My friend Richard Greenberg of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and co-chair of the organizing committee for AppSec USA 2010 has asked me to pass along the following info:
Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) announces AppSec USA 2010, the premiere web application security conference in North America
Los Angeles, California - July 9, 2010 - Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) announces AppSec USA, which will be held from September 7 to 10 at the University of California at Irvine.
The conference consists of two days of in-depth training classes on September 7 and 8, followed by two days of plenary sessions on September 9 and 10. BOF (Birds of Feathers) sessions and panel discussions round out the conference offerings.
Jeff Williams, keynote speaker and Chairman of the OWASP Foundation notes, "Software is simultaneously getting radically more critical, complex, and interconnected. This creates a perfect storm for attackers, who are having a field day with our systems. We will never hack our way secure. Instead, we need to change the way we think about software, build software, and buy software. OWASP's audacious goal is to reach all developers everywhere and help them build rugged code - because our future depends on it".
Williams continues, "I've attended many OWASP AppSec Conferences, and they truly bring together the leading researchers, innovators, and community leaders to focus on application security in a free and open noncommercial forum. There's a fantastic sense of community and shared purpose. We encourage anyone interested in secure code to come and find out what application security is all about. Our 501(c)(3) not-for-profit status allows us to keep prices extremely low".
Another keynote speaker, Bill Cheswick, is a well known security researcher with AT&T Research; his very popular book Firewalls and Internet Security has influenced many security practitioners.
The third keynote speaker, David Rice, is an internationally recognized information security professional. Mr. Rice , author of the highly acclaimed book, Geekonomics, which promotes awareness of the true cost of insecure software, made significant contributions to advance the security of our nation's critical infrastructure.
HD Moore, the final keynote speaker, is widely acclaimed for his creativity and technical skills, and brings a distinct perspective to AppSec. Mr. Moore's best known contribution to the security community is the Metasploit Project, an open-source project which can be used to find vulnerabilities in computer systems in order to protect or exploit them.
Irvine, located in Southern California, is beautiful year-round and the UC Irvine campus offers famous architecture, a large park, art, and modern facilities in a pleasant environment. Irvine is situated in the heart of Orange County and is next door to Los Angeles, San Diego, and many other attractions.
Richard Greenberg, Co-Chair of Conference Organizing Committee, says, "If you can only get away from the office for one conference, this is it. We all are aware of the insidious exploits taking advantage of all types of application security vulnerabilities".
Greenberg continues, "We need to learn from the experts in order to counter the attacks - to build solid and secure applications. The knowledge we pride ourselves of amassing is insufficient to meet the new evolving threats. Only by sharing our collective wisdom and experiences can we realistically expect to protect our assets".
The conference is still soliciting sponsors of different levels.
For more information on sponsorship, or to register, please visit http://www.AppSecUSA.org or contact Kate Hartmann at kate.hartmann@owasp.org.
Sounds like a great conference. If you can make it, you should check it out!
