For the first time, South Africa's premier information security event, the ITWeb Security Summit 2018, will extend to Cape Town.
The summit, to be held on 28 and 29 May at the One&Only, will feature two half-day workshops, followed by the conference and expo the following day.
The event will feature two renowned international keynotes: April Wright, senior manager: information security and compliance at Verizon; and Jayson Street, VP: infosec at SphereNY.
In addition, a range of local experts will cover a variety of topics, including the latest threats and mitigation techniques, governance and compliance, as well as the more technical aspects of cyber security.
"It is crucial that businesses across South Africa are aware of cyber security, and have the knowledge and agility to deal with new threats as they rear their heads," says Angela Mace, CRM and events director at ITWeb. "The cost to businesses is staggering, with a 12% increase in the number of incidents over the last year. Moreover, according to the Ponemon Institute, the cost of a breach to SA organisations is R32.4 million, up from R28.6 million."
Martin Potgieter, co-founder and technical director of NClose, who will be presenting at the Cape Town event, says having the summit extend to Cape Town was one of the deciding factors for his organisation. "We believe it will be successful and will attract people and organisations that may have previously not attended the Johannesburg summit."
"The industry has a significant message to get across to organisations in the Western Cape about how they can combat today's advanced threats and hacking attacks; as well as obtaining machine behaviour insights that are crucial to meeting governance and compliance objectives," adds Jeremy Matthews, regional manager of Panda Security Africa, another notable speaker at this year's event.
"The summit is the ideal forum for us to deliver that message and engage with key security decision-makers. Our local office is based here in Cape Town and it is a key growth region. Aligning the Panda brand with this hallmark security event signals our ongoing commitment to addressing cyber security needs in this region," he adds.
According to Potgieter, Cape Town has various initiatives driven by private, public and NGO organisations, the aim being to create a hub for cyber innovation in the region, not only for South Africa, but Africa. "Hosting a cyber security focused event complements these initiatives and brings the end goal closer in sight."
Start-ups and other organisations that may not have been exposed to a security conference before will, for the first time, have access to industry leading local and global vendors and thought leaders, says Potgieter.
Matthews says the summit has proven to be highly successful in Gauteng. "It's a one-of-a-kind event and meeting place for security professionals. It makes sense to replicate this template in Cape Town, which is a dynamic digital and IT hub; and home, of course, to a range of corporate head offices in key sectors such as retail, financial services, media and oil."
Extending the summit to Cape Town will ensure Western Cape-based security professionals and IT decision-makers have access to the knowledge-share, learning and industry networking opportunities that the Security Summit delivers on, concludes Matthews.
ITWeb Security Summit 2018
Registration is open for the ITWeb Security Summit 2018 in Johannesburg and Cape Town. Experts from around the world will be presenting, including global security expert Mikko Hypponen, who has been instrumental in uncovering and bringing down several infamous threats, and has assisted law enforcement agencies across the globe. In addition, several other top speakers will be sharing their knowledge, including Intel's Rodrigo Branco, who will unpack blinded random block corruption attacks for the audience. Get involved in #SS18HACK and choose from three half-day workshops or a full-day boot camp, plus five training courses, and much more. For the agenda, click here.
To find out more and register for the ITWeb Security Summit 2018, go to: http://v2.itweb.co.za/event/itweb/security-summit-2018/?page=registration.
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