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    11:10 am - 11:55 am
    Location / Room: Elm Room

    Sometimes just having a SOC isn’t enough to address insider threat issues. Security operations teams are managing massive amounts of data across billions of events from on premises to the cloud. Looking for specific needles like insider threats in this complex haystack has special requirements that encompass both searching historic data and seeing evolving credential behavior changes as they happen.

    Whether from downsizing or expanding the business, employees, vendors, contractors, and more are moving in and out of your environment. And often, it is during turbulent times that insider threats go unobserved as everything  changes so quickly. Insider threat initiatives require a new, more focused approach.

    This presentation will explore:

    • The common scenarios that indicate you need an insider threat team, how to build a mission statement, and tools
    • Four attributes of a successful insider threat program
    • How behavioral analytics baseline “normal” behavior of users and devices – showing risk faster
    • An automated investigation experience that replaces manual routines and effectively guides new insider threat teams
    12:00 pm
    [Lunch Keynote] Becoming Cyber Resilient with CISA
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    Chief of Cybersecurity, U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
    Registration Level:
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    12:00 pm - 12:45 pm
    Location / Room: Keynote Theater

    Resilience is more than a buzzword; it’s the backbone of any cybersecurity program—from strategy to planning to tools put in place to keep organizations secure. And don’t forget the people, trusted cybersecurity professionals who are the most resilient of all and put plans into action. This session covers resilience concepts and CISA services that help assess, develop, and maintain operational cybersecurity resilience.

    12:00 pm
    Advisory Council Roundtable Lunch (VIP / Invite Only)
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    Best Practices to Improve Cybersecurity Program Performance: Taking a Risk-Based Approach
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    VP of Cyber Risk, Skybox Security
    Registration Level:
    • session level iconVIP / Exclusive
    12:00 pm - 12:45 pm
    Location / Room: Live Oak A

    Cybersecurity is not an exact science. Every single risk cannot be mitigated or transferred. Equally, every vulnerability will not cause significant harm to the business. So how do you prioritize where to aim your security resources? A global cybersecurity benchmarking study points out that organizations with a risk-based approach to cybersecurity have fewer breaches and excel in risk-based strategies.

    Please join Tom Cline, Skybox Security’s VP of Cyber Risk, for an exclusive roundtable lunch that will draw from attendees’ experiences, offering thoughts on the challenges and opportunities of driving a risk-based approach to cybersecurity.

    During this roundtable, we will discuss the following:

    • How do organizations mature their vulnerability programs from periodic scans to CTEM (Continuous Threat & Exposure Management)?
    • What new tools and products are organizations adopting to monitor their assets and attack surfaces?
    • Which cybersecurity practices effectively reduce the probability of a breach and accelerate the time to detect, respond to, and mitigate a breach?
    • How do organizations identify and prioritize critical vulnerabilities? What strategies are organizations taking to gain visibility within an increasingly fragmented security environment?

    Sponsored by:

    12:45 pm
    Networking Break
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    Registration Level:
    • session level iconOpen Sessions
    12:45 pm - 1:15 pm
    Location / Room: Exhibitor Hall

    Visit the Exhibitor Hall to network with attendees and connect with our vendor sponsors and association partners.

    12:45 pm
    ISSA South Texas Chapter Meeting
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    Open to all attendees
    Registration Level:
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    12:45 pm - 1:15 pm
    Location / Room: Elm Room
    Come join chapter members to network, learn about ISSA South Texas, and meet your local chapter board members.
    12:45 pm
    WiCyS Houston Affiliate Meeting
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    Open to all attendees
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    VP & Lead Cybersecurity Architect, JPMorgan Chase; President, WiCyS Houston Affiliate
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    Outreach Chair, WiCyS Houston Affiliate
    Registration Level:
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    12:45 pm - 1:15 pm
    Location / Room: Live Oak B

    Learn about the WiCyS Houston Affiliate, network with members, and meet your local board members.

    1:15 pm
    [Panel] What Academia Is Doing to Prepare Next-Gen Cybersecurity Professionals
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    Director, Global Cybersecurity Program, University of St. Thomas
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    Assistant Professor, Baylor University
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    Dean of the College of Science and Engineering, Houston Christian University
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    Associate Professor, University of Houston
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    Chief of Staff, Integriti; CISO & Fellow Emeritus, Schlumberger
    Registration Level:
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    1:15 pm - 2:15 pm
    Location / Room: Keynote Theater

    Cybersecurity talent demand will continue to rise in the next few years. This esteemed panel addresses ways to close the cybersecurity talent gap, from what academia is doing to what the cybersecurity industry and organizations from all verticals can do to help. This panel also touches on career change, mentoring programs and internships.

    1:15 pm
    A Whole Lotta BS (Behavioral Science) About Cybersecurity
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    Executive Director, National Cybersecurity Alliance
    Registration Level:
    • session level iconConference Pass
    1:15 pm - 2:15 pm
    Location / Room: Live Oak B

    Let’s be honest: people can frustrate us. They don’t always do the things we’d like, and they often do some things we’d rather they didn’t. New research from the National Cybersecurity Alliance reveals insights about the public’s attitudes and beliefs about security.  We’ll explore the 2022 “Oh Behave! Cybersecurity Attitudes and Behaviors Report,” and some of the findings may surprise you! We’ll also give you practical, actionable advice on how you can better communicate to influence the behavior change you want to see.

     

    1:15 pm
    [Panel] Lucy in the Cloud with Diamonds
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    Securing Your Cloud Environment
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    Sr. Solutions Architect, Expel
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    Technology Evangelist, Uptycs
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    Sr. Security Architect, CDW
    Registration Level:
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    1:15 pm - 2:15 pm
    Location / Room: Pecan Room

    Can you “imagine” if The Beatles, when first starting out, had to deal with having their catalog of music hacked, stolen, and held for ransom simply because it was in an unsecure cloud setting? While it is possible for that to happen with their hit-laden collection of songs today, it’s merely a tiny example of how businesses operate at a minimum in a hybrid cloud environment—many in a cloud-only platform.

