WASHINGTON DC – Christopher M. E. Painter has prosecuted some of the highest profile cyber crime case in the country. He is just one of the top experts who will bring their expertise and experience to the 2006 Infragard National Conference August 22-24 in Washington DC.

Sponsored by the Infragard National Members Alliance (INMA) and the FBI, the second annual conference also will feature former Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy G. Thompson and Shell Oil Company President John Hofmeister. Twelve tracks will focus on subjects that range from Homeland Security to Regulatory Compliance, covering a wide variety of topics in between, hitting hard on information and techniques useful now, as well as understanding, recognizing and combating future threats.

Now the Justice Department?s Deputy Chief of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, Painter will speak on ?The Changing Face of Computer Crime: Real World Case Studies and the Evolution of Computer Attacks? during the August 23rd 8 a.m. plenary session. He is one of three leading experts that will serve as plenary speakers during the conference.

John Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil Company will address the conference during lunch at noon, August 23. Committed to US energy security, Hofmeister has led Shell Oil, Royal Dutch Shell?s US subsidiary, since 1997. Under his leadership, the company has invested heavily in diverse energy sources.

Former Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tommy G. Thompson, will speak at 8 a.m., August 22. Since leaving the post in 2005, Thompson has focused his efforts on improving the use of information technology in hospitals, clinics and doctors? offices, as well as promoting healthier lifestyles for Americans, strengthening and modernizing Medicare and Medicaid, and expanding the use of medical diplomacy in other parts of the world.

The August 24 plenary session will feature LTG Steven H. Blum, Chief of the National Guard Bureau, and John Miller, the FBI?s Assistant Director for Public Affairs, discussing ?Issues in Information Sharing and Interoperability.? Both have experience and responsibilities involved in responding to and managing catastrophic events.

Other well known experts will head panels and present on a number of threats faced by those who work to secure our nation?s critical infrastructures. Some examples:

Tom Curtis, deputy executive director for government affairs for the American Water Works Association (AWWA) will go through the Water Infrastructure Security Enhancement (WISE) project. Funded through a grant from the EPA, WISE is designed to educate utilities about physical security.

Los Angeles Police Chief Bill Bratton who will join DEA Administrator Karen Tandy to moderate a panel of chiefs of police from several cities will head up the first in a series of panels looking at the national gang problem from various viewpoints, including law enforcement, prosecution and the private sector. Joseph Concannon, president of the New York City Metro InfraGard Alliance, is in charge of summing up the three panels with help from the moderators of each. They will tie together the discussions and talk about what the future holds.

SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition), DCS (distributed control systems) and other control systems monitor or control chemical, energy, transport and other of our nation?s critical infrastructures. They are, however, a source of concern for security professionals. Nine conference sessions are scheduled to look a these security issues, including The Idaho National Lab (INL) SCADA Training Course and another session covering ?SCADA Honeynet Design and Results.?

Other tracks include:

First Responders Tracks

GIS – Geographic Information Systems

National Gang Panel

Public Safety Breaking Issues

Homeland Security

Cyber Security

SCADA and Control Systems Security

Computer Forensics

Financial Industry

Regulatory Compliance

Water Security

Food and Agriculture Terrorism

Business Continuity Planning (focus on recent

lessons learned)

None of this would be possible without the conference sponsors: Shell Oil Company, conference premier sponsor; Deloitte and Microsoft, conference platinum sponsors, and theASBC.org, ePipeline and General Dynamics.

Conference Chairman Freeman Mendell and his committee also are working on more speakers and events.

Keep checking Infragardconferences.com

for more information.

Reprinted with permission from The Gardian, a publication of the Infragard National Members Alliance