Career Panel and Career Fair 2022

Whether you’re just starting out in Cybersecurity, looking for a job change or seeking professional development advice, this year’s Career Panel will be a valuable investment in your time. We’ve put together a panel of seasoned industry experts who we guarantee will represent an experienced cross-section of career paths. You will walk away with advice, […]

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Planning for Sunny Days

It’s 2022 and we’re in an “all cloud all the time” environment – even traditional enterprises are heavily invested in hybrid cloud environments and Software as a Service. But what happens when it’s a sunny day (you know… with no clouds) and you need to figure out how to keep things running and how to […]

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The Future of Cryptography

We are reliant upon cryptography for so much, yet new and exciting technologies are poised to up-end the world we know. The most celebrated current issue in the use of cryptography is quantum computing but this is only one of many. To be successful, it is important that we understand what quantum computing, quantum key […]

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The Evolution of Hacking

As the founder of both the Defcon and Blackhat events, Jeff has been around the security community since the early days.  When Defcon started some 30 years ago, the security community had a rather unique culture, composition and approach.  What can we learn from our past?  What attributes do we need to hold on to […]

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Infosec Halloween 2021: Unmasking the Scary Characters

During these years when a holiday just can’t be any scarier than the other 364 days, it’s easy to forget that some spectres aren’t what they seem. Some of them are Old Lady Nather under the ghost sheet. Others are clowns, but not the kind that inhabits your nightmares, just the expo halls. If you’ve […]

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Toronto Communities Keynote

Toronto has a vibrant and active security community. Join the founders and leaders of 6 of Toronto’s most active security communities for a “fireside chat”. Why do these communities exist? What are they up to these days? What are they working on next? How can you get involved? Join what will be a fun and […]

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Do you trust or fear technology?

Our future is inseparable from technology and the choices we make will determine if we trust or fear the infrastructure our societies are built on. We as the people that dream, design, implement and talk about technology are seminal to determining which direction the world around us takes. What we do and say today really […]

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Made in Canada – the Significance of Canadian Security Technology

From startups to large enterprise to academia, Canada has more influence on the global security market and innovation than one might expect. This panel will discuss Canadian businesses’ stance in IT security and take a forward look at what it will take to become a stronger competitor in world markets. Expect conversation from funding innovative startups to […]

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Navigating Cyberspace: Identifying a New Path to Defeating Tomorrow’s Attacks

The cyber landscape has evolved beyond the intent of its original creation. This system once built on trust has been compromised by an ever-increasing advancement in cyber-attacks, malware proliferation, data loss, and data contamination. Although security vendors try hard to detect these cyber-attacks, skilled adversaries have successfully defeated current paradigms used to protect our computer […]

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Career Panel and Career Fair 2019

Whether you are looking for industry insight, your first job, changing careers or professional development, the Career Panel and Career Fair at SecTor 2019 is for you. Join our panelists as they answer your questions and debate how different segments of the industry are viewing the type of talent they want to gain, train and […]

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Creating a Culture to Foster Collaboration, Creativity, and Critical Thinking

After years of working to make computer networks more robust, I’ve observed protocol flaws that disrupt effective interactions between carbon-based life forms. This talk shows how ill-defined buzzwords and hype lead to technical miscommunication and offers advice for how an organization can make it safe to question, easy to learn, and encourage working with others.

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Developing Your Career in IT Security (2018)

Whether you are looking for industry insight, your first job, changing careers or professional development, this year’s Developing Your Career in IT Security panel and networking session in the Keynote Hall on Tuesday, October 2 from 2:55pm is for you. Join our panelists as they answer your questions and debate how different segments of the […]

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Collaborating for a Secure Canada

Building a resilient cyber security ecosystem is crucial for levelling the playing field against adversaries. The newly established Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, as part of the Communications Security Establishment (CSE), sees the increasing need for widespread innovation and collaboration to secure our country’s future. Collaboration is a point of pride and necessity from a […]

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The Future of Cyber Security – From a Friendly Hacker’s Perspective

Cyber security is no longer about protecting secrets. It’s about our way of life: from autonomous cars, to webcams medical devices, to the manipulation of political campaigns and global markets. But are you thinking about what’s next? This talk will aim to inspire the audience of security professionals to take action about the things that require our […]

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Are We Setup to Fail?

