TechSec 2007 keynote, ed program announced

DALLAS--Dave Tyson will kick off TechSec Solutions 2007 as the event's keynote speaker, in Dallas, Feb. 27. At ASIS International's 52nd Annual Seminar & Exhibits in San Diego in late September, Tyson was awarded the first Alliance for Enterprise Security Risk Management's Excellence in Convergence Award. AESRM is a partnership of three international security organizations, including ASIS, the Information Systems Security Association and ISACA, formed to address the convergence of physical and logical security. As the chief security officer for the city of Vancouver, Tyson is responsible for overseeing both the IT and physical security departments. Although he was originally charged with leading IT, Tyson saw the potential benefits in joining the two sectors--merging guard operations, physical security technology, IT security compliance risk assessments and investigations. At TechSec, a conference sponsored by Security Director News and its sister publication Security Systems News, Tyson will touch on topics that relate to convergence and how to successfully achieve it. TechSec will be held at Dallas' Fairmont Hotel Feb. 26 through 28. Tyson said he understands fear in the market as to who will control security functionality. But he said both groups have unique skill sets and when the two are combined, risk mitigation is stronger. Most importantly, Tyson said, the processes between IT and physical security are the same. Only the technology is different. "Once [physical security] understands the terminology, it really is very simple." More than 500 industry professionals are expected to gather at TechSec Solutions 2007, an educational event in its third year that focuses on exploring IP-ready security technology. The educational program will feature more than 40 speakers in 12 sessions aimed at both integrators and end users. Topics include "Evaluating an IP Camera," which will highlight details involved with selecting digital surveillance technology; "Public Surveillance--Make It Work Without Raising Privacy Fears," profiling two major California applications; and "Leveraging the Corporate ID Badge to Secure Access to Physical and Network Resources." The conference will also feature case studies of systems integration projects at Target, Canada's Royal Museum of Art and the Houston and Tallahassee airports. Further information on the full conference program, as well as registration information, is available at www.techsecsol.com.