[ISN] Why CSOs Should Care About ShmooCon

[InfoSec News]

http://www.csoonline.com/article/533363/Why_CSOs_Should_Care_About_ShmooCon_

By Bill Brenner
Senior Editor
CSO
February 07, 2010 

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Many CSOs view ShmooCon as an event of small 
importance. You don't see the suits and ties that are on display at RSA. 
In fact, to those who haven't attended, this conference is just a place 
where twenty-something hackers come to get drunk and throw TVs out hotel 
windows. Another crazy Black Hat/Defcon-caliber conference, more than 
one high-level security exec has told me in the past.

As with any security event, things can get rough around the edges. The 
security podcasters' meet-up on Saturday night was more like a Motley 
Crue concert than anything else. The podcasters on stage resembled the 
head table at a Klingon wedding. But drunken antics conference-wide were 
minimal, and some decent food for thought came out of the podcasting 
event despite the rowdiness.

The larger reality is that a lot of important talks happen here that 
have implications up and down the IT security food chain. It's also 
important to note that a lot of the young ruffians who come here are the 
very people who find the security holes so they can be fixed. They also 
build a lot of the technology CSOs lobby their upper management to 
invest in.

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