Criminals are winning the battle against security practitioners. Need proof? Look no further than the new headlines in any given week. Billions of dollars are being spent on the latest and “greatest” tools, and millions of people hours are being exhausted in the defence of our data. Yet with all this effort, it remains trivially […]

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Translating a Lifetime of Learning into Cyber Risk Management

Everyone’s path is different. Maybe you’ve got a computer science, or even an information security degree. Or maybe your classrooms were basements, garages, and the Internet as you wrestled knowledge from every nook and cranny you could find. Somewhere along the line you got a job (and perhaps some on-the-job training to go with it). […]

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Developing Your Career in IT Security (2017)

The IT security industry continues to rapidly evolve. With this rate of change comes both opportunity and challenges. There are more areas of specialization and more types of employers to apply them to. Come to what will certainly be a spirited and exciting panel session on how very different segments of the industry are viewing […]

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Fighting Cyber(in)security

In this epoch of big data, we have reached a cybersecurity crisis – over 4 billion personal accounts compromised just in the past few years, not to mention multiple power grids. Advanced technologies, ranging from blockchain to quantum computing are emerging, but there are still big questions about how they can help. Fortunately, a band […]

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Winning Defense

In this keynote, Allison Miller will explore how today’s defenders are protecting consumers/platforms from online threats, at scale. Deflecting exploits and vulns is a full-contact sport, but designing for the “human factor” also means mapping out complex sets of incentives and interdependencies, requiring new approaches to thinking about security, risk, & trust. Allison will discuss […]

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Security and Privacy in a Hyper-connected World

We’ve created a world where information technology permeates our economies, social interactions, and intimate selves. The combination of mobile, cloud computing, the Internet Things, persistent computing, and autonomy are resulting in something different. This World-Sized Web promises great benefits, but is also vulnerable to a host of new threats. Threats from users, criminals, corporations, and […]

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Prosperity and Security: A Renewed Approach to Cyber Security for Canada

The context within which Canada’s 2010 cyber security strategy was conceived is radically different from today’s reality. The significant evolution in the variety and impact of cyber threats, the profound influence that the digital environment now has on the economy, and the rapid emergence of ground-breaking technologies is driving a new approach to cyber security […]

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Developing your Career in IT Security

2:55 to 3pm: Introduction (Brian Bourne) 3 to 4pm: Career Panel Panel Session: Developing Your Career in IT Security The IT security industry continues to rapidly evolve.  With this rate of change comes both opportunity and challenges.  There are more areas of specialization and more types of employers to apply them to.  Come to what […]

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Defense Against the Dark Arts: Examining, Fixing and Fighting for our Cyber Defenses

We live in an age where spies have weakened our security in the wake of 9/11, while hackers and digital security breaches ensure compromised data is made instantly available to billions of eyes. So what should we know, and what can we do to protect ourselves and our interests, and how can we defend our […]

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Securing Our Future

Technology around us is changing faster than ever. We’ve already become dependent of our digital devices, and this is just the beginning. As connected devices open new opportunities for imagination, they also open up new opportunities for online criminals. Where are we today? Where are we going? And how are we ever going to secure […]

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Retaking surrendered ground: making better decisions to fight cybercrime

Every organisation that stores, processes or transmits valuable data will fall victim to a cybersecurity breach. But why? If we know the enemy is coming, and how they’re going to attack, why can’t we stop them?  Or even put up a good fight?  New research makes it clear that for the past 15 years we […]

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It’s 2016: What can you do about gender balance in Information Security?

