Grand Rapids ISSA Chapter

About Us

GR-ISSA is a local chapter of the international Information Systems Security Association (or ISSA). 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 nine months out of the year on the third friday of the month unless stated otherwise. Meetings are suspended during summer months (June through August) 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

Presentations

June, July, August

No meetings.

Friday September 19, 2008 - Application Level Firewalls

Presented by Ryan Cummings, Network Manager, Kalamazoo Valley Community College

Today, web exploits are just as likely to target zero-day vulnerabilities as well as long known vulnerabilities. Organizations that rely on the cycle of vulnerability disclosure, patch release, testing and patch deployment will always have a high level of exposure to attack. For non-critical systems this approach may be acceptable, but for "mission critical" systems it is not. To ensure that high value assets are protected appropriately, this presentation will describe and discuss the importance of strategically placed application level firewalls as part of a risk-based approach to information security that also improves network efficiency and flow.

Friday October 17, 2008 - FBI Insights & Opportunities

Presented by Special Agent Adam Van Deuren and Special Agent John King, Grand Rapids Office

Details forthcoming.

Friday November 21, 2008 - Removing Local Admin Privileges

Presented by Ray Davidson, PhD. - Program Manager, Vigil Inc.

In the past, most organizations installed Windows with full administrative privileges for all users. This has created a fertile environment for security exploits, as well as a management nightmare. For those reasons, some organizations are rethinking their past folly, and considering removing administrative privileges from some or all of their users. Like Pandora, they.re finding that it.s no easy task; there are myriad devils and details.

Ray Davidson will share his experience moving a large (18,000) organization from 100% administrators to 10% administrators and lead a discussion of the challenges and benefits of such a change. Bring your own experiences . victories and lessons learned . and let.s have a lively interaction.

Friday December 19, 2008 - Handling the Risks of E-Discovery (FRCP Compliance)

Presented by Daniel Estrada, President - D.C. Estrada Information Technology

Another compliance acronym? In this presentation, we'll avoid the procedural stuff and take a pragmatic look at e-discovery from an IT perspective. Daniel Estrada will address the basics of e-discovery compliance and the requirements companies face under the amended Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP).

Daniel will also lead a discussion about the new risks and challenges that e-discovery presents for all organizations, particularly as related to security and compliance efforts. He will discuss:

The e-discovery process

Litigation preparedness best practices

How to communicate with lawyers

Friday January 16, 2009 - Botnets - Understanding and Combatting

Presented by Tim Crothers, Lead IT Security Specialist for Alticor

Bots have become the tool of choice for professional criminals with estimated infections ranging in the millions of PCs. Desktop PCs are being taken over and used for sending spam, hosting phishing sites, and gathering personal information for identity theft and other fraud - all without the user's knowledge. In this presentation you'll get a solid understanding of how bots work by seeing a live demonstration of a desktop PC infected with actual bot code and controlled remotely. Once you've got a firm understanding of how the bots work the presentation will then move into techniques for preventing, detecting, and removing bot infestations.

Past Presentations

Electronic presentation material are available 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.

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 Lloyd Guyot [lloyd dot guyot at spectrum-health dot org]

Vice President Paul Melson

Membership Director Ed Jaros

Treasurer Kevin Tyrrell

Secretary Jason Link

Last modified: June 19, 2008