GR-ISSA
An Information Systems Security Association Chapter
About Us
GR-ISSA is a local chapter of the international Information Systems Security Association (or ISSA) based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. GR-ISSA provides local security professionals and practitioners a variety of information security resources ranging from presentations and knowledge sharing to social networking opportunities. This site is dedicated to the Grand Rapids, Michigan chapter of ISSA. GR-ISSA was founded in 2003. For information about the parent international ISSA organization, you are encouraged to visit www.issa.org.
Meetings
Meeting Time
Meetings are held eight months out of the year on the third Friday of the month unless stated otherwise. Meetings are suspended during summer months (June through September) in recognition of vacations etc.
| Social Networking | 2:30 - 3:00 PM EST |
| Presentation | 3:00 - 4:30 PM EST |
| Open Discussion | 4:30 - 5:00 PM EST |
Meeting Location
Chapter meetings are held at Steelcase Global Headquarters in Grand Rapids Michigan. Steelcase Global Headquarters are located on the northeast corner of 44th street and Eastern avenue. Guest parking is available free of charge, accessible from the 44th street entrance closest to Eastern avenue. Attendees are asked to use the main entrance facing 44th street. Upon entering the lobby a receptionist will greet you, please sign in and take a name tag. Chapter meetings are held downstairs in one of the multipurpose rooms near the cafeteria.
Steelcase Global Headquarters
901 44th Street SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49508
Upcoming Presentations
Friday January 20, 2012 - Security Ghost Stories
Presented by Paul Melson
Everybody loves a good story! Join us to hear Paul Melson spin tales of real hacks and hackers. Then participate in the lessons learned discussions from each of these security ghost stories. It's the best of both worlds! Be entertained by and learn from the mistakes and misfortune of others. Also, like any good ghost story, there will be a surprise twist!
Paul Melson is the Information Security Officer at Priority Health. He has worked in IT for 17 years, spending the last decade of his career focused on information security. He has a degree in Business Management from Spring Arbor University, and currently holds CISSP and SANS GCIH certifications. He's a frequent speaker on security topics including healthcare compliance, malware, incident response, and security strategy. For fun, he likes reversing malware, riding his 30-year old 10-speed bike, and talking about the beer he drinks on Twitter.
Past Presentations
Electronic presentation material are available, when provided by the speaker, with chapter membership through the chapter archives.
Membership
GR-ISSA Chapter Membership
To become a member of the Grand Rapids ISSA chapter we ask that you be a West Michigan information security student or professional. Membership benefits include access to chapter emails advertising coming events and peer commentary on topics of information security. Benefits also include access to email and presentation archives.
Chapter membership requires a multi-step process as outlined below.
- Begin the application process by providing a valid email address and choosing a password for your chapter account. You should receive an email seeking confirmation of your email address.
- Follow the instructions provided in the confirmation email. Once confirmed, a moderator will contact you via email.
- The moderator will ask for additional information about you such as title, organization and contact information. You will also be asked to agree to the chapter terms shown below. Reply to the moderator to continue the application process.
- Professionalism: you agree to follow common standards of email etiquette.
- Relevance: you agree to only post messages relevant to the interests of GR-ISSA.
- Privacy: you agree to not breach the privacy of list participants (e.g. by not revealing names or forwarding content without the owner's permission).
- No advertising: you agree to refrain from advertising any product or service.
- The moderator will issue a final email either granting or denying your chapter membership.
Chapter members will be added to the chapter mailing list, [gr-issa-discuss@gr-issa.org].
GR-ISSA Chapter Dues
GR-ISSA does not require dues. GR-ISSA solicits guest speakers that will donate their time and information. GR-ISSA also solicits local organizations that will donate their conference room facilities for a few hours each month to accommodate our monthly meetings. Combined, these donations of time, information and facilities have allowed GR-ISSA to waive all requirements for monthly or yearly chapter dues.
ISSA Membership and Fees
International ISSA membership requires an annual fee paid by either an individual or an organization as appropriate. Although ISSA membership is not required to attend GR-ISSA chapter meetings, we strongly recommend attendees to consider the benefits of ISSA membership. The international site also offers an online option for joining ISSA at any time.
Archives
The GR-ISSA archive contains discussion list (gr-issa-discuss and gr-issa-announce) and past presentation material. All archive access begins with chapter membership. Without chapter membership, you will not have access to the archive and its contents. Consult membership for details.
Archive and discussion list logon information will be synchronized. If your chapter membership is new or passwords where changed, you must wait 24 hours before the account settings take effect on the archive.
Chapter members will have access to the following materials:
- email archive for gr-issa-discuss
- email archive for gr-issa-announce (deprecated in 2007)
- GR-ISSA past presentation materials
Contact
There are a few options available for contacting Grand Rapids ISSA chapter members.
- [gr-issa-discuss at gr-issa dot org], entire chapter member base.
- [gr-issa at gr-issa dot org], prominent chapter members and the chapter executive board.
- [gr-issa-exec at gr-issa dot org], chapter executive board.
Additionally, some executive board members can be contacted directly.
| President | Christopher Payne | |
| Vice President | Jeff Bleich | |
| Membership Director | Doug Nibbelink | |
| Treasurer | Jesse Grauman | |
| Secretary | Matt DeVries |
Job Postings
Information Security Engineer III
Priority Health
Grand Rapids, MI
Priority Health is an award-winning health plan nationally recognized for creating innovative solutions that impact health care costs while maximizing customer experience. It offers a broad portfolio of products for employer groups, individuals and Medicare and Medicaid. As a nonprofit company, Priority Health serves more than 600,000 people and continues to be ranked among America's best health plans by the National Committee for Quality Assurance.
Priority Health is seeking an Information Security Engineer III that will be responsible for designing and implementing information security systems at Priority Health. This position will be responsible for detecting and responding to security incidents, the management of compliance and vulnerability testing, the administration of information security devices, the risk assessment of new systems, researching, testing and recommending new security technologies.
The ideal team member will be passionate about information security with multiple years of experience designing and implementing systems. Priority Health is an industry leader in security and you will be part of an innovative, mature security program.
Qualifications/Requirements Basic Qualifications
* Minimum of high school diploma or GED required.
* Minimum of 5 years full-time experience in an enterprise IT environment.
* Minimum of 3 years of full-time information security experience.
* Willing to work nights and weekends on a rotational basis as needed.
Preferred Qualifications
* Bachelor's degree in computer science or a relate field.
* Seven plus years full-time experience in an enterprise IT environment.
* Five plus years of full-time information security experience.
* Information security advanced certification preferred such as GCIH, CISSP, CISA or CISM.
* Expert knowledge in two or more of: UNIX server administration, windows server administration, network administration, firewalls, intrusion detection systems, security information management systems, vulnerability assessment systems, penetration testing, and malware analysis.
* Experience with malware analysis tools and techniques.
* Experience with network intrusion detection systems, packet capture techniques, and analysis of raw packet captures.
* Experience with security information management systems and common system log formats.
* Experience leading security incident response procedures.
* Experience using vulnerability assessment systems to test enterprise networks and applications.
* Strong experience with the theory and practice of information risk analysis and risk management.
Priority Health is an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, veteran status, or disability.