[1 CPE] Panel: Retaining Your IT Staff in a Post-Pandemic Workforce, Can it Be Done?

  Presented by INTERFACE Advisory Council

“The other company is offering higher wages. I get to work remotely as much as I want, and I am getting a four-day workweek. Sorry, but I must take it.” Have you heard this just a few times? So many IT hiring managers are having to find creative ways to keep staff members in-house. While budgets and major company overhauls can’t always be achieved, some methods can help.

Over the last three years, IT leaders have had unique challenges develop for retaining staff. Join the INTERFACE Advisory Council for an open conversation on how to keep your IT staff intact. This panel features local area IT hiring managers and leaders that deal with these challenges in their shops. Bring your questions as there will be an opportunity to get advice on your needs.

Panelists:

  • Pamela Davis, Cyber Security Threat Intelligence, Southwest Airlines
  • George Gerardo, Director, Information Technology, West-MEC
  • Stephanie Inners, Manager, IT & Systems, R. E. Darling Co., Inc.
  • John Kullman, Sr Manager, Network, Yuma County

[1 CPE] Shattered Perimeters

  Presented by Erik Graham, Marsh & McClennan Co.

Prior to COVID, the cyber perimeter of a business was relatively well defined. The business knew what information assets held what information. With COVID, it was necessary to change the cyber perimeter quickly to keep business alive. Today many businesses cannot tell you what information assets hold their data or how that data is protected. In this presentation, Erik Graham will cover several of the major risks with work-from-home (WFH) and possible solutions to those risks.

Erik Graham is a lead incident responder on the incident response team at Marsh & McLennan; he is responsible for the identification, documentation, and communication of security risks as well as the analysis, eradication, and recovery of cyber incidents that affect Marsh & McLennan’s information assets.

Erik has been working in the computer industry for 25+ years with over 20+ years directly focused on computer security and information assurance. He has worked in a wide variety of both physical and logical security areas related to computer network attack (CNA) and computer network defense (CND). Currently, he is working in multiple areas such as risk identification and management, evaluating emerging technologies, malware analysis, supply chain analysis, and cloud security.

Erik has a Bachelor of Science from the University of Phoenix, and a Master of Science in Information Assurance from Norwich University, and holds multiple industry certifications including CISSP-ISSAP, CISM, CRISC, and CDPSE.

[1 CPE] Open Source Developers Are Security’s New Front Line

  Presented by Austin Steffes, Sales Engineer • Sonatype

Bad actors have recognized the power of open source and are now beginning to create their own attack opportunities. This new form of assault allows hackers to poison the well, where OSS project credentials are compromised, and malicious code is intentionally injected into open source libraries. In this session, Sonatype will explain how both security and developers must work together to stop this trend or risk losing the entire open source ecosystem.

  • Analyze and detail the events leading to today’s “all-out” attack on the OSS industry.
  • Define the future of open source in today’s new normal.
  • Outline how developers can step into the role of security to protect themselves and the millions of people depending on them.

[1 CPE] Hybrid Cloud: Empowering IT with Resiliency, Multicloud Strategies, Optimal Spend, & Sustainability

  Presented by Michael Donahue, Sr Director, Hybrid Cloud and XaaS  • Hitachi Vantara

The hybrid cloud has emerged as a game-changing paradigm for modern IT infrastructure, offering IT Leaders and above a wealth of opportunities to drive innovation and efficiency. With the ever-increasing demand for cyber resiliency, flexibility, and sustainability, it is crucial for IT constituents to grasp the intricacies of the hybrid cloud, including key concepts such as security, multicloud, nearcloud, cloud spend optimization, data refactorization, and sustainability practices.

Throughout the session, real-world case studies and examples will be shared from Day 0, Day 1, and Day 2 customers.

  • Day 0 means you want to take advantage of this new framework but are still working through how to adopt hybrid cloud, how to secure it, and how to recruit proper talent to maximize it.
  • Day 1 means your organization took the first step and has a minimum spend commit they must meet. However, you’re still unsure of how to meet it because you’re still determining which applications to refactor, which containerized microservices to adopt, how to reskill existing talent, and how to implement your compliance and governance strategy.
  • Day 2 means your organization has already overcome these hurdles. Nice work! Instead of worrying about hitting a minimum spend commit, you’re now focused on optimizing your environment to limit sprawling cloud costs and looking towards data repatriation efforts.

Participants will have the opportunity to engage in interactive discussions and pose questions, fostering a collaborative learning environment. By the end of this session, IT Leaders will have the knowledge and tools necessary to evaluate, plan, and implement hybrid cloud solutions that align with their organization’s goals, including sustainability. Afterall, Hitachi is committed to providing solutions that are exclusively carbon-neutral or zero-carbon, ensuring a sustainable and environmentally friendly approach.

[1 CPE] Exploring the Anatomy of Modern-Day Breaches

  Presented by Tim Medin, CEO • Red Siege

Join this presentation for a comprehensive overview of modern cybersecurity threats and how breaches occur. We will highlight the various methods used by cybercriminals, including phishing, social engineering, and ransomware attacks, and emphasize the importance of identifying and addressing vulnerabilities before they can be exploited. Throughout the presentation, we’ll discuss the importance of a proactive approach to cybersecurity, including regular security assessments, penetration testing, and vulnerability scanning, as well as education and training for employees to recognize and report suspicious activity. There are a lot of vulnerabilities in the wild, and IT administrators and security professionals often focus on the wrong issues because they are easier to monitor or measure. By the end of the presentation, you will have gained valuable insights into the latest cybersecurity threats and how to protect against them.

[1 CPE] Saving Money in IT Project Management and Operations

  Presented by Michael J. Berry • Member and Presenter • PMI Northern Utah Chapter

In this session, you will learn how to save time, effort, and costs through Operational Excellence in IT Project Management. Also covered will be Operations that use patterns found in Agile, Lean, and Artificial Intelligence.

Michael J. Berry is the founder and chief consultant for Red Rock Research, a 17-year-old IT training and consulting company he founded in 2007. Michael’s professional consulting work has taken him all over the US, to Australia, to the Arctic Circle, and to Europe helping large companies optimize their project management and other production processes. Michael has worked in the software industry for over 35 years, specifically in Finance, Medical, and Manufacturing software. He is the creator of the Stable Framework™, an Operational Excellence performance management system for IT, and has a book blog you can read at https://blog.RedRockResearch.com.

[1 CPE] Backup ≠ Cyber Recovery

  Presented by Rubrik

Legacy backups are vulnerable to attacks, can’t help you find threats, and force you to do wholesale restores that drag out recovery times. Rubrik Zero Labs found that only 5% of organizations were able to return to business continuity or normal operations within one hour of discovering a CyberAttack. A modern cyber recovery solution is critical for Security and IT teams to be cyber-resilient. Learn how you can make your data indestructible.

[1 CPE] Practical Uses of Automation and AI: So Easy Even Your CEO Can Use Them

  Presented by Summit Technology

There is a lot of chatter about new AI, machine learning, and automation technology hitting the market. Many of these hyped capabilities are available to you in the technology platforms that you are already paying for. Join us for some simple live examples demonstrating how you can utilize some of these tools to capitalize on new technology to enhance your personal productivity.