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Women in Security Forum


The Women in Security Forum

At the ISSA-LA Security Summit

May 3, 2018 from 4-6PM and May-4, 2018 10-4PM

The Los Angeles Chapter of ISSA has long been an ardent supporter of diversity in the field of Information/Cyber Security. Our annual Security Summits have always had many women speakers and each year we have featured a Women in Security Panel. At Summit 9 in 2017, 7 of the 15 speaking sessions were top women executives from around the world representing information security, privacy, and other technology-oriented fields.

The fields of Information Technology and Information Security have had a problem attracting and retaining women professionals. This must change! It is becoming particularly crucial not just to give women in our society the opportunities they deserve, but we must address the current and projected vast shortage of qualified IT and InfoSec professionals.

The deficit of women in IT security begins at a young age, when too often girls are dissuaded from pursuing studies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), subjects that can form the foundation for the pursuit of a career in IT Security.

Girls need to be inspired to choose careers in Cyber Security, and role models are crucial to attracting young women into the field. This is why it is so important to ensure that all of our events have a focus to have female representation.

There has been a lot of discussion lately, on social media and in blogs, about increasing the number of women in cyber security, but there still remains an ugly side to this: discrimination. Sadly, most women in security have experienced some kind of discrimination during their careers. Men in the field have to have sensitivity towards the prevailing atmosphere and respect and appreciate women in security.

Our mission for our Women in Security Forum is to provide a focus for women in Information Security through talks, panel discussions, peer mentoring, workshops, and networking opportunities. We will have 2 concurrent sessions on May 3, and a full day of fantastic women speakers on May 4, including:

  • Chenxi Wang, Board Member at Cyber Diversity Foundation
  • Sandra Lambert, CEO at Lambert & Associates, LLC, and Co-founder of ISSA Intl.
  • Shannon Lietz, Director, DevSecOps, Intuit Inc.
  • Jennifer Sunshine Steffens, CEO at IOActive
  • Tammy Moskites, Managing Director, Senior Security Executive at Accenture
  • Georgia Weidman, CTO at Shevirah, Inc.
  • Marci McCarthy, CEO and President, T.E.N.
  • Marnie Wilking, CISO at Orion Health
  • Debbie Christofferson, Information Security Consultant, Sapphire-Security Services LLC
  • Hala Al-Adwan, VP of Technology, Signal Sciences Corp.
  • Masha Sedova, Co-Founder, Elevate Security
  • Yun-Kyung (Peggy) Lee, Deputy Regional Manager at US HHS Office for Civil Rights, Pacific Region – Los Angeles Field Office
  • Cynthia Stamer, Management & Regulatory Attorney at Cynthia Marcotte Stamer, P.C.
  • Jennifer Rathburn, Partner with Foley & Lardner LLP
  • Samantha Davison, Security Engineering Manager at Snap Inc.

While we proudly stand alongside our women in security colleagues, ISSA-LA is all about a diverse and open community; everyone, regardless of race, gender, religion and experience level, is encouraged to attend and participate.

The Security Summit starts on May 2-3 with one and two-day training classes, and continues with talks on May 3-4.  We are proud to have two great keynote speakers

Keynote Speakers:

  • Robert Herjavec, Shark Tank
  • Marcus J. Ranum

Other Notable Speakers include:

Ira Winkler, Robert Hansen, Mark Weatherford,   Jim Manico, Kevin Cardwell, Malcolm Harkins, Jeff Bardin, Chris Eng, Gunter Ollman, Jerry Sto.Tomas, Mike Villegas, and Alex Wood.

ISSA-LA, the founding Chapter of the Information Systems Security Association in 1982, is the premier catalyst and information source in Southern California for improving the practice of information security. The Chapter provides various training classes for information Security and IT professionals throughout the year and at the Summit.  ISSA-LA has a CISO Forum that meets quarterly at various companies throughout Southern California. The chapter meets monthly and regularly collaborates with other IT and InfoSec organizations, having joint meetings with ISACA, OWASP, the Cloud Security Alliance, HTCIA, and the Association of IT Professionals.