36TH Annual FIRST Conference BRIDGING SECURITY RESPONSE GAPS

Conference Chair’s Welcome

As Conference Chair for this year and on behalf of the FIRST Board of Directors, it is our great pleasure to welcome you to Fukuoka. This conference was originally planned for 2021 and sadly postponed until this year due to the pandemic. If you include the site research and preparation time, we have been dreaming about this conference for over five years. I am truly delighted that we can finally meet in Fukuoka on this occasion.

My sincere appreciation goes to the sponsors for their tremendous support, the speakers for their wide range of expert knowledge, and the outstanding program committee for creating such a rich agenda. There are also a number of staff who have provided support in a professional and dedicated manner to make this event happen. Most importantly, I would like to thank each of the attendees who made it all the way from different places in the world, including the local teams from Japan, because I believe what really adds value to the conference is the active participation of all attendees.

One of FIRST’s strengths is that our annual conference rotate among regions with the support of our global membership. The last time we held this conference in Asia was in 2018 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It has also been 15 years since our last conference in Japan (Kyoto, 2009). As an international organization, it is important for FIRST to continue the journey of the conference in different regions of the world. The FIRST Board of Directors is currently considering potential outreach to further regions that have yet to host this grand gathering. This is part of our effort to make our community more diverse and inclusive.

Over the course of the next six days, a whole range of very exciting and eventful activities is awaiting us--including over 70 presentations! I look forward to the active discussion on various cybersecurity topics and hope each participant finds plentiful and useful takeaways to apply to their daily operations. I would also like to emphasize the importance of interacting with other participants inside and outside the sessions, during the coffee breaks and social events.

Finally, as a native of Japan, I hope everyone has a chance to enjoy Japanese hospitality, culture and cuisine, especially those that are special to this local region in Fukuoka.

Yukako Uchida
Conference Chair for the 36th Annual
FIRST Conference, Board of Directors