Successfully defending against modern threats requires information security teams to possess the right balance of hard and soft skills for engaging business and technology groups to secure an organization. This is creating more opportunities for women from a variety of backgrounds to join this industry, make positive contributions in a variety of ways and to […]

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Big Data Needs Big Privacy … Enter Privacy by Design

While some believe that fundamental privacy protections will be challenged by the operation of Big Data analytics, Dr. Cavoukian dispels the notion that privacy acts as a barrier to analytics and the innovations they can spark. She argues that the limiting paradigm of “zero-sum” – that you can either have privacy or innovation, but not […]

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Maturing InfoSec: Lessons from Aviation on Information Sharing

If we’re honest, we’re still making a lot of this security stuff up as we go, much like early pilots. The public was afraid of air travel and now it is a critical part of our lives. We wrestle with how to mature our profession. I believe information sharing will be one of the key […]

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IT Security Operations: Successful Transformation

As technologies like Cloud and Mobility and processes like Agile Development have become mainstream, many enterprises large and small, have challenges not only keeping pace and leveraging these technologies to grow their business but also reducing risk to the business in an interconnected world. This session will provide best practices and experience from a CISO’s […]

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Globalization of Cybercrime

Cybercrime continues to evolve into a truly transnational phenomenon. Highly technical and organized individuals with clear financial motivation continue to target our financial, retail, and service sectors. Only by understanding the origin and motivation of these criminals can the problem be properly confronted. This presentation will also include a present-day case study on criminal actors […]

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The Connected Car: Security Throwback

What, the car got hacked – how? We all take for granted technology we use every day and especially items that have been around for a while, such as the car. Many of us think about the physical security of cars in terms of locks and immobilizers, but as technology innovation moves forward, so should […]

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The Extinction of Trust

Nation State Actors in the so-called “cyber domain” are nothing new. But what a little while ago was considered talk from people wearing hats made from kitchen supply, recently became the concern of many, even some who should care about it. Unfortunately, selectively revealed bits and pieces of data don’t answer the questions of “what” […]

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$#!T My Industry Says. . .

The Security Industry says a lot of ‘stuff’ about a lot of things, and most of the time it just feels like noise. What does an Internet of Things really mean? Is SDN (Software Defined Networking) something you should care about, or should we just wait for the next networking buzzword? This session explores the […]

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New Era Risk Management: Using Information to Predict, Understand and Mitigate Organizational Threats

Risk is unavoidable, whether your organization is operating domestically or is interconnected globally. Which threats—from cyber and foreign influence to terrorism and espionage—are most critical to Canadian interests? How do Canadian firms or entities operate effectively and securely abroad? In this unique and enlightening talk, Ray Boisvert goes beyond the typical “security” speech to explore […]

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Why We Need DevOps Now: A Fourteen Year Study Of High Performing IT Organizations

Gene Kim has been studying high-performing IT organizations since 1999. He is the author of the highly acclaimed “Visible Ops Handbook,” “The Phoenix Project: A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win,” and founder of Tripwire, Inc. He will be presenting his findings from an ongoing study of how high-performing IT organizations simultaneously […]

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Tech it out

If you thought today’s tech was cool, to quote ’70s rocks Bachman-Turner Overdrive, “baby you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet.” This lighthearted yet informative chat focuses on 10 mind-blowing future technologies worth getting excited about. From wearable tech (like Google Glass) and virtual reality (VR) headsets to flying cars and space tourism to domestic robots and […]

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How the West was Pwned

Can you hear it? The giant sucking sound to the East? With it are going more than just manufacturing jobs — it’s our manufacturing know how, intellectual property, military secrets, and just about anything you can think of. If we’re one of the most advanced technological nations on Earth, how are the People’s Republic of […]

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Crossing the line; career building in the IT security industry

Ever crossed the line in order to learn your trade in the security world? Or perhaps is there really a line? A recent study suggests that many of us feel that in order to build our careers in the IT security industry, the line might blur to help us learn. A common thread is that […]

