My SOURCE Boston Walkthrough

Let me introduce myself real quick, I'm Jimmy Vo and I've been a mentee in the InfoSec Mentors program for about 10 months now. I'm a recent Computer Science graduate and working my first year professionally as a systems analyst. I'm looking forward to going to my SOURCE Boston since it will be my first conference. I just wanted to do a walk through of some of the talks and workshops I'll be attending. If you see me, please say Hello.

Every single talk and session I’ve seen for this years SOURCE looks amazing. There were a few talks that popped out on the schedule. Of course, I wish I could attend every talk.

Bringing Sexy Back: Defensive Measures That Actually Work
Paul Asadoorian, Founder & CEO, PaulDotCom Enterprises
April 20, 11:00am-11:50am

This talk focuses on implementing defensive measures that can mitigate and/or slow down attackers using many technologies. These technologies include honeypots, scripts, and traps. This talk goes beyond traditional defensive measure that do not work anymore. I’m looking forward to this talk because I’m a big fan of the PaulDotCom podcast and Paul and the rest of his crew are as entertaining as they are knowledgeable when it comes to information security.

In the land of the blind, the squinter rules
Wim Remes, Ernst & Young (@wimremes)
April 20, 2:30pm-3:20pm

This talk focuses on security visualization, which a topic that my Mentor and I have talked a few times about. Visualization is an easily digestible way to present data to colleagues and executives. This talk by Wim will cover the basics of visualization and then elaborate on gathering information using Davix and Google Chart API.

Getting Stuff Done: How to work with the rest of the business
Andy Ellis, Senior Director of Information Security, Akamai
April 20, 4:00pm-4:50pm

This should be a very useful and interesting talk. In many organizations information security importance is not totally understood. Sometimes it’s very difficult for technical people to work with other business units and co-workers. It took me a while to figure out operational people don’t care for the technical background and jargon, they just want to know if the systems working. I’m hoping to learn some information on working more cohesively with other business units.

Selling Security Without Selling Your Soul
Aaron Cohen, Managing Partner, MAD Security (@aaronco)
April 20, 5:00-5:30pm

I’m very excited about this talk Aaron is giving. It’s evident that security is not widely and truly embraced as it should be. I’m personally very excited with this talk because I’m always trying to get management buy in and project sponsorship for security initiatives.

InfoSec Mentors Workshop
April 20, 5:30-8:30 in The Constitution

This workshop is to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of the InfoSec Mentors program/project. I hear there’s going to be good food and a lot of fun. I’m excited to talk to other mentors/mentees. I also look forward to sharing my experience at the workshop.

Between 5:30 and 6:30 there will be an InfoSec Mentors panel that will be discussing mentoring tips and tricks. The Panel will focus on making great mentors even greater. The panel will consist of many professionals, InfoSec veterans, and speakers to share their experience and knowledge to build mentors.

After the InfoSec Mentors Panel there will be a mixer at 6:30-8:00. During this time mentors and mentees will have time to meet and party! Also there’s an open bar and food, automatically a good time. I’m looking forward to talking to other mentors and mentees to see some other perspectives on the program.

Across the Desk: Different Perspectives on InfoSec Hiring and Interviewing
Lenny Zeltser, Security Consulting Director,Savvis & Faculty Member, SANS Institute (@lennyzeltser) & Lee Kushner, President, LJ Kushner & Associates (@ljkush)
April 21, 10:00-10:50am

I always look forward to the content on Lenny Zeltser and Lee Kushner’s blog. The talk focuses on very important perspectives from the candidate and the employer. There is further discussion on important aspects such as resumes, job descriptions, interview communications and compensation. This is an extremely relevant talk for me since I’m a mentee trying to get into the InfoSec field.

So You Got That SIEM. Now What Do You Do?
Anton Chuvakin, Principal, Security Warrior Consulting (@anton_chuvakin)
April 22 - 11:10am-12pm

This talk by Dr. Anton Chuvakin helps navigate the challenges of deploying SIEM. Dr. Chuvakin shares some best practices and insight on how to achieve SIEM success. I’m interested in this talk because I’ve recently have been following Dr. Chuvakin’s blog which covers topics such as log management and SIEM. I’ll also be working with SIEM solutions in the near future.