These are exciting times to be in the Identity and Access Management (IAM) space. The marketplace opening up to major new opportunities, with new technologies like blockchain, the Internet of Things, and advanced authentication/authorization measures, are making waves in the industry.
The market growth of IAM is also escalating. Cloud-based IAM systems are set to grow by a CAGR of 30.89% to 2023, and Customer-driven IAM (CIAM) is expected to reach $31.75 billion by 2022.
In keeping with this blossoming space, conferences are focusing attention on the identity empowering aspects of IAM alongside cybersecurity and privacy. These conferences are an excellent way to both keep up to date with industry innovation and news and also to network with identity professionals. To help you decide which are the best identity and cybersecurity conferences to visit in 2018 we’ve come up with our own list which we’ve shared with you here:
When: March 5-6 2018
Where: London, UK
Gartner run an annual summit which presents the state of the IAM nation. Gartner analysts lead the presentation and look at various aspects of the IAM space, from both a technical and business perspective. The conference offers the option to ‘attend as a team’ which is set up to save your organization money, and to pull in a more rich experience across multiple areas covered in the conference.
Check out this talk as a ‘hot topic’ for 2018:
Privacy Pressure: Tame the General Data Protection Regulation Before It Attacks You!
Presenters not to miss:
Lori Robinson, Vice President Gartner
Felix Gaehtgens, Director Gartner
Brian Iverson, Director Gartner
When: April 16-20 2018
Where: San Francisco, CA
Once RSA was purely about subjects that fell directly under the highly technical cybersecurity arena. Now the show also has a multitude of sessions on not just traditional cybersecurity topics but also IAM. Agenda items for this year's show cover everything from tutorials and training sessions to panels and speaking sl ots by some of the world's experts in cybersecurity and IAM.
Check out this keynote panel:
The Five Most Dangerous New Attack Techniques, and What's Coming Next
Presenters are still being firmed up for this year's show, but here are some videos from 2017’s hot topics:
When: March 19-21,2018
Where: Orlando, Florida
InfoSec World puts the emphasis on ‘the business of security’. It brings folks from across the disciplines of business and technology together to work toward better, more secure systems. The show is a mix of expert speakers across domains, hands-on training workshops and an expo showcasing cutting-edge vendors.
Don’t miss keynote:
By Amelie Moran on “Are We There Yet?” - Getting There Is Only Half The Trip”
Presenter’s not to miss:
Clint Gibler, Security Consultant NCC Group
Connie Mastovich, SR Security Compliance Analyst
Emily Heath, CISO United Airlines
When: March 19-26, 2018
Where: Orlando, FL
This is a lengthy conference taking in several days of hands-on sessions to give you true value for money. The conference is all about bringing together those who are at the top of their game with practitioners, to share information and ideas. The summit covers a wide-range of topics and for identity professionals, this is key to ensuring you have a full suite of knowledge needed to apply security across an identity system.
Speakers are still being firmed up for the 2018 show, but don’t miss:
“ICS Threat Intelligence: Moving from the Unknowns to a Defended Landscape”
And speakers to see include:
Robert M Lee, Founder, and CEO of SANS
Joe Slowik, Adversary Hunter, Dragos, Inc.
Jimmy Wylie, Senior Adversary Hunter
When: May 15-18 2018
Where: Munich, Germany
Identity and security specialist analysts, KuppingerCole, run this regular conference and summit on identity. The show brings together the most experienced and industry renowned identity professionals. The show is a ‘must go to’ event for anyone who works in the identity arena. It offers cutting-edge opinions, as well as hands-on case studies that give an insight into the everyday lives of a practicing identity architects and implementations.
The conference speaker list is still being built, but for many years the infamous Kim Cameron who developed the idea of “The Laws of Identity” has been a keynote speaker.
Topics this year that to catch include:
There is also a full suite of sessions covering the use of blockchain in identity.