    With that comes security issues and another major area which cybersecurity professionals must work diligently to protect.

    Our panel of experts share the good, the bad, and the ugly of operating in a cloud environment, what it takes to make the move to hybrid or multi-cloud successful, how to protect data from insider and outsider threats, and what it takes to provide the support DevOps teams need.

    2:15 pm
    Networking Break
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    Registration Level:
    • session level iconOpen Sessions
    2:15 pm - 2:30 pm
    Location / Room: Exhibitor Hall

    Visit the Exhibitor Hall to network with attendees and connect with our vendor sponsors and association partners.

    2:30 pm
    Democratizing Threat Modeling Across the Enterprise
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    VP & Lead Cybersecurity Architect, Threat Modeling Center of Excellence Program Lead, JPMorgan Chase
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    VP & Lead Cybersecurity Architect, JPMorgan Chase; President, WiCyS Houston Affiliate
    Registration Level:
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    2:30 pm - 3:15 pm
    Location / Room: Elm Room

    Key Take-Away: Understand how to better plan, deliver, and execute Threat Modeling across the enterprise.

    This presentation will help answer the following questions and more:

    • How do you apply governance principles to Threat Modeling?
    • How to apply Threat Modeling across multiple engagement types?
    • How do you ensure enterprise stakeholders including cybersecurity teams and different lines of business benefit from Threat Modeling as a service on an ongoing basis?
    2:30 pm
    How to Protect It If It Is Connected
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    Sr. Enterprise Solution Engineer, Cloudflare
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    Solutions Leader for North America, Cloudflare
    Registration Level:
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    2:30 pm - 3:15 pm
    Location / Room: Pecan Room

    Come ready to hear use cases, examples, successes (and failures) related to network security. If it’s connected to the Internet, you want to keep it secure, private, fast, and reliable. Our co-presenters share how to secure websites, APIs and Internet applications; protect corporate networks, employees and devices; and write and deploy code that runs on the network edge.

    2:30 pm
    [Panel] Current Issues, Risks, and Opportunities in Data Privacy
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    Director of Cybersecurity, Avelo Airlines
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    Partner, Vanguard Legal
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    Board of Directors, ISACA (Past President)
    Registration Level:
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    2:30 pm - 3:15 pm
    Location / Room: Live Oak B

    This panel briefly covers GDPR and mentions the two state laws in play now and the other three that will be effective by December 31, 2023. The presentation includes privacy principles, privacy by design principles, and a maturity model; and covers the data life cycle, and how to discover and understand your data. Takeaways include:

    1. The moderator’s and panelists’ takes on privacy issues, risks, and opportunities.
    2. David’s brief story of how his firm responded when customers started asking about their privacy data.
    3. Aaron shares what the Texas DIR is hoping to do with blockchain around privacy.
    4. Harvey quickly presents how to continuously identify your sensitive data (personal and contractual data), and the need to classify it, control it, map it across your applications, and to third- and fourth-party vendors, and create a ROPA.
    5. Time to answer your privacy-related questions.
    3:15 pm
    Networking Break and Dash for Prizes
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    Registration Level:
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    3:15 pm - 3:45 pm
    Location / Room: Exhibitor Hall

    Visit the solution sponsor booths in the Exhibitor Hall and connect with other attendees.

    Participating sponsors will announce their Dash for Prizes winners. Must be present to win.

    3:15 pm
    Happy Hour
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    Sponsored by Uptycs
    Registration Level:
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    3:15 pm - 5:00 pm
    Location / Room: Exhibitor Hall

    Join your peers for conversation and complimentary beer, wine, soda, and hors d’oeuvres. This is a great opportunity to network with other security professionals from the area, and to discuss the hot topics from the day.

    Generously sponsored by Uptycs. A drink ticket is included on your attendee badge.

    3:45 pm
    [Closing Keynote] The CISO: Chief in Name Only
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    Director, Information Security, Southwestern Energy
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    VP of IT Security & Compliance, Cornerstone Capital Bank
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    CISO, AECOM
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    SVP & CISO, ABM Industries
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    CISO, Advisory Board Member; Founder, Cyber Point Advisory
    Registration Level:
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    3:45 pm - 4:30 pm
    Location / Room: Keynote Theater
    Today’s CISO is expected to be a unicorn: developing roadmaps and strategy and executing them, establishing rapport within and outside IT, leading the team to cultivate and retain talents, staying up to date with the latest cybersecurity news and trends, communicating with the board, being a salesperson pitching solutions, putting out fires, and on and on. In some cases, they are not given the appropriate authority or the resources, resulting in making security decisions purely based on economic reasons versus risk-based. This session explores how to navigate being a CISO and figuring out how to truly be the “Chief” of InfoSec, a critical thread that affects every piece of the organization.
Exhibitors
  • Arctic Wolf Networks
    Booth: 210

    Arctic Wolf Networks provides SOC-as-a-service that is redefining the economics of security. The AWN CyberSOC™ service is anchored by Concierge Security™ teams and includes 24×7 monitoring, custom alerting, and incident investigation and response. There is no hardware or software to purchase, and the end-to-end service includes a proprietary cloud-based SIEM, threat intelligence subscriptions and all the expertise and tools required. For more information about Arctic Wolf, visit  https://www.arcticwolf.com.

  • AuditBoard, Inc
    Booth: 310

    AuditBoard is the leading cloud-based platform transforming how enterprises manage risk. Its integrated suite of easy-to-use audit, risk, and compliance solutions streamlines internal audit, SOX compliance, controls management, risk management, and security compliance. AuditBoard’s clients range from prominent pre-IPO to Fortune 50 companies looking to modernize, simplify, and elevate their functions. AuditBoard is the top-rated audit management and GRC software on G2, and was recently ranked for the second year in a row as one of the 100 fastest-growing technology companies in North America by Deloitte.

  • Cloudflare
    Booth: 320

    Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE: NET) is the leading connectivity cloud company. It empowers organizations to make their employees, applications, and networks faster and more secure everywhere, while reducing complexity and cost. Cloudflare’s connectivity cloud delivers the most full-featured, unified platform of cloud-native products and developer tools, so any organization can gain the control they need to work, develop, and accelerate their business.

