GFIRST

We’re taking a moment today to feature an important conference coming up at the end of the month. Yes, there are a lot of government conferences every year, and truthfully, we don’t spend a lot of time highlighting them. This blog wouldn’t be a blog anymore if we did; it would be a…well I don’t know, it would just be someplace where conferences are posted. The GFIRST National Conference, however, stands out as one we want to get on the radar for folks outside of the general government conference circuit.

GFIRST focuses on cybersecurity, and brings together dedicated professionals to participate in information-sharing groups, learn about the latest trends and preemptive measures, and listen to expert speakers discuss the latest in cybersecurity news. GFIRST organizers and speakers will use five pillars to communicate the conference’s message. They are:

• Threat
• Vulnerability
• Attack & Detection
• Mitigation
• Reflection

Click here to learn more about how these five pillars guide the discussion on cybersecurity. If you’re a cybersecurity professional, think about coming to the GFIRST conference – you can register onsite. The 5th Annual GFIRST National Conference takes place in Atlanta, Georgia this year from August 23rd-28th, and is hosted by US-CERT, the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team. US-CERT is a partnership between DHS and the public and private sectors, and charged with protecting the nation's Internet infrastructure by coordinating defense against and response to cyber attacks.

The conference will have nearly 100 sessions with six seminar tracks, based on the GFIRST5 pillars, plus one more: Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (CHIP). This is the third consecutive year that the GFIRST Conference will serve as a venue for the Justice Department’s CHIP to hold its Coordinators’ Conference.

Senior cybersecurity officials from DHS and the private sector will speak at the conference, including: Philip Reitinger, Deputy Undersecretary of the National Protection and Programs Directorate and Director of the National Cybersecurity Center, and Greg Schaffer, Assistant Secretary of the Office of Cybersecurity and Communications. Dave DeWalt, President and Chief Executive Officer of McAfee, Inc. will also address the conference.

For more information on the 5th Annual GFIRST National Conference, please visit: http://www.us-cert.gov/GFIRST.