Speakers from 2017 included:
Eve Maler, XML, SAML, and UMA protocol inventor as well as VP for Forgerock
Prof. Dr. Udo Helmbrecht, Director of ENISA
Sandy Porter, UK Government Verify identity advisor and Co-founder of CIAM company Avoco Secure
When: June 5-7, 2018
Where: London, UK
InfoSec Europe is one of the largest security conferences on the planet. The show is hosted by the magazine of the same name. The show is a mix of expo and conference and it works to bring the infosec community together, so lots of networking events are held. The expo side of the show is massive and showcases vendors across the security and identity arena.
The 2018 speakers slots are still open but 2017 keynote speaker was:
Jessica Barker, Sociotechnical Lead at Readacted Firm who talked about “Securing the user”
Other speakers:
Darren Rolls, CTO, and CISO Sailpoint
Professor Angela Sasse, Director, UK Research Institute in Science of Cyber Security
Rohit Gupta, Group VP - Cloud Security Oracle
When: June 12th, 2018
Where: London, UK
This is a highly focused show covering all that is identity management and big data. The show is biannual and this is its 13th airing. It is a business-driven show with leaders across the IAM and big data space. The program will deep-dive into the whys and wherefores of using identity in a business context.
Speakers are still being firmed up but here are talks we recommend not to miss:
Last year’s speakers included:
Colin Wallis, Executive Director, Kantara Initiative
Joanna Zdulska, Information Security Access Programs, and Governance Manager, Citibank Europe PLC
Travis Spencer, CEO, Twobo Technologies
When: June 25-26 2018
Where: Boston, MS
The newly-named Cloud Identity Summit, Identiverse places identity as central to security. This sentiment will resonate with all identity professionals who have witnessed the discipline extending into a much wider, often Cloud-based system, touching all aspects of the enterprise and beyond. The agenda this year is packed full of practical workshops and sessions from world-renowned experts.
Featured Keynote to catch:
Ian Glazer of Salesforce and n the Board of industry body, IDPro
Other speakers not to miss:
Jeremy Grant, Managing Director of Technology Business Strategy Venable LLP
Laura Hunter, Principal Program Manager, Cloud & Enterprise Security, Microsoft
Zack Martin, Specialist Senior, Deloitte Advisory, Cyber Risk Deloitte & Touche LLP
When: 3-5 December 2018
Where: Las Vegas, NV
Analysts Gartner are the hosts for the Gartner IAM Summit in the USA in 2018. The conference is where identity professionals meet up to have hands-on sessions with analysts, learn about best practices in the industry, and find out about emerging identity and authentication technologies. This year's conference will be focusing on how to craft an IAM strategy in a digital age. Conference speakers are being firmed up now, but some highlights from last year’s conference included two Gartner Analyst One-on-Ones as part of the attendance package.
Analyst speakers at last year’s summit included:
Brian Iverson, Director at Gartner
Tricia Phillips, Director at Gartner
John Girard, VP, and Distinguished Analyst Gartner
When: August 4-9, 2018
Where: Las Vegas, NV
The Black Hat conference embraces identity and sees it as part of the overall security solution. The conference attracts some of the biggest names in the industry and has a mix of networking, hands-on sessions, panels, and individual high profile speakers.
The USA Black Hat conference is still being firmed up, but in 2017 one of the best keynotes was: "Stepping up our Game: Re-focusing the security community on defense and making security work for everyone" by Alex Stamos, CSO of Facebook.
Other speakers from the 2017 conference included:
Lillian Ablon, Information Scientist, RAND
Nathan Bates, Lead Security Engineer, Adobe
Rodrigo Branco, Principal Security Researcher, Intel
When: August 9-12
Where: Las Vegas, NV
DefCon is THE hacker conference. It is the place to find out about security from the ground up. DefCon is all about getting educated, and as identity pushes the boundaries of security, DefCon will push with it.
This year’s show is still being coordinated, but some highlights from last year’s show included: "Hacking Democracy" by Sean Kanuck of Stanford University, Center for International Security and Cooperation.
Other speakers included:
Gerald Steere, Microsoft
Garry Kasparov, Master chess player, and Avast Security Ambassador
Artem Kondratenko, Penetration Tester, Security Researcher
As identity starts to inform the security space, we hope this list will help you find the types of events that will help you on your journey as an identity professional!