    Powered by one of the world’s largest and most interconnected networks, Cloudflare blocks billions of threats online for its customers every day. It is trusted by millions of organizations—from the largest brands to entrepreneurs and small businesses to nonprofits, humanitarian groups, and governments across the globe.

    Learn more about Cloudflare’s connectivity cloud at cloudflare.com/connectivity-cloud. Learn more about the latest internet trends and insights at radar.cloudflare.com.

  • CREST
    Booth: 630

    CREST is an international not-for-profit accreditation and certification body that represents and supports the technical information security market. CREST provides internationally recognised accreditations for organisations and professional level certifications for individuals providing penetration testing, cyber incident response, threat intelligence, and Security Operations Centre (SOC) services.

  • InfraGard Houston
    Booth: 100

    The Houston Chapter of InfraGard provides members of the Critical Infrastructure community a means to share information to prevent, protect, and defend against hostile acts against Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources (CIKR). InfraGard is designed to address the need for private and public-sector information-sharing mechanisms at both the national and local levels. It is our goal to improve and extend information sharing between private industry and the government, particularly the FBI, when it comes to critical national infrastructures.

  • ISSA South Texas
    Booth: 540

    The South Texas Chapter of the Information Systems Security Association (ISSA) is a non-profit organization of information security professionals and practitioners. South Texas ISSA provides education forums, publications and peer interaction opportunities which enhance the knowledge, skill and professional growth of its members. This Chapter is affiliated with the international ISSA organization, conforms to its professional and organizational guidelines, and supports the ISSA Code of Ethics. We encourage our members to pursue and maintain formal security certifications in their chosen fields and offer training opportunities to help members meet requirements for continuing education.

  • Exabeam
    Booth: 400

    Exabeam is a global cybersecurity leader that adds intelligence to every IT and security stack. The leader in Next-gen SIEM and XDR, Exabeam is reinventing the way security teams use analytics and automation to solve Threat Detection, Investigation, and Response (TDIR), from common security threats to the most critical that are difficult to identify. Exabeam offers a comprehensive cloud-delivered solution that leverages machine learning and automation using a prescriptive, outcomes-based approach to TDIR. We design and build products to help security teams detect external threats, compromised users and malicious adversaries, minimize false positives and best protect their organizations.

  • Expel
    Booth: 610

    Expel provides transparent managed security, on-prem and in the cloud. It’s the antidote for companies trapped in failed relationships with their managed security service provider (MSSP) and those looking to avoid the frustration of working with one in the first place. To learn more, go to https://www.expel.io.

  • Invicti + Winmill
    Booth: 300

    Invicti Security is transforming the way web applications are secured. An AppSec leader for more than 15 years, Invicti enables organizations in every industry to continuously scan and secure all of their web applications and APIs at the speed of innovation. Invicti provides a comprehensive view of an organization’s entire web application portfolio, and powerful automation and integrations enable customers to achieve broad coverage of even thousands of applications. Invicti is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and serves more than 3,500 organizations of all sizes all over the world.

    Winmill is a technology services company that provides expert consulting services in Application Development, Application Security, PPM, Data Center & Cyber Security, and Identity & Access Management. Founded in 1994, Winmill is a technology services company headquartered in New York City. We have five core practices: Software Development, Cyber Security, DevOps, Data Center, and Cloud. We support the entire technology lifecycle. We are dedicated to providing exceptional service by building systems that make our clients more competitive. One of our hallmarks is a knowledge transfer process that maximizes the skills and intellect of your own team.

  • Keysight
    Booth: 220

    Keysight’s portfolio of network security solutions simulate threats, eliminate blind spots, taking control of a rapidly-changing attack surface. Be a hero, not a headline, by proving your network is secure simulating attacks, exposing gaps early, and course correct with step-by-step fixes; protecting users and applications with increased the efficiency, performance, and reliability of your security systems;  patrolling every packet eliminating vulnerable blind spots and decrypt threats hiding in SSL traffic; and practice your cyber skills enhancing your security and attack response skills against real-world threats.

  • Okta
    Booth: 410

    Okta is the World’s Identity Company. As the leading independent Identity partner, we free everyone to safely use any technology—anywhere, on any device or app. The most trusted brands trust Okta to enable secure access, authentication, and automation. With flexibility and neutrality at the core of our Okta Workforce Identity and Customer Identity Clouds, business leaders and developers can focus on innovation and accelerate digital transformation, thanks to customizable solutions and more than 7,000 pre-built integrations. We’re building a world where Identity belongs to you. Learn more at okta.com.

  • SentinelOne
    Booth: 200

    SentinelOne delivers real-time cloud workload protection, to stop runtime threats targeting VMs, containers and Kubernetes clusters. From endpoints to workloads, to data center and public cloud, innovate quickly knowing SentinelOne has you protected. To learn more, visit www.sentinelone.com or follow us at @SentinelOne, or on LinkedIn and Facebook.

  • Skybox Security
    Booth: 420

    Skybox arms security teams with a powerful set of security management solutions that extract insight from security data silos to give unprecedented visibility of the attack surface, including all Indicators of Exposure (IOEs). With Skybox, security leaders can quickly and accurately prioritize and address vulnerabilities and threat exposures.

  • TechTarget
    Booth: n/a

    TechTarget (NASDAQ: TTGT) is the online intersection of serious technology buyers, targeted technical content and technology providers worldwide. Our media, powered by TechTarget’s Activity Intelligence platform, redefines how technology buyers are viewed and engaged based on their active projects, specific technical priorities and business needs. With more than 100 technology specific websites, we provide technology marketers innovative media that delivers unmatched reach via custom advertising, branding and lead generation solutions all built on our extensive network of online and social media. TechTarget is based in Boston and has locations in Atlanta, Beijing, Cincinnati, London, Paris, San Francisco, Singapore, and Sydney.

