[1 CPE] Breaking Down Silos: Unify Assets, Minimize Attack Exposure

  Presented by Mike Brown, Sr Systems Engineer • Axonius

In today’s rapidly evolving security landscape, organizations face the challenge of managing a wide array of tools across endpoints, identities, and networks. While each tool serves a critical purpose, they often operate in isolation, creating silos that obscure visibility and expose vulnerabilities. This session will address how the fragmentation of security systems and data increases attack surfaces and how integrating a unified cyber asset management approach can significantly reduce attack exposure.

Join us as we explore how security professionals can move beyond disconnected tools to leverage a single, comprehensive view of their assets and threat exposures. We’ll highlight practical steps and present a preview of an end-to-end solution designed to break down silos, provide full cyber asset visibility, and enable a more holistic approach to minimizing security risks.

As technology continues to evolve, managing disparate security systems will remain a pressing challenge. This session will offer actionable insights to security professionals looking to streamline their approach and safeguard their organizations from the growing complexities of cyber threats.

[1 CPE] Push Your Vulnerability Management Program Forward

  Presented by Chaney Edwards, Sr Security Solutions Engineer • Rapid7

We will begin focusing on building a framework that we will dive into the elements of in greater detail later in the presentation. These elements will be:

  1. Know your leadership, user base, regulations, and requirements
  2. Building policy and procedures
  3. Scan scheduling, design, and validation
  4. Remediation and exception processes
  5. Validation of program
  6. Flexibility and the OODA loop

We will start by focusing on the importance of knowing your leadership, user base, regulations, and requirements –– and ensuring others know that Leadership and Management buy-in is critical to the success of the program. We will talk about how to interact with your user base and what you should communicate with those individuals. We will also touch on how regulations and business requirements will play a part in your program design as well. Next, we will spend time on building policy and procedures and understanding the hierarchy and differences around Information Security Policy vs. Guidelines vs. Procedures.

From there we will shift gears and focus on scan scheduling, design, and validation of the scans in place. While many feel this is the most important part of a program, getting the data is the least important part of the whole process and we will discuss why that is. We will cover topics including scan frequency, targets, and validation. We will touch on the benefits of tagging, the use of agents, and reporting. The focus will be that there is no “right way” to scan and rather several considerations to guide you to what is right for you and your environment. We will also discuss remediation methods and how to track said remediations. With any remediation process, exceptions will occur, and we will touch on best practices for not only accepting that risk into your environment but curating that list for a continual review.

Finally, we will discuss program validation, flexibility, and the OODA loop (Observer, Orient, Decide, Act) and how where you are on day one in your program will inevitably change over time. For validation we will cover reporting not only to leadership but to internal stakeholders like security and governance programs, but also the user base as well. We will discuss topics requiring your program to be flexible like new assets, mergers and acquisitions, new projects, leadership changes, and more. Leveraging the OODA loop we will discuss processes to help tackle these changes and ensure your program can survive an ever-changing landscape.

The session will then end with a live Q&A to discuss any topics had or to field any thoughts on the matter to garner a collaborative end to the talk and allow for audience participation.

[1 CPE] How to Talk to Executives About Technology

  Presented by Dr. Ethan Benatan • Chief Information Officer, TriMet

As IT practitioners and leaders, you have deep knowledge about the benefits, risks, and costs associated with your IT operations. Yet IT is too often seen only as a cost center, as order-takers, or as a bunch of smart people who understand the things that our users see at the Service Desk. How can you increase your impact by helping your boss, their boss, executives, and the CEO understand what you have to offer? In this session, we will learn from real experience and leave with a toolkit that will help you better serve your organization –– and your career.

Dr. Ethan Benatan has led IT departments for over 25 years, spending over 10 of those years on executive teams across four different industries and overseeing IT portfolios worth up to a half-billion dollars. He currently serves as the Executive Director of IT and Chief Information Officer for TriMet, the regional transit authority in Portland Oregon, where he is proud to lead an IT team of over 100 professionals in service to the region.

Dr. Benatan is passionate about aligning IT with business needs and building effective communication between IT and internal customers. He is inspired by human potential and enjoys mentoring and teaching. He is a practiced communicator, facilitator, and trainer with skills in nonviolent communication and mindful compassionate dialog. In his spare time, he loves to nerd out on his hobbies which include billiards, flying, and salsa dancing.

[1 CPE] From Back-End to Boardroom: Securing Your Seat at the Table

  Presented by INTERFACE Advisory Council

Decisions are made every day at your organization that will impact all employees. Budgets, policies procedures, and more are discussed in board rooms, on conference calls, or at a staff lunch. Who is a part of these discussions? Are you? So often Information Technology departments are not included in key decisions about the direction of an organization, and they should be.

