Checking in from RSA 2008

Greetings from San Francisco. I'm here not for the carrying, defense, or protest of the Olympic torch. I am here for the RSA conference 2008. I'm hardly alone; the San Francisco Chronicle reported yesterday that I'm here with about 17,000 colleagues. Among them are a number of Columbus-based security professionals.

Something that even the local technology community might not recognize is the tremendous level of information security and privacy talent that we have in Columbus. I don't mean just people who are taking on security and privacy work as part of their normal jobs or people who are going into a field that's perceived as hot. We have a tremendously accomplished group of professionals who have been providing thought leadership not just within their own firms or within their own communities, but are doing so at the national and international level. RSA, presented in San Francisco, is a pretty good view of some of what's happening in information security, and more than a little bit of it is coming from Columbus. Maybe you know some of the practitioners who are advancing the state of the art or the businesses that keep the industry alive and healthy.

Dan Houser, Sr. Security Architect at Cardinal Health, is likely the winner of the unofficial contest to see who can spend the most time presenting at a conference this year. He has five separate presentations, including the two presentations he had in the pre-conference.

Rounding out the Columbus information security contingent that I saw at last night's conference reception was Kevin Flanagan of RSAEMC (also presenting), Mike Radigan of Cisco Systems, and Jeff Sweet of DP Sciences.

Let me know if I've missed anyone. I'll check in again later in the week with developments of interest to the local tech community. Are there concerns that you have about information security that might be addressed here? What security issues are on your mind? I'll let you know the latest and best thinking on the issues that concern you.