  • ThreatLocker
    Booth: 510

    ThreatLocker® is a global cybersecurity leader, providing enterprise-level cybersecurity tools to improve the security of servers and endpoints. ThreatLocker’s combined Application Whitelisting, Ringfencing™, Storage Control, and Privileged Access Management solutions are leading the cybersecurity market towards a more secure approach of blocking unknown application vulnerabilities. To learn more about ThreatLocker visit: www.threatlocker.com

  • Uptycs
    Booth: 110

    Inspired by CRM and business process analytics, the Uptycs vision is to empower security teams with the same real-time decision making, driven by structured telemetry and powerful analytics.

    By providing a unified view of cloud and endpoint telemetry from a common solution, making every user and platform action auditable, and having an open and extensible API, we eliminate black-box operations, reduce tool sprawl, and ultimately arm modern defenders with the insights they need across their cloud-native attack surfaces.

  • WiCyS Houston Affiliate
    Booth: 600

    Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) is a global community that is dedicated to bringing talented women together to celebrate and foster their passion and drive for cybersecurity. WiCyS Houston Affiliate was formed to empower women in cyber and create a safe community for women to flourish, explore, and learn. We unite local, national, and international communities across academia, research, and industry to empower women through knowledge, experience, networking, and mentorship.

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Keynote Speakers
Speakers
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    Manoj Tripathi
    VP, Global Information & Product Security, Pindrop

    Manoj Tripathi is a seasoned CISO and has decades of experience in security, technology and leadership, across SaaS, Products and Consulting companies. Manoj is passionate about security and technology topics and has presented on security program management strategy and secure development topics at various security conferences. He holds the C|CISO and the CISSP certifications.

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    Dd (Catharina) Budiharto
    CISO, Advisory Board Member; Founder, Cyber Point Advisory
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    Michael Gregg
    CISO, State of North Dakota

    Michael Gregg is the state of North Dakota’s Chief Information Security Officer. The state CISO is responsible for establishing and leading the strategic direction of cyber security for the state and advising the governor and legislators on key cyber issues.

    With Michael’s cyber experience span being over a period of two decades, he has been a pioneer of helping people interested in becoming IT professionals as well as seasoned IT professionals achieve by sharing knowledge by means of authoring over 25 IT cyber security books. He enjoys contributing his time and talents where there is a need to help others learn and grow by holding board, committee, and advisory positions for non-profit organizations. He holds a Bachelors degree, Masters degree, and many security certifications.

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    Adnan Hussain
    Cybersecurity Engineering Manager, Schlumberger

    Adnan Hussain is a Cybersecurity Engineering Manager at Schlumberger where he is responsible for cybersecurity solutions for endpoint, perimeter, network, identity and secret management, physical security, and tools & automation teams. With more than 25 years of experience in IT and Cybersecurity, he has worked in operations, engineering, architecture, and management roles in software development, data analytics, network & firewall ops, and SOC.

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    Linda White
    Director, Information Security, Axiom Medical

    With 30+ years of technology related experience, Linda White has possessed a wide variety of Information Security and IT related roles over three decades within the Enterprise, Government, and non-profit space. Linda currently serves as the Director of Information Security at Axiom Medical. Prior roles include various Information Security functions at Thomson Reuters and UiPath. Additional roles include Global CCNA curricula development Manager for Cisco Networking Academy, and WAN and Network Services Manager for 57 Texas Public School Districts as well serving as a Technology Director while teaching secondary business and computer classes.

    Linda holds CISSP, CISM and CDPSE certifications. She is an active member of the Greater Houston ISACA, InfraGard, University of Houston Victoria Cybersecurity, and other Advisory Board functions. Linda is a proponent of Women in cybersecurity initiatives which include SIM Women of Houston, WiCyS and enjoys mentoring women in the cybersecurity field. Volunteer efforts include Ronald McDonald House Charities and teaching young girls the merits of a career in cybersecurity through Girl Scouts. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the Mays School of Business at Texas A&M University and a Masters in Educational Technology Leadership from Lubbock Christian University. Linda strives to achieve a well-balanced lifestyle through various volunteer efforts and traveling to Oregon and Singapore to spend time with her two daughters and their families which include five grandchildren, in addition to waterskiing, fishing and yoga.

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    Mario Chiock
    Chief of Staff, Integriti; CISO & Fellow Emeritus, Schlumberger

    Mario Chiock possesses over 37 years of experience in Oil Field operations, IT, Security, Risk, Privacy and Auditing. Prior to his current role as Schlumberger Fellow, Mario was the CISO at Schlumberger where he was responsible for developing the company’s worldwide, long-term cyber security strategy. He is recognized for his leadership and management in all aspects of cybersecurity throughout the company as well as within the community.

    Through his vision, he successfully transitioned Schlumberger from legacy firewalls to a more robust infrastructure based on next-generation firewalls. His experience in successfully deploying advanced technologies and approaches also spans Incident Response, Advance Threat Prevention, Digital Right Management to watermark & fingerprint sensitive documents. He also implemented federation services to minimize 3rd party risk and created the extended security team to foster collaboration with other IT groups. Mario is also known for applying his Lean Six Sigma expertise for measuring performance and creating

    Outside of Schlumberger, Mario has been an active member of the Information Systems Security Association (ISSA) for over 20 years; he has held numerous board positions in the Austin, Capital of Texas Chapter, as well as the South Texas Chapter in Houston. He was president of the South Texas Chapter in 2007, bringing in the “Chapter of the Year” award. He continues to serve on the board. Mario is also an active volunteer trainer for Security Certifications such as CISM, CISA & CRISC certifications, and has mentored many successful CSO & CISO in Austin & Houston area. He is also very active with Evanta as speaker and instructor for their CISO Institute. In 2015 he was a speaker for the SPE and API conference and in 2016 he was a panelist at the GEO2016 conference in Bahrain. In 2018 was awarded the South Central Region InfraGard Award for “INMA Leadership!”.