Join the INTERFACE Advisory Council for an open discussion about securing your “seat at the table.” IT performs so many crucial services that help all aspects of a business, it makes sense that you are offering up the needed insight into technology’s role in key decisions. Join this panel discussion to hear from your peers about how you can accomplish this tough task.

Moderator: Brandon Gatke, AVP of Information Technology and Security, Portland Community College

Panelists:

  • Ed Arib, Technology Manager, Portland Police Bureau
  • Steve Hankel, Vice President of Information Technology, Johanson Transportation Service
  • Brian Hole, Deputy CISO, Legacy Health
  • Jaya Srinivasan, CISO, Director of Cybersecurity, M Financial Group

[1 CPE] Architecting a Data-Centric Approach to Zero Trust

  Presented by Aaron Kremer, Technical Solution Specialist • NetApp

As organizations navigate the evolving landscape of virtualization, cloud computing, and AI, they face increasing challenges in securing and managing their data. Security remains a critical foundation, while effective data management and mobility ensure data is accessible and protected across diverse environments. With rising complexity, simplicity becomes key to optimizing operations and accelerating outcomes. This session will explore strategies for balancing security, data management, and efficiency, providing actionable insights to help meet the demands of today’s dynamic IT environment.

[1 CPE] AI in Cybersecurity: Unlocking Potential While Managing Risks

  Presented by Johan Bloomhart, Principal Sales Engineer • WatchGuard & BlackPoint IT

Join us for a 50-minute session exploring the evolving role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in cybersecurity. AI is transforming the way we detect and respond to threats, offering new opportunities to enhance security while also introducing unique challenges. This presentation will provide insights into how AI is shaping the security landscape and practical strategies for leveraging AI effectively to strengthen defenses and mitigate risks.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing cybersecurity, offering advanced capabilities to detect, prevent, and respond to threats. At the same time, cybercriminals are finding ways to use AI for more sophisticated attacks. In this session, we’ll explore AI’s impact on cybersecurity and discuss responsible ways to harness its potential while addressing emerging challenges.

This session will cover:

  • The evolution of AI and its growing role in business and security.
  • Ways security professionals are using AI to strengthen defenses and respond to threats.
  • The latest tools and best practices for minimizing AI-related risks.

Additionally, we’ll provide guidance on developing AI policies that help organizations maximize efficiency while maintaining strong security measures. Attendees will leave with actionable insights to help them integrate AI safely and effectively into their security strategies.

[1 CPE] The Future of AI-Enabled Data Platforms

  Presented by Ian Clatworthy, Global Director, Infrastructure Product Marketing • Hitachi Vantara

Removing the infrastructure silos and administration complexity around your application’s data gives you the flexibility to consume solutions and deliver total data freedom. Join us as we showcase the future of data storage as a single hybrid cloud platform for applications. Allowing you to consume the data services you need, where and when you need it! Offering a single data plane and control plane across block, file, object, and mainframe, with one common experience for administration, analytics, and automation.

Ian comes from a customer background in Formula 1 and World Rallying. Having a deep understanding of technology and its benefits he took his skills into technology sales and marketing with Dell and HDS. Today he leads Product Marketing for data infrastructure technologies at Hitachi Vantara.

[1 CPE] AI Agents & Automation: How They’re Changing the Way We Work

  Presented by Abram Erickson, Lead Data & AI Engineer • Cerium Networks

AI-powered agents are generating a lot of buzz. But what do they actually do?

In this session, you will see how organizations are starting to use AI-powered agents to solve business challenges and create new opportunities. We’ll cover advanced tools like custom GPTs, Copilot Studio, and Azure AI Foundry and see how they can be leveraged to drive AI innovation and streamline workflows. This session offers a deep dive into automation’s role in simplifying complex processes, enhancing customer experiences, and improving productivity.

[1 CPE] Streamline IT Operations in a World of Hypervisor Uncertainty

  Presented by Dave Weber, Sr Systems Engineer • Nutanix

The IT landscape is undergoing a major transformation with new hypervisor technologies and evolving pricing models. This shift presents a wealth of opportunities, yet only a select few solutions are truly enterprise-ready. These standout options deliver a complete suite of tools designed to optimize your IT operations and drive your business goals forward. Join this session to learn more about the potential for innovation and efficiency to streamline your workloads while maintaining your bottom line.

[1 CPE] Enhancing Security with Observability: Real-Time Threat Detection and Insights

  Presented by Kyle Kowalski, Lead Solutions Engineer • Dynatrace

In a world of complex dependencies, leveraging observability data can improve the security posture of any organization. From identifying false alarms to removing noise, to including critical context to vulnerability and anomaly detection, it helps to identify threats in real time.

Kyle Kowalski, Lead Solutions Engineer, will discuss how organizations can merge logs, metrics, events, and traces to create a comprehensive view of their environments. He will demonstrate the impact of AI in unifying these data points for faster, more accurate security insights.