The RH-ISAC celebrated its most successful Summit to date with a fascinating closing keynote by LTG John Mulholland Jr (Ret), commander of the “horse soldiers” of the Iraqi Freedom campaign, who gave attendees advice on great leadership: Leadership demands moral courage—be equal to it! It would not have been possible without our quickly growing, global community. There are now more than 128 companies sharing information and intelligence daily through the RH-ISAC.
Highlights of the Summit included Doug Stephens, the Retail Prophet, who spoke to attendees about “what’s next” in retail; as well as a breakdown of the Magecart card skimming operation given by RiskIQ, who have been publishing details on this set of groups under the umbrella name, profiling their attacks on e-commerce from small shops to major online merchants like Ticketmaster and British Airways. M ore than 18 breakout panels and forums followed 4 keynotes, where, in many instances, practitioners opened the curtains on how they have dealt with challenges, sharing their pain points in order to help strengthen the industry as a whole. A self-organized Birds of a Feather luncheon gave attendees the chance to delve further into particular topics of interest in their organizations. One attendee said it felt more like a team meeting than a conference!
There was no shortage of networking opportunities at the 2018 Summit: Attendees were treated to a welcome reception, sponsored by Shape Security; the Networking Space, where sponsors and attendees had the opportunity to meet; the Member Gala, sponsored by ReliaQuest, where the Peer Choice Awards were announced; and a closing reception, sponsored by Intel 471.
The RH-ISAC Annual Meeting was held during the Gala, where the RH-ISAC Nominating Committee (board members Ken Athanasiou and Roseann Larson) presented the results of the board election. The four incumbents: Jim Cameli of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Dave Spooner of The TJX Companies, Grant Sewell of Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, and Warren Steytler of Lowe’s Companies were reelected to the board.
The Peer Choice Awards—the highlight of the evening—are voted on by members and honor those individuals and organizations who show dedication to sharing cyber intelligence on incidents, threats, vulnerabilities and associated threat remediation because, as a community, we understand that we are stronger together.
- CISO of the Year: Rich Agostino, CISO, Target Corporation
- Cybersecurity Team of the Year: Information Security Team, Target Corporation
- Breakthrough Female in Cybersecurity: Angeline Button, Dillard’s and Vanessa Aranda, Gap, Inc.
- Cybersecurity Practitioner of the Year: Ryan Miller, Target Corporation
- Associate Member of the Year: Intel 471
- Fast Starter Award: Wendy’s Company
We congratulate all award recipients!
Numerous new projects were identified by working groups, and work is already underway. Many attendees told the RH-ISAC team about practical tips and techniques they will take back to their teams, as well as the excellent opportunities for networking provided by the entire event. Colin Anderson, Global Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), Levi Strauss, wrapped up the experience by saying, “The RH-ISAC Summit was a smashing success. I walked away excited to see the energy and passion to collaborate and collectively address the threats we all are working to manage for our respective companies.”
Next year’s Summit promises to provide additional opportunities to network with peers and meet new colleagues, so mark the dates on your calendars and stay tuned for information as we have it! The 2019 Retail Cyber Intelligence Summit will take place September 23-25 at the Four Seasons, Denver.