    Mario was recognized as one of the top 25 out of more than 10,000 security executives in the ExecRank 2013 Security Executive Rankings, he also won the 2012 Central Information Security Executive (ISE) “People Choice Award”, in 2014 he is a recipient of the CSO40 – 2014 award, named “ISSA Fellow”, won ISC2 Americas Information Security Leadership Awards (ISLA) and won the “ISSA Honor Roll” award. In 2017 he received the Infragard Houston award of excellence for the Private-Public Partnership in Cybersecurity. He is an active member of the Houston Security community and gives security talks, training and volunteers his IT security expertise to local non-profit organizations. He is currently a board member of the Houston InfraGard Chapter, has served in Executive & Technical Advisory boards of many security companies such as WatchFire (Now IBM), ISS (now IBM), Qualys, and currently is active on the Palo Alto Networks advisory board, he is also serving in the Google Cloud Platform advisory board and strategic advisor to Onapsis as well as Board member.

    Mario has a CISSP, CISM & CISA Certifications, and is past chair for the American Petroleum Institute Information (API) Security Sub-Committee and was involved in the formation of the Oil & Gas ISAC. Co-Author of "Navigating the Digital Age, Second Edition."

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    Al Lindseth
    Principal, CI5O Advisory Services LLC
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    Rick Bosworth
    Director, Product Marketing - Cloud, SentinelOne

    Rick Bosworth is an engineer turned product manager and marketer, bringing an uncommon technical perspective to enterprise GTM strategy and execution for almost two decades. At SentinelOne, his focus in cybersecurity—in particular cloud workloads, IoT, and user endpoint security—has provided expertise to the rapidly-evolving challenges across multiple fronts.

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    Ben DiMolfetta
    Principal Solutions Director | Client Solutions Architect, Winmill

    Ben DiMolfetta is a Professional Services Director and AppSec Client Solutions Architect for Winmill Software, a technology services company headquartered in New York City. With over 30 years of industry experience, Ben is a highly qualified AppSec implementation architect, systems developer, project manager and educator, and holds the following industry recognized certifications: Checkmarx Engineer (CxCE), Project Management Professional (PMP), CompTIA Data+ Practitioner, and Technical Trainer (CTT+). Ben is a 1990 graduate of Binghamton University (SUNY), where he earned a BS in Computer Science/Information Science.

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    Shawn E. Tuma
    Co-Chair, Data Privacy & Cybersecurity Practice, Spencer Fane LLP

    Shawn Tuma is an internationally recognized cybersecurity, computer fraud and data privacy law attorney, areas in which he has practiced for two decades. He is Co-Chair of Spencer Fane’s Data Privacy & Cybersecurity Practice where he regularly serves as cybersecurity and privacy counsel advising a wide variety of businesses ranging from small and mid-sized companies to Fortune 100 enterprises. Shawn has been named a Cybersecurity Law Trailblazer by the National Law Journal, SuperLawyers Top 100 Lawyers in DFW, and Best Lawyers in Dallas. He serves as the Practitioner Editor for Bloomberg Law’s Texas Privacy & Data Security Law, among many other activities.

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    Rollin Morris
    Principal Sales Engineer, Okta
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    Chris Wolski
    InfraGard Houston Maritime Cross Sector Chief

    Chris Wolski is a distinguished information security expert, former Chief Information Security Officer for a Fortune 1000 company, and now provides fractional information security leadership for Applied Security Convergence. He is currently on the board of ISSA South Texas and is dual-hatted as the Maritime Cross Sector Chief for the Houston InfraGard and Area Maritime Security Committee (AMSC) Cyber Subcommittee Chair. He is an award-winning transformational information security leader with over two decades of cross-industry cybersecurity expertise. Distinguished track record of architecting comprehensive resilient cybersecurity strategies and building and developing world-class security teams. Fluent in bridging communication gaps, from frontline staff to boardroom dialogues, ensuring robust, organization-wide security alignment.

    His rich career includes leading security at CSAT Solutions and the Port of Houston Authority, where he earned a U.S. Coast Guard Meritorious Service Citation. His cybersecurity expertise cuts across critical infrastructure, manufacturing, retail, healthcare, and government sectors. As a retired U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer, he has managed information security operations involving multinational organizations. He supervised an expedited threat communication system for 191 Houston Ship Channel Security District organizations. Chris holds an MBA and a Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity from the University of Maryland Global Campus.

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    Linda White, Moderator
    Director, Information Security, Axiom Medical

    With 30+ years of technology related experience, Linda White has possessed a wide variety of Information Security and IT related roles over three decades within the Enterprise, Government, and non-profit space. Linda currently serves as the Director of Information Security at Axiom Medical. Prior roles include various Information Security functions at Thomson Reuters and UiPath. Additional roles include Global CCNA curricula development Manager for Cisco Networking Academy, and WAN and Network Services Manager for 57 Texas Public School Districts as well serving as a Technology Director while teaching secondary business and computer classes.

    Linda holds CISSP, CISM and CDPSE certifications. She is an active member of the Greater Houston ISACA, InfraGard, University of Houston Victoria Cybersecurity, and other Advisory Board functions. Linda is a proponent of Women in cybersecurity initiatives which include SIM Women of Houston, WiCyS and enjoys mentoring women in the cybersecurity field. Volunteer efforts include Ronald McDonald House Charities and teaching young girls the merits of a career in cybersecurity through Girl Scouts. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the Mays School of Business at Texas A&M University and a Masters in Educational Technology Leadership from Lubbock Christian University. Linda strives to achieve a well-balanced lifestyle through various volunteer efforts and traveling to Oregon and Singapore to spend time with her two daughters and their families which include five grandchildren, in addition to waterskiing, fishing and yoga.

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    Jeannie Warner
    Director, Product Marketing, Exabeam

    Jeannie Warner, CISSP, Director of Product Marketing at Exabeam, is an information security professional with over twenty years in infrastructure operations/security. Jeannie started her career in the trenches working in various Unix helpdesk and network operations centers. She began in Security Operations for IBM MSS and quickly rose through the ranks to technical product and security program manager for a variety of software companies such as Symantec, Fortinet, and NTT (formerly WhiteHat) Security. She served as the Global SOC Manager for Dimension Data, building out their multi-SOC “follow the sun” approach to security. Jeannie was trained in computer forensics and practices. She also plays a lot of ice hockey.

