19th Annual FIRST Conference: About the conference

[Protecting private and personal information] Privacy is the genie in the bottle for all data-holding organisations – once out, whether through crime or carelessness, private and personal information is out for ever, and has a power to do harm which is almost incalculable. In the wake of losses and thefts which have exposed millions of customers to fraud and identity theft, states in America and governments in many other countries are legislating or plan to legislate to compel corporates and other data-holders to report publicly all violations of digital privacy. [Preventing fraud, theft and accidental losses] The impact on reputation for those “named and shamed” may be catastrophic, and the risk to revenues and even to survival will be profound. New threats to privacy are emerging every day, and at the same time, tensions are rising between governments who want to harvest and store data about individual citizens and use it to oversee and steer behaviour, and corporates who collect data from and about citizens who are also customers. Already, brands which have been exposed by the media for “shopping” customers or “blocking” behaviour have suffered serious blows to their reputations.

[Preserving corporate reputation] Understanding these complex issues and being adequately prepared in case of exposure will be crucial if organisations are to navigate successfully all the trials that digital privacy is posing, and by joining the FIRST Global Computer Security Network conference in Seville, June 17-22, 2007, you will learn:

How privacy breaches most commonly occur – and security measures you can take to lessen the risks
What to do if a privacy breach does occur: guidelines for Incident Response Teams
How to communicate to stakeholders and the public to minimise damage to reputation and credibility after a privacy breach
Orwell’s “1984” – Past history or present tension? The challenges to individual liberties that are now unfolding as we grapple with big brothers around the globe.

If these are concerns you share, then you should attend the 19th Annual FIRST Conference, “Private Lives and Corporate Risk” in Seville, Spain, June 17-22, 2007. Sponsored by FIRST, this conference brings together security professionals from the global incident response community who are seeking answers to a raft of questions like those above.

New for 2007

New features at this year's conference will include:

Geek Zone – presentations with a Hands On Format aimed at smaller, more technical audiences of up to 30 people.
Lightning Talks – short presentations or speeches by any attendee on any topic, which can be scheduled into conference proceedings with the approval of the organisers.
Daily Global Security News Podcast – outlining latest Security News, highlights from the Conference and interviews with Conference attendees
FIRST 2007 Security Conference Blog
Beer 'n Gear – where vendors demonstrate their equipment
Entertainment at Conference Dinner
SIG (Special Interest Group) meetings, Vendor Booths and the Security Challenge

Who should attend

You do not need to be a member of FIRST to attend the 19th Conference. Any incident response and security team or security professional who has responsibility for coordinating how an organisation responds to digital security incidents should attend. And the conference will also be of interest to

Technical staff who determine security product requirements and implement solutions
Policy and decision makers with overall security responsibility
Law enforcement staff who are involved in investigating cyber crimes
Legal counsel who work with policy and decision makers in establishing security policies
Senior managers directly charged with protecting their corporate infrastructure
Government managers and senior executives who are responsible for protecting systems and critical infrastructures

Past participants at conferences have included IT managers, system and network administrators, software and hardware vendors, security solutions providers, ISPs, telecommunication providers and general computer and network security personnel.

Conference benefits

FIRST conferences promote worldwide coordination and cooperation among Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRTs). The conference provides a forum for sharing goals, ideas, and information on how to improve global computer security. The five-day event is comprised of two days of tutorials and three days of technical sessions where a range of topics of interest to teams in this global response community will be discussed.

As well as sharing our focus on privacy, attending the conference will enable you to:

Learn the latest security strategies in incident management
Increase your knowledge and technical insight about security problems and their solutions
Keep up-to-date with the latest incident response and prevention techniques
Gain insight on analysing network vulnerabilities
Hear how the industry experts manage their security issues
Interact and network with colleagues from around the world to exchange ideas and advice on incident management best practices

Join the Global Computer Security Network Today

This conference promises to be the best ever: record attendance is expected. So here is one event you don’t want to miss: take advantage of early registration and our hotel discounts – sign up today.

For more information about FIRST: Go to https://www.first.org

For questions about the conference, email: first-2007@first.org

Flyer[1] Flyer[2]

Download the conference flyer

19th-first-conference.pdf
PDF format, 4.13Mb