FIRST - Global Incident Response & Security Team organization to hold 35th Conference in Canada in June

The Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) plans to hold its 35th Annual Conference with the theme ‘Empowering Communities,’ in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, from June 4 to 9, 2023. This six-day event brings the incident prevention community together with cyber security experts to foster information sharing, cooperation, and coordination. Typically, over 1,000 people from around the world attend.

February, 24th, 2023 - The annual FIRST conference is held in different countries across the globe to ensure the cybersecurity community can meet, collaborate and learn from each other no matter where they are based. Canada is the perfect location for the 35th event due to its thriving cybersecurity industry. According to the Government of Canada’s report, ‘The State of Canada’s Cybersecurity Industry Fall 2022,’ the country’s cybersecurity industry contributed over CAD3.2 billion in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 29,000 jobs across the Canadian economy in 2020. Total economic activity supported by the Canadian cybersecurity industry increased by over CAD860 million in GDP and 6,900 jobs between 2018 and 2020. Canada’s cybersecurity industry: outperformed the broader information communications technology sector across industrial indicators since 2018 and contributed over 29,000 jobs to the Canadian economy; it was STEM-oriented and R&D-intensive, with over CAD1.15 billion in exports.*

Attendees to the conference will find training and workshops, presentations, panel discussions, case studies, and insights delivered by specially selected worldwide experts in their field. The event is also one of the world’s best platforms for the industry to network and build mutually beneficial relationships for future cooperation and coordination. A showcase of technology providers, including Arctic Security, Google, Thinkst Canary, and Threatray, completes the exposition. The entire program and exhibition will be available by mid-March 2023.

Ted Norminton, FIRST Annual Conference Program Chair said: "The quality of this year's program has us very excited. This is certainly a must-attend event for anyone in cyber security to learn from a cross section of experts, whether you are looking to learn from case studies and specialists on handling and mitigating incidents, to train on key tools, or how to build or improve your incident response team. Beyond the fantastic program we have, the conference's origins are in resolving incidents quickly through improving collaboration and partnerships that last well beyond the conference and that's as true now as it was 35 years ago. Canada is a great choice this year with it's booming cybersecurity sector, and Montreal is a diverse technical hub that exemplifies the theme of Empowering Communities."

The event is for information security practitioners, executive management, network architects, system and network administrators, software and hardware vendors, security solutions providers, ISPs, law enforcement, and general computer and network security personnel. Cybersecurity managers and technical staff, policy and decision-makers, law enforcement staff, legal counsel, government managers, and senior executives responsible for protecting systems and critical infrastructure will also find the conference most valuable.

For more information on the 35th Annual FIRST Conference in Montreal and registration, visit: https://www.first.org/conference/2023/.

Sponsors signed up so far include: Adobe, Arctic Security, Bitdefender, CIRCL, Cisco, CrowdSec, ERIUM, Fortinet, Google, Hitachi, OTRS, SentinelOne, Silobreaker, Thinkst Canary, ThreatRay, and Uptycs.

Complimentary media spaces are available at the conference, please get in touch with us for further details and with any interview requests.

*Source: https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/aerospace-defence/en/state-canadas-cybersecurity-industry

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Issued on behalf of FIRST. For further information please contact: press@first.org.

About FIRST

FIRST aspires to bring together incident response and security teams from every country across the world to ensure a safe internet for all. Founded in 1990, the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) consists of internet emergency response teams from over 670 corporations, government bodies, universities and other institutions across 100 countries in the Americas, Asia, Europe, Africa, and Oceania.

For more information, visit: https://www.first.org.

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