2024 Government Security Forum

Join us for the 2024 Government Security Forum, presented in partnership with Carahsoft. This event will delve into the latest trends in network protection, AI integration, and defense against adversarial threats. Building on the success of previous years, our forum will showcase a lineup of esteemed experts and engaging panel discussions, providing invaluable insights on combating contemporary threats and securing your initiatives for the future. Participate in live chats and interactive discussions with speakers and the audience, offering a unique opportunity to address your questions and concerns directly with our experts.

Featured Speakers

Learn more about each of our featured speakers who will be leading the charge on July 25.

Matt Bromiley

EVENT CHAIRPERSON | Matt Bromiley is a SANS Certified Instructor and Co-Host of Cyber on the Edge.

Vijay Bolina

Vijay Bolina is the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Google DeepMind where he is building an unique and specialized research and engineering team to address emerging risks in safety, abuse, security and privacy for next generation artificial intelligence systems.

Jason Clinton

Jason is Chief Information Security Officer at Anthropic.

Matt Knight

Matt Knight serves as Head of Security at OpenAI, where he leads security, IT, and privacy. His teams protect the company, its users, and its technology in addition to advancing the frontiers of AI and cybersecurity.

Melanie "Kyle" Gingrich

Kyle Gingrich is the Interim Executive Director and leads the creation and build-out of training and certification programs to enable the CMMC framework. The programs are focused on ensuring availability of validated, skilled assessors and assessment instructors in the CMMC ecosystem, who can certify that DIB companies meet necessary cybersecurity requirements.

Sean Plankey

Sean currently serves as the Global Leader for Cybersecurity Software at WTW, a world leader in insurance brokering and consulting.

Josh Lemon

Josh is a Principal Instructor at the SANS Institute and in addition to his role at Uptycs, Josh also works as an independent digital forensics and incident response expert in Australia, providing advice to legal, government, and commercial clients.

John Pescatore

John Pescatore has been the Director of Emerging Security Trends here at SANS since 2013.

Ismael Valenzuela

Ismael Valenzuela is a SANS Senior Instructor and Vice President of Threat Research & Intelligence at BlackBerry Cylance.

Sounil Yu

Sounil Yu is the author and creator of the Cyber Defense Matrix and the DIE Triad. He is currently the cofounder of Knostic. Previously, he was Bank of America's Chief Security Scientist and the CISO at JupiterOne. He is a FAIR Institute Board Member and a GMU National Security Institute fellow.

Event Agenda | July 25, 2024 | 10:00AM - 4:15PM EDT

Check out the event agenda and register to hear this fantastic line-up!

Timeline (EDT)	Session Details
10:00AM	Welcome & Opening Remarks Speakers: Matt Bromiley, Event Chairperson, SANS Institute
10:15AM	Session One \| 2024 Zero Trust Top Threats Speakers: Matt Bromiley, Event Chairperson, SANS Institute Ismael Valenzuela, Senior Instructor, SANS Institute
10:45AM	Session Two \| Advancing Zero Trust Maturity in Hybrid Environments in 2024 Panel In this roundtable we will explore the practical application of Zero Trust principles, focusing on how government agencies can enhance their cybersecurity posture. This session will provide a thorough discussion on methods to reduce attack surfaces and strengthen defenses using Zero Trust aligned initiatives. Participants will learn from case studies and established strategies to apply these principles effectively within their agencies, aiming to protect critical infrastructure from evolving cyber threats. SANS Moderator: Ismael Valenzuela, Senior Instructor, SANS Institute Panelists: Fatih Akar, Security Product Manager, VMRay Frank Briguglio, Federal CTO, SailPoint
11:30AM	Session Three \| Everyone is a Target: Steps to Achieve State and Local Compliance In the past 4 years a multitude of regulations have appeared to enforce cybersecurity through compliance. This session will examine the federal, state, and local cybersecurity policies. How to find the policies, how to comply, and how to support the security of your business. Speaker: Sean Plankey, Global Leader, Cybersecurity Software, WTW
12:00 PM	Break
12:15 PM	Session Four \| Authorization and Identity Management Discussion Protecting your user identities is no longer a maybe, it's now a must. Adversaries are constantly targeting user accounts, looking for easy entry vectors to gain trust and compromise an organization. Join us for this panel discussion on Authorization and Identity Management, featuring industry experts who will delve into strategies and technologies for securing access control and identity verification. Looking to recent federal government initiatives as inspiration, attendees will gain critical insights into how evolving cyber threats are forcing us to level up identity management and protection. SANS Moderator: Matt Bromiley, Event Chairperson, SANS Institute Speaker: David McNeely, Chief Technology Officer, Delinea
1:00PM	Session Five \| Coming Soon! The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) - Do You Know Where to Start? Are you working for an organization that delivers products or services to the Department of Defense (DoD), or to their primary contractors, or are you just interested in learning more about new career opportunities, then this is the session for you! Join Melanie Kyle Gingrich, the Interim Executive Director of the Cybersecurity Assessor, and Instructor Certification Organization (CAICO) for a comprehensive overview of the DoD CMMC program and what it might mean to you and your organization. Learn about the mission of the CMMC programs, the roles and responsibilities of the various ecosystem members, how you could utilize your cybersecurity technical knowledge and experience to participate in CMMC, where to keep current on resources and timelines for this critical program. Speaker: Melanie "Kyle" Gingrich, the Interim Executive Director of the Cybersecurity Assessor, and Instructor Certification Organization
1:30PM	Session Six \| Supply Chain Security Panel Many of the most damaging cybersecurity incidents today involve a supply chain partner. Software supply chains in particular have gotten more complex, and that complexity increases the likelihood of vulnerabilities. As government agencies have improved local security controls, attackers have often found the supply chain to be the most vulnerable point of entry. Increased publicity around supply chain attacks have led to President Biden's Executive Orders mandating deadlines for improvements in federal software supply chain security, the release of NIST 800-161 guidance and the issue of final Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) compliance for contractors and suppliers. With increased risk and increased auditor attention to supply chain security, government agencies need to act to evaluate risks, weed out insecure supply chain partners and mitigate risks that cannot be avoided. This SANS panel will bring together experts in the field of supply chain security and CMMC certification to discuss what first movers have already done to reduce supply chain risk and what the next high priority steps need to be. SANS Moderator: John Pescatore, Director of Emerging Trends, SANS Institute Panelists: Mike Loefflad, Senior Director - Federal Systems Engineering, SentinelOne Jacob Nix, Founder and CEO of RISCPoint Conor Sherman, Chief Information Officer, Updater
2:15PM	Break
2:30PM	Session Seven \| Harnessing AI for Advanced Threat Detection Panel SANS Moderator: Josh Lemon, Principal Instructor, SANS Institute Panelists: Ron Bushar, Managing Director of Mandiant Solutions, Google Public Sector Jamie Moles, Senior Technical Marketing Manager, ExtraHop
3:15PM	Keynote: Session Eight \| Use of AI in Cyber Defense Panel SANS Moderator Sounil Yu, Co-Founder and Chief AI Safety Officer, Knostic Panelists: Vijay Bolina, CISO, Head of Cybersecurity Research, Google Deepmind Jason Clinton, CISO, Anthropic Matt Knight, Head of Security, OpenAI
4:00PM	Closing Remarks Speaker: Matt Bromiley, Event Chairperson, SANS Institute

In Partnership With

We'd like to give a HUGE thank you to the Carahsoft team for teaming up with us to bring this event to life, providing a virtual platform for experts to offer advice and guidance on how to best counteract the threats of today, and protect your security program for tomorrow.

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