[1 CPE] Speaking the Language of Risk

  Presented by Tom Ruoff, Principal Consultant • ImageSource

Organizations face rapidly evolving cyber threats, yet many still view technology as a cost center rather than a strategic partner. This presentation reframes the conversation by translating technical risks into business and financial terms leaders understand. Attendees will learn how to identify Business Essential Functions (BEFs), quantify operational and financial impacts, and apply practical risk‑estimation methods. By establishing a common language of risk, leaders can align priorities, invest where it matters most, and meaningfully reduce enterprise exposure. The session equips both executives and IT teams with tools to build consensus and drive smarter, outcome‑based cybersecurity decisions.

Tom Ruoff serves as Principal Consultant for ImageSource, Inc. providing cybersecurity consulting services (risk assessments, threat hunting, pen testing, breach remediation, security architectures, policies, business impact assessment) to commercial clients including Native American Tribes and Tribal Casinos, he is also a founder and current CEO of Zorse Cyber. Tom retired from the Dept of Homeland Security (DHS), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in June 2023, as Chief, Methodology Branch, supervising vulnerability assessments for elections, power generation/distribution, and pipelines, and Federal Government IT systems. Before DHS, Tom was the Director of Systems Division at Northrop Grumman, developing cross domain solutions (CDS) for National Security Agency (NSA) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Air Force veteran with tours at NSA, CIA element of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and Defense Intelligence Agency He is a Level III Federally Certified Program Manager, PMP, CISSP, CMMI Associate, MS/BS degrees in physics and electrical engineering.

[1 CPE] Why Layered Identity Defense Is the Best Offense

  Presented by Sean Deuby, Principal Technologist, Americas • Semperis

Cyberattackers are adept at finding ways through your defenses and into identity systems like Active Directory, Entra ID, and Okta, and endpoint defenses won’t stop them. From there, they can move laterally, escalate privileges, access sensitive data and resources, and inject malware or ransomware. Implementing a layered defense that includes identity threat detection and response (ITDR) and robust identity recovery is key to true cyber resilience.

Join Sean Deuby, Principal Technologist, Semperis, to learn:

  • How layered defense has changed over time
  • Why ITDR and identity recovery are essential to a robust layered defense strategy
  • How a layered defense can help you combat attacks that are designed to bypass traditional attack-detection methods
  • Which best practices lead to identity—and cyber—resilience

[1 CPE] Securing Critical Environments

  Presented by Dan Frechette, Sales Engineer • Keystrike

Security in Industrial Control Systems and other critical environments comes with unique challenges and desired outcomes when compared to traditional cybersecurity.

[1 CPE] Observations from the Front Lines: The People Behind the Threats and Trends

  Presented by Peter Ingebrigtsen, Sr Technical Marketing Manager • Arctic Wolf

Cybersecurity threats don’t emerge in isolation—they are observed, analyzed, and stopped by real people working on the front lines every day. This session pulls back the curtain on modern security operations, focusing on the human-driven research that powers effective threat detection, incident response, and adaptive security strategies.

Drawing on Arctic Wolf Labs research, SOC analyst expertise, and real-world incident data, this talk examines how today’s attacks are identified, contextualized, and disrupted in live environments. Attendees will gain insight into the patterns behind the most persistent threats, how adversaries continually adapt, and why defenders must evolve just as quickly. Rather than focusing solely on tools or alerts, this session highlights the people, processes, and intelligence that transform raw telemetry into actionable defense – illustrating how to turn frontline observations into scalable protection for organizations of all sizes.

[1 CPE] Protect Against Organized Attackers with Verified Trust for the Extended Workforce

  Presented by Fernando Barcelo, Sr Sales Engineer • Ping Identity

Organized attacker groups aren’t just hammering your perimeter anymore—they’re impersonating your employees, contractors, and partners across hiring, access, and the helpdesk. AI-powered deepfakes, credential-stuffing, MFA fatigue, and social engineering are turning the extended workforce into the easiest path into critical systems. In this session, we will show how to move from implicit trust to Verified Trust: a continuous, identity-centric security model that binds every digital interaction back to a real, verified human—without slowing them down. You’ll see practical patterns for adding high-assurance verification and adaptive controls on top of your existing IdPs and infrastructure to stop organized attackers before they can establish a foothold.

