ISSA-LA Encourages Greater Cybercrime Awareness During National Cyber Security Awareness Month

Online, October 9, 2012 (Newswire.com) - The Los Angeles Chapter of the Information Systems Security Association (ISSA-LA) is encouraging every person and business in Los Angeles to learn how to better protect themselves from cybercrime during National Cyber Security Awareness Month. ISSA-LA's motto is It takes the village to secure the village SM, meaning everyone is aware, involved and taking personal responsibility for protecting information.

"Cybercrime and identity theft threaten our businesses, non-profits, government agencies, schools and even individual consumers," said Stan Stahl, Ph.D., President of ISSA-LA. "ISSA-LA and other information security organizations in the Greater Los Angeles area meet regularly, to better educate ourselves and to raise community awareness. There are a lot of information security events this month and we encourage everyone to get involved."

On October 2, Dr. Stahl gave a Cyber Security Awareness Briefing at the South Bay Entrepreneurial Center in Torrance, California. In this non-technical talk, Dr. Stahl discussed the financial implications of cybercrime, illustrated how cyber criminals take control of a user's computer, described the limitations of technology, summarized emerging cyber security laws, regulations and practices, and provided practical tips to lower the risk of becoming a victim.

On October 9, Yev Avidon, ISSA-LA Education Director, and ISSA member Mikhael Felker will be speaking on cyber security at the IT Summit at the Long Beach Convention Center. Their talk is titled Hindsight is 20/20 - Headlines and Headway. For more information and to register: http://www.theitsummit.com/event/los-angeles-2012/.

On October 11, Dr. Stahl will give a similar Cyber Security Awareness Briefing at the monthly luncheon meeting of the Science and Engineering Council of Santa Barbara. More information is available at http://www.scieng.org.

On October 11 and 12, NetDiligence will be hosting their Cyber Risk and Privacy Liability Forum at the Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey. Dr. Stahl will discuss cyber challenges and solutions during a panel discussion entitled, "Why Can't We All Just Stop Breaches?" at 11:15 AM on Friday, October 12. More information and registration is available at http://litigationconferences.com/?p=25505.

On October 17, ISSA-LA will have its monthly lunch meeting at Les Freres Taix, near downtown. Joe Magee, CTO and Co-Founder of Vigilant, will speak on ways to detect threats in real-time. Corero Network Security is this month's vendor sponsor. More information and registration is available from ISSA-LA's website: http://www.issala.org.

On October 25 and 26 the 2012 ISSA International Conference will be held at the Magic Kingdom at Disneyland in Anaheim. The theme will be on the new opportunities that are developing in the midst of amazing transformations in technology, business and culture. Dr. Stahl and David Lam, ISSA-LA Vice President, will speak at 11:30AM on Friday, October 26, on "It takes the village to secure the village SM." More information and registration is available at http://www.issa.org.

In addition to ISSA-LA, other security organizations have activities scheduled for October. The organizations include ISACA, which holds their dinner meetings on the second Tuesday of each month; OWASP-LA, which meets every fourth Wednesday evening; CSA-LA, which meets regularly every second Wednesday evening of the month; and ISC2-LA, which meets every first Tuesday evening of the month. Meeting information for these events can be found at http://www.meetup.com.

The Information Systems Security Association Los Angeles Chapter (ISSA-LA) is the premier catalyst and information source in Los Angeles for improving the practice of information security. The Chapter conducts outreach programs to businesses, financial institutions, nonprofits, governmental agencies, and consumers. ISSA-LA is the founding Chapter of the Information Systems Security Association, an international not-for-profit organization of information security professionals and practitioners. For more information visit: www.issala.org

Stan Stahl, Ph.D. has been ISSA-LA President since 2008 and established its Community Outreach Program to encourage collaboration between Los Angeles business and community leaders, technical IT professionals and the information security community. Dr. Stahl is a pioneer in the field of information security, entering the field in 1980. He began his career securing teleconferencing at the White House, databases inside Cheyenne Mountain and the communications network controlling our nuclear weapons arsenal. Dr. Stahl earned his Ph.D. in mathematics from The University of Michigan and spent nearly 15 years teaching university mathematics. He was recently appointed to the Industry Advisory Board of the Information Technology Program at the Viterbi School of Engineering at USC.