ANN ARBOR More than two hundred key Security decision makers attended Digital Detroits Security Summit 2004 Tuesday to hear experts from the federal and state governments, as well as private industry, outline some of the biggest issues in cyber Security today.

The morning keynote address came from Lawrence Hale, Deputy Director of the Department of Homeland Security, National Cyber Security Divisions, Computer Emergency Readiness Team, who said even though most cyber attacks arent reported, nearly 320,000 have been investigated by the federal government since 1988, with the vast majority occurring in the past two years.

Following Hales remarks, a panel discussion featured national business leaders, including Dan Lohrmann, CISO for the State of Michigan. Panelists discussed top-level strategies that affect how businesses interact electronically with each other, their employees and their customers. The morning’s second, headed up by Richard Stiennon, Vice President of Research for Gartner went into more depth on the threats facing businesses today.

During the lunch break, attendees hear a humorous address by Mark Rasch, Senior Vice President and Chief Security Council of Solutionary. Rasch, the former hacker-hunter for the U.S. Department of Justice, talked about the legal risks of security and warned: No one is doing anything about computer security until there is a global catastrophe and there will be a global catastrophe.

The afternoon session featured a third keynote address, this time from Chad Cook, Chief Technology Officer of Black Dragon Software, whose central point was: Security is not a technology problem, but a management problem.

The panel that followed focused on The Evolving Role of Security within the Organization. Panelists related how changing landscape of the security vulnerabilities are reshaping the management profile within the private and public sector.

Over the next few days, Mitechnews.Com will go into more depth on the keynote speeches and panel presentations, with Fridays issue of WJRs Mitechnews.Com focused on complete coverage from the conference.

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