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    Deron T. McElroy
    Chief of Cybersecurity, U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency

    Deron McElroy is Chief of Cybersecurity for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Region 6. He leads a team of Cybersecurity Advisors focused on enhancing our Nation’s cyber resilience. Deron’s team is available to help critical infrastructure owners and operators improve their cybersecurity posture, better manage cyber risk, and measure themselves against the NIST Cybersecurity Framework.

    As co-founder of the Cybersecurity Advisor Program, he served as Chief of Operations, and was the first DHS Cybersecurity Advisor for the Western United States. Previously, he led the interagency development of the Nation’s cyber incident response policy, and contributed to cybersecurity education and workforce development efforts. Deron played a primary role in the stand-up of the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center and was a key participant in information sharing policy development.

    Prior to joining DHS, Deron worked as Staff Director for the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Intelligence, and as a Senior Professional Staff Member. He focused on cybersecurity, counterterrorism, and information sharing practice and policy.

    Deron is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional, an expert in cyber resilience, a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, and studied strategic intelligence and information operations at the National Defense Intelligence College. He also currently serves as a cybersecurity instructor at the University of Texas San Antonio’s Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security, is the Director of Professional Development for the Information Systems Security Association Alamo Chapter, and is the co-founder and Chief Creative Officer for the Lone Star Cyber Podcast.

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    Tom Cline, Moderator
    VP of Cyber Risk, Skybox Security

    15+ years of experience in technology consulting in cybersecurity domain and is an evangelist. His core competencies include - designing enterprise security solution framework to proactively protect organization sensitive data, mapping technology to business, and increasing operational IT efficiency. Tom is a trusted advisor to the CxO's.

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    Annie Jamshed
    VP & Lead Cybersecurity Architect, JPMorgan Chase; President, WiCyS Houston Affiliate

    Annie Jamshed is a cybersecurity professional with Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering and Master's in Cybersecurity. She has more than four years' experience working in Security Operations Center performing incident response, forensics, and threat intelligence. She is currently working at JP Morgan Chase as a Security Architect and threat modeling practitioner. Annie is very active in the Houston area cybersecurity community. She serves as President for WiCyS Houston Affiliate and Speaker Wrangler for HouSecCon. She holds CISM, GNFA, GCTI, and CompTIA Sec+.

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    Kristen Gilmore
    Outreach Chair, WiCyS Houston Affiliate

    Kristen Gilmore is a senior business development director at INSPYR Solutions, a top-tier technology solutions company. With over 20 years of experience in IT staffing solutions in the Houston market, Kristen is a proven sales leader who has cultivated a strong reputation for building and expanding customer relationships. Kristen is well-versed in understanding the complex technical objectives and goals of her clients, enabling her to match the best digital and information technology talent to meet their specific technical and security needs. As a trusted business partner, she excels at developing effective sales strategies and delivering unparalleled customer service to her clients and candidates, thus cementing her position as a key player in the Houston market.

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    Eric C. Botts
    Director, Global Cybersecurity Program, University of St. Thomas

    Eric Botts is Director, Global Cybersecurity Program and Assistant Professor of International Studies at the University of St. Thomas teaching courses on Cyber Warfare, Cyber Ethics, Geopolitical Risk, Digital Governance, and Introduction to Enterprise Cybersecurity. Mr. Botts is a lecturer at the Women’s Institute of Houston teaching a course entitled The World According to Eric dealing with current events in geopolitics. Mr. Botts received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from St. Mary’s University and Master of Security Management from the University of Houston Downtown. After serving for 31 years in the U.S. Department of State as a Foreign Service Officer (Santo Domingo, Seoul, Dublin, and Nassau), Assistant Director of the Houston Passport Agency and an Information Systems Security Officer. During his federal career he served as Program Chairman of the Gulf Coast Federal Safety Council, and as a member of the Federal Executive Board. Mr. Botts teaching experience includes the University of Houston Downtown for courses in cybersecurity and organizational resilience in the Masters of Security Management Program.

    Mr. Botts retired and went to work in the private sector. In the private sector Mr. Botts worked as a security project manager and consultant for Swailes & Co. Inc. specializing in cyber security, risk management, business continuity, due diligence, travel security, and investigations until 2020. Mr. Botts is a founding board member of the Foreign Policy Alliance and has spoken on foreign policy issues to civic groups, colleges, and the media. In the cyber security community, he sits on the Secure World Advisory Council, is a member of the Internet Governance Forum USA. He authored and published two novels Conversations with An Alien (2004) and The Circle - Portrait of an American Family (2015).

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    Carlos Torres
    Assistant Professor, Baylor University

    Carlos I. Torres is an assistant professor in the Information Systems and Business Analytics department at the Hankamer School of Business at Baylor University. He received his PhD in Business Administration with a concentration in Information Systems from Washington State University. He also holds a MIB from Florida International University, MBA from Universidad de Los Andes in Colombia, as well as a bachelor’s degree in computer science (Summa Cum Laude honors) from Universidad Industrial de Santander in Colombia.

    Torres’ research focuses on behavioral factors related to information technology, including information security and privacy, computer self-efficacy (CSE) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). His work has appeared in journals such as AIS transactions in Replication Research, as well as in several conference proceedings such as AMCIS, HICSS, ICIS (WISP), and DRW. Carlos currently has several papers under review at premier IS Journals.

    Torres has extensive industry experience as well in information technology product management. He worked in the Americas and Europe, leading 3G and 4G wireless network implementations and business case evaluations. He also led the design and successful launch into the market of value-added services and new products over wireless networks, as well as developed value-creation initiatives through marketing innovation and big data analytics in the Telecom Latin American market.

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    Dr. Katie Evans
    Dean of the College of Science and Engineering, Houston Christian University

    Dr. Katie Evans is a Professor of Mathematics and the Dean of Science and Engineering at Houston Christian University (HCU). Prior to HCU, she was on faculty at Louisiana Tech University for 16 years in the College of Engineering and Science, where she served in various administrative roles and is now Professor Emerita. Dr. Evans serves in leadership of the Grand Challenges Scholars Program, founded by the U.S. National Academy of Engineering. She earned her B.S. in Mathematics from Morehead State University and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Mathematics at Virginia Tech, followed by a postdoctoral position in Mechanical Engineering at Oregon State University.

