jlsimpson | gt.issa.org - an Information System Security Association Chapter

November 18, 2025 – Netskope Happy Hour

jlsimpson — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 23:16:29 +0000

Due to the format and limited capacity (25 attendees), we’re prioritizing registration for professionals currently working in the field to ensure our sponsor’s presentation from Netskope delivers maximum value. We kindly ask that student members hold off on registering for this one and join us at our next chapter meeting in December.

This will be an intimate evening designed to bring together cybersecurity professionals for meaningful conversation and connection, complemented by great food and drinks in one of Traverse City’s most elegant venues. We’re thrilled to have Netskope hosting, and we can’t wait to see you there. Seats are limited to just 25, so don’t wait. Secure your spot today and join us for a fantastic kickoff to the new ISSA season!

Registration link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/gt-issa-social-mixer-tickets-1957059871759?aff=oddtdtcreator

January 29, 2025 – Mastering Fabric: Bring the Power of LLMs to the Command Line

jlsimpson — Sat, 11 Jan 2025 01:36:29 +0000

Chapter member Kenneth G. Hartman has offered to guide our group through a hands-on workshop “Mastering Fabric: Bring the Power of LLMs to the Command Line”. Fabric is an open-source framework for augmenting humans using AI.

We’re hopeful you can join us for the session on Wednesday, January 29 at 6:00pm. We will meet in person at the TBA Credit Union on Front St. in Traverse City.

Kenneth G. Hartman is an independent security consultant based in Traverse City, Michigan. Ken’s motto is “I help my clients earn and maintain the trust of their customers in its products and services.” Toward this end, he consults on a comprehensive program portfolio of technical security initiatives focused on securing client data in the public cloud. Ken has worked for a variety of Cloud Service Providers in Architecture, Engineering, Compliance, and Security Product Management roles.

As a SANS Certified Instructor for SEC488: Cloud Security Essentials and SEC510: Public Cloud Security: AWS, Azure, & GCP, Ken has also been the co-chair of the 2019 SANS Cloud Security Operations Solutions Forum, the 2019 and 2020 SANS Cloud & DevOps Security Summits.

For the previous decade, up until July 2011, he helped to build a start-up company called Visonex into a profitable, nation-wide dialysis-specific electronic medical record using a software-as-a-service (SaaS) business model. In addition to managing the inception and delivery of multiple product innovations, Ken was responsible for all aspects of assuring the security and privacy of both the internal IT systems and the company’s SaaS offerings. Prior to helping launch Visonex, Ken worked as a corporate Electrical Systems Manager for Kraft Foods where he helped to secure the plant floor automation systems.

Ken holds a BS Electrical Engineering from Michigan Technological University and a Master’s Degree in Information Security Engineering from SANS Technology Institute. Ken has earned the CISSP, as well as multiple GIAC security certifications, including the GIAC Security Expert.

Join Us November 13th, 2024 for Adversarial AI – Lying Chatbots, Deep Fakes…

jlsimpson — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 11:02:31 +0000

Register to join the GT ISSA chapter and special guest speaker Jeff Crume to explore the potential dangers of adversarial AI, lying chatbots, and deep fakes.

We’ll discuss how these technologies are becoming more sophisticated and how they can be used to deceive people, spread disinformation, and even cause harm. Through real-world examples and demonstrations, let’s explore the implications of these technologies for society in order to gain a better understanding of these emerging technologies and the risks they pose.

Through real-world examples and demonstrations, we will explore the implications of these technologies for society in order to gain a better understanding of these emerging technologies and the risks they pose.

Jeff Crume is an IBM Distinguished Engineer and Master Inventor with more than 40 years’ experience in the IT industry. He has a PhD in Cybersecurity and also serves as an Adjunct Professor at NC State University. Jeff’s YouTube videos have been viewed more than 6 million times and he is the author of a book entitled “Inside Internet Security: What Hackers Don’t Want You To Know” as well as a contributing author to the “Information Security Management Handbook.” He is a member of the inaugural class of the NC State University Computer Science Alumni Hall of Fame and serves on the editorial board for the “Information and Computer Security” research journal. Jeff lived in Beijing on assignment in 2006 and has worked with clients in 50 countries.

We look forward to seeing you there.

