Earl Perkins

We are preparing for the annual U.S. Gartner Security Summit in Washington, DC. Officially, it starts tomorrow evening (Sunday, 28 June) with tutorials, and then of course Monday-Wednesday. Most of my colleagues have been to all 15 of the U.S. summits and many of the international ones. I think all of us view it as a great opportunity to face those that are at the “front lines” of IT security globally, to listen and to learn from you as much as you may come to learn from us and from one another. It will be gratifying to see the intense discussions between peers that follow presentations or user round tables, the exchange of contact information, and the commitments to stay in touch as they return back to their respective enterprises once the event concludes.

It is particularly important for all of us to step back and evaluate the events of the past year and put them in the proper context. We have seen some of the most dramatic changes in the underpinnings of our enterprises, resulting in introductions of complexity and uncertainty as all of us find new underpinnings upon which to base issues of trust, risk and protection of our valued assets. Some of these events have caused considerable rethinking about the way applications and services should be accessed, or data protection employed, particularly as new applications and services arrive to aid in cost reduction, compliance and transformation.

For some, this change represents chaos and crisis– for others, it represents unprecedented opportunity. Coming together in a forum like the summit gives our clients information to decide how they will respond to those enterprise demands, either to mitigate the risk and/or to ensure that realignments in IT are secure. It is a forum like this where a view of the “big picture” of IT security can be studied in a more objective way, based upon the balancing views of the stakeholders. Decision frameworks can be formulated based on the most current information and actually tested against peers, analysts, vendors and service providers.

So is this a commercial for the Summit? I think many will view it that way. I think of it as musing about the opportunity it presents to me as an IT security analyst to be in the midst of such a gathering at a time like this, listening and learning. I’m looking forward to it.