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    Deniz Gurkan
    Associate Professor, University of Houston

    Deniz Gurkan received her BS and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering from Bilkent University, in Ankara, Turkey, in 1996 and 1998, respectively. Her PhD is also in Electrical Engineering, received from the University of Southern California in 2003. She briefly worked as a lecturer at the California State University in Long Beach, Electrical Engineering and the Claremont Graduate University, Applied Mathematics departments while also conducting research explorations as a post-doc at the USC's Information Sciences Institute. She then joined the faculty at the University of Houston in 2004. In her tenure at UH, her research has evolved into fiber-optic sensors, sensor networking, distributed systems, network measurements, network infrastructure, and software-defined networks. She is now the director of the UH Networking Lab which has a software-defined infrastructure (SDI) testbed where networking research is conducted with advanced software development practices and sponsored by federal agencies as well as industry by more than $2.5 million during the last five years. Her lab develops and maintains a suite of software frameworks that range from network resource orchestration to advanced services for learning platforms. She develops and utilizes her own materials for teaching computer networking foundations with a strong focus on lower layer fundamentals and functional protocol observations in a lab environment. Her course modules include content for basic networking, network programming, network troubleshooting, and cybersecurity in the network layer. Her recent research interests are on network security, network traffic modeling, network resource management, and network function design and development. Her research has been funded by federal programs and industry, resulting in over 60 peer-reviewed articles in leading journals and supervision of over 70 students at MS and PhD levels. She is the faculty advisor of the UH Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS) student chapter. She is also an active member of her community through her volunteering role as a leader in the BSA Scouting troops of both of her children, as a mentor and a judge in organizations such as the NCWIT (National Center for Women and Information Technology), in teaching networking to high school teachers and students formally through NSF-RET and informally by outreach, and through running workshops on career advancement in various venues such as the AAUW (American Association of University Women) STEM outreach to middle schools.

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    Mario Chiock
    Chief of Staff, Integriti; CISO & Fellow Emeritus, Schlumberger

    Mario Chiock possesses over 37 years of experience in Oil Field operations, IT, Security, Risk, Privacy and Auditing. Prior to his current role as Schlumberger Fellow, Mario was the CISO at Schlumberger where he was responsible for developing the company’s worldwide, long-term cyber security strategy. He is recognized for his leadership and management in all aspects of cybersecurity throughout the company as well as within the community.

    Through his vision, he successfully transitioned Schlumberger from legacy firewalls to a more robust infrastructure based on next-generation firewalls. His experience in successfully deploying advanced technologies and approaches also spans Incident Response, Advance Threat Prevention, Digital Right Management to watermark & fingerprint sensitive documents. He also implemented federation services to minimize 3rd party risk and created the extended security team to foster collaboration with other IT groups. Mario is also known for applying his Lean Six Sigma expertise for measuring performance and creating

    Outside of Schlumberger, Mario has been an active member of the Information Systems Security Association (ISSA) for over 20 years; he has held numerous board positions in the Austin, Capital of Texas Chapter, as well as the South Texas Chapter in Houston. He was president of the South Texas Chapter in 2007, bringing in the “Chapter of the Year” award. He continues to serve on the board. Mario is also an active volunteer trainer for Security Certifications such as CISM, CISA & CRISC certifications, and has mentored many successful CSO & CISO in Austin & Houston area. He is also very active with Evanta as speaker and instructor for their CISO Institute. In 2015 he was a speaker for the SPE and API conference and in 2016 he was a panelist at the GEO2016 conference in Bahrain. In 2018 was awarded the South Central Region InfraGard Award for “INMA Leadership!”.

    Mario was recognized as one of the top 25 out of more than 10,000 security executives in the ExecRank 2013 Security Executive Rankings, he also won the 2012 Central Information Security Executive (ISE) “People Choice Award”, in 2014 he is a recipient of the CSO40 – 2014 award, named “ISSA Fellow”, won ISC2 Americas Information Security Leadership Awards (ISLA) and won the “ISSA Honor Roll” award. In 2017 he received the Infragard Houston award of excellence for the Private-Public Partnership in Cybersecurity. He is an active member of the Houston Security community and gives security talks, training and volunteers his IT security expertise to local non-profit organizations. He is currently a board member of the Houston InfraGard Chapter, has served in Executive & Technical Advisory boards of many security companies such as WatchFire (Now IBM), ISS (now IBM), Qualys, and currently is active on the Palo Alto Networks advisory board, he is also serving in the Google Cloud Platform advisory board and strategic advisor to Onapsis as well as Board member.

    Mario has a CISSP, CISM & CISA Certifications, and is past chair for the American Petroleum Institute Information (API) Security Sub-Committee and was involved in the formation of the Oil & Gas ISAC. Co-Author of "Navigating the Digital Age, Second Edition."

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    Lisa Plaggemier
    Executive Director, National Cybersecurity Alliance

    Lisa Plaggemier is Executive Director at the National Cybersecurity Alliance. She is a recognized thought leader in security awareness and education with a track record of engaging and empowering people to protect themselves, their families, and their organizations. Lisa is a University of Michigan graduate (Go Blue!) and while she wasn’t born in Austin, Texas, she got there as fast as she could.

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    Jacob Brown
    Sr. Solutions Architect, Expel

    Jacob Brown is a Senior Solutions Architect with five+ years of experience in the security space working with clients ranging from from small startups to Fortune 50 corporations. With a background in data center, network, and cloud security, he is motivated by helping organizations implement security right where they are and streamlining that experience for both internal teams and individual users alike.

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    Jack Roehrig
    Technology Evangelist, Uptycs

    Jack has been passionate about (obsessed with) information security and privacy since he was a child. Attending 2600 meetings before reaching his teenage years, and DEF CON conferences shortly after, he quickly turned an obsession into a career. He began his first professional, full-time information security role at the world's first internet privacy company, focusing on direct-to-consumer privacy.

