Chapter Meetings

April 19th at 11:30am
Norris Conference Center 2525 West Anderson Lane #365 Austin, TX 78757

Register for the Meeting at our Eventbrite site

Topic: A Comprehensive Approach to Linux Security

Securing a Linux environment often takes a set of complementary technologies to achieve a comprehensive solution set.  This session will explore technologies that include SELinux, OpenSCAP, intrusion detection, as well as advanced auditing techniques.  The session will include a live demo that showcases how to implement these technologies in your environment.

Peter Beniaris
Senior Solutions Architect for Red Hat
State and Local Government, and Higher Education

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March 15th at 11:30am
Norris Conference Center 2525 West Anderson Lane #365 Austin, TX 78757

Register for the Meeting at our Eventbrite site

Topic: How Your Phone Gets Pwned (and how to make it harder)

There are a number of different attacks which can be used to get access to the data stored on a mobile phone. Your choice of mobile phone, your security hygiene, and the options you’ve set on your phone make a large difference in how easy each of those attacks are. This talk will present an in-depth look at how various attacks work from simply stealing your phone to finding and exploiting vulnerabilities in various parts of the code your phone runs. Each attack will be discussed in terms of what resources, advantages, and opportunities an attacker needs to launch the attack

Shawn Pearcy

Associate Security Consultant with NCC Group

Beginning with telecommunication support in the US Army followed by a technical support role, Shawn was exposed to the importance of security, leading him to focus on info sec. Shawn then completed a Bachelor of Science in Applied Sociology with a Computer Science minor at Texas State University, (with a focus on deviance, crime, and computer security) while working in the Information Security office (where he performed vulnerability analysis, penetration testing, and incident response; including conducting forensics for the University Police). Prior to NCC Group, Shawn worked as an Application Security Analyst with Trustwave Spiderlabs, while completing a Master of Arts in Sociology.

Daniel Crowley

Senior Security Engineer with NCC Group

Daniel is tasked with finding and exploiting flaws in everything from Web applications and cryptosystems to ATMs, smart homes, and industrial control systems. He has been working in information security since 2004. He has developed and released various free security tools such as MCIR, a powerful Web application exploitation training and research platform, and FeatherDuster, an automated modular cryptanalysis tool. He is a frequent speaker at conferences including Black Hat, DEFCON, Shmoocon, Chaos Communications Camp, and SOURCE. He has been interviewed by various print and television media including Forbes, CNN, and the Wall Street Journal. His work has been included in books and college courses.

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AGENDA	This months’s sponsor
11:30 – Networking 11:45 – Start of Meeting 11:50 – Sponsor 12:00 – Presentation 12:50 – Q&A

February 15th at 11:30am
Norris Conference Center 2525 West Anderson Lane #365 Austin, TX 78757

Register for the Meeting at our Eventbrite site

Topic: Cognitive Security is Here

Bob Kalka, CRISC

Vice President, IBM Security Business Unit 

Bob Kalka, CRISC, is Vice President of the IBM Security Business Unit. Bob is responsible for IBM’s strategic accounts, tiger team and enablement programs. He has also been intimately involved for the past two decades in developing IBM’s strategy and business for its comprehensive security-related investments. Bob has been involved in the information security industry since 1994. He is a frequent international speaker on the relationship of business with Information Technology, cloud computing and security, and has had numerous papers and articles published on these topics. He also holds a United States Patent related to secure distributed computing software.

Bob received a Master of Business Administration degree in Organizational Change and Development from Syracuse University, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Bob also holds a certificate in strategic marketing planning from the Indiana University Graduate School of Business. He is Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC) by ISACA. He is a member of the Industry Advisory Boards for the Darwin Deason Institute for Cybersecurity in the Lyle School of Engineering at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas (inaugural member), as well as the Department of Computing Security at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York (invited member).

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AGENDA	This months’s sponsor
11:30 – Networking 11:45 – Start of Meeting 11:50 – Sponsor 12:00 – Presentation 12:50 – Q&A

January 17th at 11:30am
Norris Conference Center 2525 West Anderson Lane #365 Austin, TX 78757

Register for the Meeting at our Eventbrite site

Topic: PKI wishes and Surplus Budget Dreams – Fortune 100 Security on a State Agency Budget

Sharing lessons learned on return on investment for security products and how to cut costs while still delivering top notch security.

AARON BLACKSTONE

Chief Information Security Officer

Texas Department of Public Safety

Aaron Blackstone is the Chief Information Security Officer for the Department and will be standing up the Cyber Unit within the Homeland Security Division. Aaron is currently a Captain in the Air National Guard as a Cyber Operations Officer. He worked for the past two years on active duty in support of the Air Force and prior to that supported the FBI field office in Houston as their Information System Security Officer.

Aaron began his IT security career with the Army research Laboratory in White Sands Missile Range certifying and accrediting military networks. He then took a position securing 5th Army’s network and satellite communications. Aaron received his commission from ROTC at Sam Houston State University as a 2nd Lt branching Military Intelligence.

A native of Huntsville, Aaron has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Sam Houston State University.

AGENDA	This months’s sponsor
11:30 – Networking 11:45 – Start of Meeting 11:50 – Sponsor 12:00 – Presentation 12:50 – Q&A