Hybrid conference brings together top security industry leaders around the world
ASIS International opened its annual conference today – Global Security Exchange (GSX) 2021, taking place in Orlando, FL and online. The event continues through 29 September, featuring an extensive program with more than 100+ educational sessions, daily keynote speakers and general sessions, and a show floor with more than 300 leading innovators from the security industry.
The conference kicked off with a welcome message from Orange County Mayor, Jerry Demings, who spoke about his career in law enforcement and the positive impact of meetings like GSX on the private and public sectors.
Six themed learning theaters on the exhibit floor and online
With 100+ sessions throughout the week spread across six themed learning theaters on the exhibit floor and online, the GSX 2021 will deliver more than 115 hours of security education in all. All sessions are recorded and will be available on-demand through the GSX digital platform through the end of 2021.
“This year’s hybrid event is unlike any previous GSX and our most ambitious effort ever to convene the global security community, digitally and in-person in a one-of-a-kind hybrid format during the time of COVID-19,” said 2021 ASIS International President, John Petruzzi, Jr, CPP. “Our goal throughout the planning process was to make sure no security professional gets left behind, no matter where they are around the world.”
Keynote address by Dan Pink
The day’s keynote address featured Dan Pink, one of the best-selling non-fiction authors of the last decade. In his presentation, How to Make Time Your Ally, Not Your Enemy, Pink focused on evidence-based ways to bring effective structure to employees’ work lives.
“We believe timing is an art, but timing is really a science,” he shared.
“There is a hidden pattern of the day that profoundly affects mood and performance.” He spoke about the repeating pattern of each workday: peak (early in the day), trough (middle of the day) and recovery (end of the day). During peak times, Pink explained, that is the best time to do analytical work. The trough, he suggested, is the best time of day to do administrative work, and the recovery period is the optimal time to gather and assess insights.
In Monday’s Game Changer session, Keeping Pace with Cyber Threats: Developing a Future Focused Risk Posture, a panel of public service and private industry leaders discussed how teams can collaborate to meet new ransomware and data breach threats. Sergio Caltagirone, vice president of threat intelligence for Dragos, Inc., spoke to difficulties maintaining control of employees’ credentials.
However, he identified an adversarial trend that poses some potential for defenders: “When adversaries get in, they tend to stay in for a long time,” he shared. “For us, as defenders, that can be a good thing. That gives us more time to find them.”
Security Management Live
Newly launched at GSX 2021 is Security Management Live, a broadcast featuring interviews with Chief Security Officers (CSOs), industry veterans, innovators, and more from the GSX broadcast studio, learning theaters, and exhibit hall.
In this broadcast, acclaimed victims’ rights attorney, Michael A. Haggard, managing partner with The Haggard Law Firm (based in Coral Gables, FL), discussed why the role of security is more important than ever. He explained how ASIS International Standards and Guidelines are extremely important tools for security professionals’ scenario planning.
“We must prevent against the unthinkable in part by recognizing the warning signs of potential assailants, he shared. “Identifying suspicious behavior is key.”
Haggard added that the security profession’s role is to help all citizens. No longer can anyone in companies say security isn’t their area of responsibility. All employees have a role to play in mitigating risk and tragic events.
Amanda Ripley will present on Breaking the Spell of High Conflict
On Tuesday, New York Times bestselling author and award-winning journalist Amanda Ripley will present on Breaking the Spell of High Conflict at 8:30 am ET. Taking place at 3:30 pm ET, Tuesday’s Game Changer session, Post-Pandemic Workplace: The Mental Health and Wellness of Employees, will explore recent mental health trends in the context of what it means for the security profession. The following sessions highlight some of the discussions taking place on Tuesday:
- Coaching: Building and Maintaining Teams Theater: Women in Security: Opportunities for Global Change, 10:00 am ET
- Defensive Strategies: Surviving the Unexpected Theater: Confessions of a CIA Spy: The Art of Human Hacking, 11:30 am ET
- Future Plays: Navigating the Changing Landscape Theater: Physical Security Technology in Commercial Real Estate: The Impact of COVID-19, 11:30 am ET
- Game Plans: What’s Next for Security Theater: The Business of Security is the Strategy of the Business, 10 am ET
- Highlight Reel: Best Practices Theater: Never Waste an Emergency: Resilient Recovery through After-Action Reporting, 11:30 am ET
- Offensive Strategies: Preparing for an Attack Theater: A Guide to Protecting Physical Security Systems from Cyber Attacks, 2:00 pm ET
About Global Security Exchange (GSX)
Global Security Exchange (GSX) is the world’s most comprehensive event for security professionals for more than 65 years. Meeting the needs of the global security community, ASIS designed an in-person and digital experience like none other in the security profession. ASIS International remains dedicated to expanding and enriching knowledge sharing, best practices, and peer-to-peer connections so security professionals across disciplines—and at all stages of their career—can get access to the information and resources they need to succeed.
visit www.GSX.org.
Source: asisonline.org