    After working the startup scene in the 90s, Jack realized that true growth required a renaissance education. He enrolled in college, completing almost six years of coursework in a two-year period, studying a variety of disciplines before focusing on obtaining his two computer science degrees. University taught humility and empathy. These were key to pursuing and achieving a career as a CSO lasting more than 10 years.

    Jack primarily focuses his efforts on mentoring his peers (as well as them mentoring him), advising young companies (especially in the information security and privacy space), and investing in businesses that he believes are both innovative and ethical.

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    Pedro Serrano, Moderator
    Sr. Security Architect, CDW

    Pedro Serrano has over 35 years of experience managing and installing technical controls in networks around the world, 20 of those in military systems. Previously Pedro was a former CISO, Network Security for an integrated healthcare system as well as Security Architect for major Oil and Gas Exploration company, today he is CDW’s Senior Security Architect. He holds two postgraduates’ degrees one in Telecommunications Management and Computer Science and serves in the Board of Directors of The Information System Security Association (ISSA) chapter in Tulsa, and BSides Oklahoma. He also serves as an advisor to the Latino Leadership Institute and is a graduate from the Leadership Oklahoma program. Pedro holds the CISSP certification from ISC2.

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    Karen Harris
    VP & Lead Cybersecurity Architect, Threat Modeling Center of Excellence Program Lead, JPMorgan Chase

    Karen Harris is an IT professional with over 20 years of global banking and finance technical and operational expertise and is an avid threat modeling advocate. Karen is currently the Threat Modeling Center of Excellence Lead, and actively supports Grace Hopper, npower and Technica conferences mentoring and supporting young men and women (including those of color) in pursuing tech careers.

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    Annie Jamshed
    VP & Lead Cybersecurity Architect, JPMorgan Chase; President, WiCyS Houston Affiliate

    Annie Jamshed is a cybersecurity professional with Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering and Master's in Cybersecurity. She has more than four years' experience working in Security Operations Center performing incident response, forensics, and threat intelligence. She is currently working at JP Morgan Chase as a Security Architect and threat modeling practitioner. Annie is very active in the Houston area cybersecurity community. She serves as President for WiCyS Houston Affiliate and Speaker Wrangler for HouSecCon. She holds CISM, GNFA, GCTI, and CompTIA Sec+.

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    Vasanth Balakrishnan
    Sr. Enterprise Solution Engineer, Cloudflare

    Vasanth Balakrishnan is a Senior Enterprise Solution Engineer for Cloudflare based in Houston, TX. His career started with 10 years in the telecommunications provider industry in engineering/planning roles moving towards customer-facing architect roles. His cybersecurity solution engineer career started in 2010 with RSA Security and subsequent roles in insider threat and network detection and response startups in both senior engineer and management roles. At Cloudflare he supports the Houston & Texas Enterprise business helping customers solve business challenges leveraging Cloudflare's broad cloud services product portfolio.

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    John T. Irwin
    Solutions Leader for North America, Cloudflare

    For 16 years of his career, John has worked in IT operations running infrastructure, network and cyber security teams for Fortune 100 companies and U.S. government agencies. The next 15 years, he transitioned to leading vendor solutions engineering teams across the Americas, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa. In this time he focused on Service Management best practices like ITIL/ITAM, SecDevOps processes and tools, and Application/Network Security and Developer services.

    In his current role leading solution engineering teams across the U.S. and Canada, he is a technical expert specializing in edge development and Zero Trust best practices and solutions.

    When he is not focused on mentoring customers and technologists, he spends time as a paramedic supervisor and instructor.

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    David Sledge
    Director of Cybersecurity, Avelo Airlines

    David Sledge is the Director of Cybersecurity for Avelo Airlines, where he collaborates with the CISA and FBI. He holds +20 IT and cybersecurity-focused professional certifications, including CISSP, CISM, and CIPM. He brings 16 years of experience in IT and security leadership, working with global Fortune 500 companies. Previous speaking engagements include keynote speaker and panelist. He is a current ISACA – Greater Houston Chapter Board Member and active member of SIM Houston, ISSA South Texas, OWASP Austin, and ISC2 Austin. A cybersecurity advisory board member at multiple universities and is recognized as an ambassador, mentor, and advocate in the cybersecurity industry.

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    Aaron Woo
    Partner, Vanguard Legal

    Aaron Woo is a business and corporate lawyer with a focus on technology in healthcare, energy, AI/Machine Learning, blockchain, cybersecurity, and data privacy. Aaron's practice includes corporate transactions, mergers and acquisitions, technology, licensing, and corporate/securities. He advises technology companies from startup through acquisition by developing IP strategy, licensing, compliance and obtaining the necessary financing to position businesses for growth and exit.

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    Harvey Nusz, Moderator
    Board of Directors, ISACA (Past President)

    Harvey is a Boomeranger at Capgemini, having joined Insights and Data in February 2018 for GDPR, and again in late August 2021 for CPRA. He is now with Cybersecurity in Cloud Infrastructure building out Data Protection and Privacy Offerings, serving clients in Data Protection and Privacy, and assisting in Data Discovery with Securiti. He is a BA, PM, and Architect in GRC, Data Protection and Privacy, Cybersecurity, and Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery. He is also a BA and PM in IAM and PAM.

    He is a past president of ISSA South Texas Chapter, and of ISACA Greater Houston Chapter, where he is currently a director. He is also a member of IAPP and SIM, Houston Chapter. He currently has CISA, CRISC, and CGEIT, and is in the process of reinstating his CPIM and CIA.

    We will have 5 states with privacy laws by December 31, 2023, without a Federal Privacy Law, and Harvey is waiting for the US to realize we are in a privacy revolution.

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    Happy Hour
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    Julie Boehl
    Director, Information Security, Southwestern Energy
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    Ionel Chila
    VP of IT Security & Compliance, Cornerstone Capital Bank
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    Paul Dial
    CISO, AECOM
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    Stephanie Franklin-Thomas, PhD
    SVP & CISO, ABM Industries
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    Dd (Catharina) Budiharto, Moderator
    CISO, Advisory Board Member; Founder, Cyber Point Advisory
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