At CYBR.SEC.Community, the mission is to build a community for everyone in the profession – from CISOs, engineers, compliance auditors and SOC staff to those who handle marketing, PR and sales for security vendors. We are especially focused on those just beginning their careers.
Sometimes that means keeping experienced security professionals current on the threats, technologies and changes reshaping their jobs. Sometimes it means helping people who are just starting out find their way into an industry that isn't always easy to break into. That's a big part of the mission behind CYBR.SEC.Careers — helping students, veterans and professionals transitioning into IT and cybersecurity.
So when an opportunity came along to support a cybersecurity event built as much around community and relationships as presentations, it made sense for us to sponsor CruiseCon.
I'll be aboard Oct. 3–8 to cover it for CYBR.SEC.Media. We'll depart from Galveston, Texas and travel south with a couple stops along the Mexico coast. I'll be recording video interviews with speakers and attendees throughout the voyage, along with keeping a daily "ship's log" of what I'm hearing, learning and seeing along the way.
Privacy + AI — and the questions underneath it
CruiseCon's central theme this year is Privacy + AI, and the timing couldn't be better. AI is moving faster. Agents are becoming more capable. Automation is changing how we work.
But while the industry races toward what's possible, security leaders have to answer a harder question: How do we protect what matters when the identity accessing our environment may no longer be human?
It's a topic we have been covering nonstop. Some examples:
George V. Hulme
Bill Brenner
Bill Brenner
Some serious conversations aboard this ship
I'll take a deeper dive into the individual sessions and speakers in a separate preview this week, but the schedule already gives a pretty good sense of what we're in for.
CruiseCon opens Oct. 3 with a Global 500 CISO "Ask Me Anything" panel featuring Cory Watts, CISO at Memorial Health System, and Justine Bone, executive director of Crypto ISAC.
The next morning gets interesting quickly. Dexter Ingram, former deputy director for WMD terrorism at the U.S. Department of State, will examine what three decades of counterterrorism taught him about today's cyber threats. His session connects lessons from Afghanistan, INTERPOL and the coalition against ISIS with encrypted communications, social engineering, human vulnerabilities and the accelerating effects of AI.
The agenda isn't all AI and privacy, either. Sean Barnes of Wolf Executives will close out the scheduled talks with a session on executive presence, communication and building the kind of trust required when technical leaders move into higher-stakes leadership roles.
Why CYBR.SEC.Careers is aboard
The sessions are one reason we're going. The community around them is another.
CruiseCon isn't simply bringing cybersecurity professionals together at sea this year. It's partnering with CYBR.SEC.Careers to help support the next generation coming into the profession.
CYBR.SEC.Careers is focused on early-workforce mentoring, scholarships, certifications, career development and giving people direct access to cybersecurity professionals who have already traveled some of the road they're beginning.
CruiseCon attendees can also receive 15% off reservations with the code CAREERS15.
I'll be there for CYBR.SEC.Media — camera in hand, talking with the people aboard and filing my daily ship's log.
