Over 1,100 delegates set to attend world-renowned information security conference in Edinburgh

Edinburgh, Scotland, 17 June 2019 – The Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) annual conference kicks off today at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre until 21 June. The event will see the largest number of delegates to attend a FIRST conference in its history; welcoming over 1,100 individuals with a passion for IT security attending from over 80 countries.

The event, which is taking place in Edinburgh for the first time, will see both industry experts and academics speak in keynotes in addition to leading more than 100 meetings, tracks and workshops over the five-day conference.

Themes explored throughout the week will include the security implications of the IoT in addition to exploring how to anticipate what an attacker might do to a system and how to avoid it. Sessions through the week will also cover the latest research from several academics on topics including the Border Gateway Protocol. Sessions will promote worldwide coordination and cooperation among Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRTs).

As part of the conference keynote series, FIRST will also welcome Ken Munro of PenTestPartners; Dr Leonie Tanczer, Assistant Professor at University College London; Professor Monica Whitty of the University of Warwick, Merike Kaeo, CEO and founder of Double Shot Security and Miranda Mowbray, a lecturer at the University of Bristol.

Thomas Schreck, Chairman of FIRST commented: “More than ever, organisations are taking significant steps to not only invest in the security of their technology, but also in their people who can help to prevent security related incidents. It’s vital that they have the right skills and insight to be able to deal with an incident efficiently in times of crisis. No more evident is this than at our annual conference this week which will see FIRST’s highest ever delegate figures.”

“As with any community or membership organisation, it’s essential that mechanisms are put in place to facilitate collaboration and knowledge-sharing so that should a security incident occur, members have a ready-made network that can be called upon that can work together to tackle the problem at hand and put plans in place to prevent such occurrences in the future.”

Delegates will be attending FIRST’s annual conference from across the US and Asia to as far as Tonga.

To follow the Conference on Twitter, follow @FIRSTdotOrg or engage with the discussion via #firstcon19.

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About FIRST

Founded in 1990, the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) consists of internet emergency response teams from more than 460 corporations, government bodies, universities and other institutions across 91 countries in the Americas, Asia, Europe, Africa, and Oceania. It promotes cooperation among computer security incident response teams. For more information, visit: https://www.first.org

About the FIRST Conference

The FIRST Conference is a forum for sharing goals, ideas and information on how to improve global computer security. Conference attendees can earn up to 25 continuing professional education credits while they learn the latest security strategies in incident management, increase their knowledge and technical insight about security problems and their solutions, and gain insights into analysing network vulnerabilities.

The conference includes Incident Response, Management and Technical tracks. There are several presentations from featured invited and keynote speakers, along with tracks for Special Interest Groups (SIGs) & Birds of a Feather (BoFs) sessions. The conference also features Lightning Talks, a Vendor Showcase and Exhibits along with networking opportunities.

By attending the FIRST Conference, delegates will learn the latest security strategies in incident management and boost their knowledge and technical insight into security problems and their solutions.

Sponsors of the 2019 event include: Alibaba Group, Amazon Information Security, AWS, Anomali, AT&T, Bitdefender, BitSight, Celerium, Check Point, Cisco, DomainTools, EclecticIQ, ENISA (The EU Cybersecurity Agency), Facebook, Google, IBM Resilient, Microsoft, Recorded Future, Resecurity, SecureWorks, Surevine, and VMRay.

Media Contact

Kirsten Paul — Clark Communications:
+44 (0)131 225 9596 / +44 (0)7814 487 663
kirsten@clarkcommunications.co.uk