February 20th, 2020 – Shortest Path Bridging (SPB) Technology

jlsimpson — Sat, 15 Feb 2020 15:24:56 +0000

If you are a security or networking professional and are not familiar with the SPB (Shortest Path Bridging) technology this is a must attend event at Red Ginger.

Please join STEPcg and Extreme Network’s Distinguished Principal Engineer Ed Koehler at The Red Ginger as they present on the SPB Technology and its inherent security capabilities specifically related to “Stealth Networking” and “hyper-segmentation”. This will be a somewhat technical presentation and is intended for the education of Security and Networking Infrastructure minded professionals. This is NOT a sales presentation!

Our goal is to make this a fun and education event and will be held at the Red Ginger from 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM. STEPcg will be providing hors d’oeuvres and liquid refreshments.

The Red Ginger – RG Studio is at 237 East Front Street in Downtown Traverse City.

August 2019 Meeting

jlsimpson — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 02:55:33 +0000

The Chapter was excited to host John Beeskow, CISO for Chemical Bank, on managing risks associated with privileged access and insider security threats. Understanding the various attack vectors and applying prevention, detection and correction controls, one doesn’t require a lot of fancy gear. The basic ‘need to know,’ ‘segregation of duties,’ ‘dual control’ and ‘trust but verify’ principles, and knowing when the ‘fancy gear’ is needed, can be equally as effective and bode well for bottom line.

A social gathering after the meeting was equally well attended.

December 2018 Meeting

jlsimpson — Mon, 31 Dec 2018 12:49:41 +0000

Nathan Drier led a hands-on workshop showing attendees how attacks can be performed against an organization’s Windows servers and how to detect the attacks. The tools that were used leveraged the Kali operating system (https://www.kali.org/) modules from the MITRE ATT&CK framework (https://attack.mitre.org/). The workshop covered attacks that focus on obtaining admin credentials, lateral movement, privilege escalation, and data exfiltration. Tools and techniques that were used for the attacks were Metasploit, exploit, meterpreter, incognito, impersonate_token, mimikatz, crackmapexec, empire, and more. Tools that were used to detect the attacks were Event Viewer, Log Viewer, and Power Shell.

September 2018 Meeting

jlsimpson — Fri, 12 Oct 2018 19:01:52 +0000

Special guest speaker Dr. Larry Ponemon of the Ponemon Institute presented their findings on the “2018 Cost of a Data Breach”, highlighting geographic and industry trends and several factors that impact what a company may expect to pay in the event of a breach contributing to a 5.2% increase from 2017. The country with the highest cost per lost record is the US and the Industry with the highest cost is Healthcare.

During an open forum, Shaun presented an exploit he discovered in an Internet of Things (IoT) device that allowed him to enumerate potentially sensitive information. There was a general discussion of responsible vulnerability disclosure, man-in-the-middle attacks, and the use of self-signed certificates.

July 2018 Meeting

jlsimpson — Fri, 12 Oct 2018 17:36:40 +0000

The July meeting was sponsored by the Step CG company. Jon Mull, Regional Sales Executive, presented “Securing your network with Extreme Fabric Connect Technology”. A social hour at Right Brain Brewery followed, providing an opportunity for chapter members and guests to network and break into informal technology discussion groups. A good time was had by all.

May 2018 Meeting

jlsimpson — Fri, 11 May 2018 22:53:23 +0000

Special guest speaker Chris Burrows, Senior VP of Security Solutions at CBI, presented Career Risk Management—expounding that “you are only one click away from having to pack your bags and find a new company.” He shared some some personal stories and 10 tips to help grow and safeguard your career in a competitive and tumultuous industry. Mr. Burrows also shared his experience developing the CySafe Security Assessment tool and how it can be used to help small business prioritize their security needs.

Chapter President Shaun Bertrand discussed three valuable lessons he has learned handling ransomware incidents.

March 2018 Meeting

jlsimpson — Sun, 11 Mar 2018 23:05:26 +0000

Chapter Member Matt Kelley presented the topic Self-awareness for InfoSec: Improving security posture through the expansion of CIS Controls 1 and 2. The information is meant to help attain a level of awareness and knowledge of your environment that you need for significant security gains.

Brandi Reynolds from TCAPS also presented information about the Wired TC event that is coming up soon, and she was interested in finding presenters from our group. See her site at http://www.wiredtc.net.