techsec

I was on a conference call this morning with Will Rhodes, senior market analyst at IMS/IHS Research. Rhodes and his team are wrapping up a recent project they did for Security Director News.

Rhodes' survey of security end-users across the verticals drew nearly 200 responses—thank you! He will present the findings next month at our TechSec conference.

Will shared some of the findings this morning, and they're fascinating. Topics include where you buy your equipment, how your budgets were impacted in 2012, what factors come in to play when you decide to install new equipment or upgrade, how often you upgrade, who is involved in each stage of a security project and more.

A few sneak-peeks of interest. Will's findings show that end-users are not all that satisfied with the customer service they receive from integrators. "They should be demanding it," he said. "it's not rocket science."  Also, many of you rely on local installers. If your peers put their trust in local hands, it  might be something you'd like to consider as well, he said.

We’re getting very excited here about our upcoming TechSec conference, which will be held in Fort Lauderdale in February. It’s the ninth year of the popular event, and if we do say so ourselves, it keeps getting better and better. 

Keynotes this year will be Lauren Stover, security director at Miami International Airport, along with Ray Davalos, MIA’s building systems director. There’s no better match for the conference, sponsored by Security Director News and Security Systems News. MIA’s nationally acclaimed behavioral recognition program will be among the topics Stover and Davalos will discuss.

I’ll write more about this later, but for now I’d just like to say that this year’s crop of SDN’s 20 under 40 winners, who will be honored at TechSec, is amazing. I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with them over the past weeks, and I’m so impressed by their intelligence and commitment to the industry. Four of our honorees will be on one of our panels, Next Gen Security: Young security professionals talk tech.

Please check out the website and plan to attend TechSec. I’d really like to meet you.

The Alliance for Enterprise Security Risk Management — a partnership of ASIS International and ISACA — is seeking nominations for its third annual AESRM Excellence in Security Convergence and Contribution to Enterprise Risk Management Award. The award was created to honor individuals who are leading the growing field of risk management and convergence.

“Understanding the convergence of physical and information security and how it fits within enterprise risk management is key to expanding the dialogue about security’s role in ERM,” said Emil D’Angelo, chair of AESRM. “Enterprises worldwide are recognizing the importance of collaboration among physical and information security to minimize risks most effectively.”

Individuals nominated for the award should exhibit leadership in improving the understanding of security’s role in enterprise security risk management throughout their organizations. Their work should involve people, processes and technology to manage security risks inside of a holistic model managing the enterprise risks. Additionally, nominees must demonstrate how they have shared their security risk management accomplishments with people outside of their organizations.

Nomination forms are available on the AESRM web site. The deadline for nominations is July 11, 2008. Nominees must be members in good standing of ASIS International or ISACA. Three representatives from each organization will judge the nomination forms.

So you want to know what you get out of it? The winner of the Excellence in Security Convergence and Contribution to ERM Award will receive an expenses-paid trip to the ASIS International 54th Annual Seminar and Exhibits in September. ("You've just won the AESRM Excellence in Convergence Award Bob. What are you going to do now?" "I'm going to ASIS International!"

One of my favorite beer drinkers, Dave Tyson, previously chief security officer for the City of Vancouver, Canada and currently the senior director of information security operations at eBay in San Jose, Calif., is a past winner. He also served as a keynote speaker at TechSec in 2007.