BrisSEC Something New!

Friday 27/3/15 was a day of firsts. It was the first ever Brisbane based one day Information security conference from AISA. The first time I was involved in building an event like this. It was the first time I had the pleasure of listening to some of the greats in our industry speak.

I was going to speak about each of the speakers but to be honest it would do them a disservice. Each talk was amazingly well presented and filled with new ways of thinking. Instead I think I will focus on the underlying theme of the event. Every talk at its root comes from the security's very own saying "challenge EVERYTHING". This came ringing through in a few talks. We as an industry have gotten very set in our ways ... which is strange to me as in every conversation I have in the industry people can't even imagine the treat landscape in 3 years’ time. And yet (and I am completely generalising here) we still blame the board (for not being educated) even though we don't push this and start the education. We still use fear mongering to try and gain more budget. Instead of perpetuating this behaviour and to their credit the speaker showed a need to change our own practices.

In the end I got the message which I will try and articulate below.

Integration: Embrace new and emerging technologies and lead the conversation with the business to integrate these solutions in a safe manner.

Security IS a business matter: As a technical person this was the largest eye opener for me. We all say this however, how many of us actually spend the time (or even know how) to put this information in a format easily digested by the business, who historically are not as tech savvy as Pen testers??

Push your comfort zones: This revelation was the one which resonated with me more than any other. As security professionals we can no longer sit in our silo. You can’t be the person locked in the corner office only coming out when the world is ending! We as a whole have to lead from the front at every level, from CSO/CISO to the NOC team member and over to the GRC teams. Learn what the business needs and how we can get there.

Lastly: We need to say "Yes if" ... instead of "No but" ...

On behalf of the AISA Brisbane committee. Thanks to all our attendee's, speakers and our amazing sponsors!

I can hardly wait for next year!

Remember Challenge Everything!!!!!

Adam

#infosec #brissec2015 #innovation