Key Takeaways:

  • Understand how AI-driven impersonation and organized attacker groups exploit gaps across hiring, workforce access, and helpdesk workflows.
  • Learn how Continuous Verification, Verified Onboarding, Verified Access, and Verified Helpdesk reduce risk across your extended workforce without adding friction.
  • See how to layer verification, credentials, and orchestration capabilities on top of your existing identity and security stack to strengthen Zero Trust initiatives.

[1 CPE] Applied AI for Business: Turning Hype into Measurable Impact

  Presented by Greg Hatch, Sr Vice President, Strategic Growth • Gage Technologies

Despite widespread AI adoption in 2025–2026, only a small percentage of organizations are realizing significant business impact. This session cuts through the hype to clarify what AI truly is, explore the rise of generative and agentic AI, and highlight where real value is emerging—particularly in customer experience (CX) and security. Drawing on recent industry research and practical experience, we examine why many initiatives stall and what differentiates successful ones.

Participants will leave with a practical roadmap for AI success: aligning initiatives to clear business outcomes, assessing readiness, managing risks, and embedding security and governance from the start. The message is simple—AI transformation is less about the technology itself and more about strategy, data, leadership, and disciplined execution.

[1 CPE] From Endless Alerts to Continuous Action: Why CISOs Are Shifting to CTEM

  Presented by George Tang, Solution Engineer • Zafran Security

First introduced by Gartner in 2022, Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) has quickly moved beyond buzzword status to become a cornerstone of modern cybersecurity programs. Beyond traditional vulnerability management programs, CTEM focuses on continuously identifying, validating, and prioritizing exposures so security teams can act with precision.

But the stakes are rising. Adversaries are weaponizing AI to discover and exploit vulnerabilities faster than ever, leaving organizations little margin for error. For CISOs, the challenge isn’t just finding exposures—it’s keeping pace with an accelerating threat landscape while making smarter use of existing resources.

[1 CPE] The Enterprise Buyer’s Guide to AI Security Platforms

  Presented by Cato Networks

AI adoption is accelerating faster than security and governance, exposing organizations as sensitive data flows through copilots, LLM-powered apps, and agentic systems that legacy tools can’t properly protect. With a surge of AI security vendors entering the market, buying the right platform can be confusing. This presentation helps security leaders evaluate AI security solutions by clarifying the new risks AI creates, explaining the core pillars of AI security, and outlining how to compare platforms, ask the right questions, and avoid common buying mistakes.

[1 CPE] From Liability to Asset: Securing Unstructured Data at Scale in the Era of AI

  Presented by Rubrik

Unstructured data is the lifeblood of the modern organization, yet its sheer volume often outpaces the strategies meant to protect it. As this data becomes the fuel for future AI initiatives and business intelligence, the “old way” of managing NAS has become a primary point of failure.

In this session, we’ll dive into how Rubrik NAS Cloud Direct (NCD) redefines the protection of PB-scale file systems. We will explore a modern architectural approach that provides the speed, visibility, and cloud-native flexibility required to turn massive data sets into resilient assets. Whether you are preparing for an AI-driven future or simply struggling with the growth of your current footprint, this session will provide a blueprint for total unstructured data control.

[1 CPE] The Speed of Trust: Why Your AI Strategy is Only as Fast as Your Security Architecture

  Presented by Chris Staley, SASE Specialist • Palo Alto Networks

In the race for AI dominance, many businesses are hitting the brakes because their security can’t keep up. They’re stuck in the “Fragmentation Tax”—managing 60+ tools that don’t talk to each other while trying to govern a world of prompt injections and “Shadow AI.” Chris Staley, SASE Specialist at Palo Alto, will present on how organizations need to think about these challenges. Many organizations are caught between the need to reduce tool sprawl and contending with the hidden costs of adopting incomplete platforms.