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How NOT to do Security: Lessons Learned from the Galactic Empire

Join Kellman for a critique of the LucasFilm epic, from the perspective of a security audit. He will review the security procedures and practices of the Galactic Empire, and see what they did well, but more importantly, learn from the mistakes they made. Prepare for a discussion on security policies and procedures, applied during the […]

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Global Efforts to Secure Cloud Computing

In this session, CSA will present the key security problems of Cloud Computing that are being faced by the industry. They will provide information about activities in the public and private sector around the world to develop standards, guidelines and innovation for cloud security. They will also provide an overview of key tools and best […]

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Exploring the NFC attack surface

Near Field Communication (NFC) has been used in mobile devices in some countries for a while and is now emerging on devices in use near you. This technology allows NFC enabled devices to communicate with each other within close range, typically a few centimeters. It is being rolled out as a way to make payments, […]

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When Does Lawful Access Become Lawful Surveillance: The Future of Lawful Access in Canada

In February 2012, the Canadian government introduced “lawful access” legislation that granted new powers to law enforcement to access private communications and require telecommunications providers to install new surveillance capabilities. The bill generated a massive public backlash as Canadians loudly rejected the bill and pressured the government to reconsider its surveillance plans. Michael Geist played […]

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Thinking Differently: Bringing the Hacker Mindset to the Corporate Environment

Hackers think differently. They create new, innovative, and novel solutions to technical problems that are often deemed too difficult to solve. From Thomas Edison to Steve Wozniak to Richard Stallman, hackers have helped shape the world we live in. Corporations, on the other hand, are generally more rigid in their approaches to problem solving and […]

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The Bizarre Business of Rogue Internet Pharmacies

Krebs’s talk will focus on the bizarre business of rogue Internet pharmacies. Krebs has logged hundreds of hours of interviews with the proprietors of the two largest online pharmacies, and has access to more than four years’ worth of data on who bought and sold drugs for these programs. Told through the eyes of the […]

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Trust me, I am a cloud vendor!

Ever woken up to a news story about a major Cloud issue and realized it didn’t just happen to the other guy? Along with Cloud adoption, there is often a feeling of loss of control, especially when we see or experience issues such as outages, security breaches and information leakage. Ever more frequently service providers […]

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Online Espionage

Espionage is all about collecting information. Today, information is stored on computers and networks, making them potentially accesible from anywhere in the world. As a result, state-sponsored espionage is happening increasingly with computer attacks such as backdoors and remote trojans. Why was RSA Security hacked in spring 2011? How did they do it? Come and […]

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Involuntary Case Studies in Data Security

It is absolutely backwards, but while the bad guys constantly share details of their exploits, including techniques, when it comes to real incidents, actual defenders rarely talk about what worked, and what didn’t. In this session, Mike Rothman will name names as he builds in-depth case studies based on publicly available information, some of which […]

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Today’s Face of Organized Cyber Crime: A Paradigm for Evaluating Threat

Traditional organized crime syndicates and urban street gangs are well understood by law enforcement officials. They have a hierarchy, defined geographic area of influence, and established business model. Cyber criminals, however, are more difficult to categorize. Mr. Kelly will deconstruct “organized” cyber crime and explore a new paradigm for evaluating the threat it poses to […]

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Attribution for Intrusion Detection

With today’s evolving threat landscape, and the general failure of AV to keep bad guys out of the network, effective intrusion detection is becoming extremely pertinent. Greg will talk about using attribution data to increase the effectiveness and lifetime of intrusion detection signatures, both host and network. Within host physical memory, software in execution will […]

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The Problem with Privacy is Security

Privacy advocates tend to spend a lot of time refuting the high profile discussions about the pending death of privacy, particularly online. This focus would be better spent addressing the cause: security. Identifiable information about us pops up in places you wouldn’t expect, leaving a detailed virtual trail. Security mechanisms force the recording, monitoring and […]

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