Glenn Gerstell, Former General Counsel of the U.S. National Security Agency, to Address Attendees at Cloud Security Alliance’s SECtember

Digital and cybersecurity industry expert and thought leader Jim Routh and Norma Krayem, preeminent cybersecurity and data privacy expert, will be featured speakers

SEATTLE – April 5, 2022 – The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), the world’s leading organization dedicated to defining standards, certifications and best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment, announced today that Glenn Gerstell, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic & International Studies and former general counsel of the National Security Agency (NSA) and Central Security Service, will be a featured speaker at SECtember, the first global event dedicated to the intersection of cloud and cybersecurity. In his talk, Gerstell will share his insight on the topics of cyber warfare and preparedness.

Attendees of the event, to be held Sept. 26-30 at the Meydenbauer Center (Bellevue, Wash.), will learn from both a main conference of industry thought leaders, as well as deep-dive training into cloud auditing, advanced cloud security topics, and Zero Trust. In recognition of the growing importance of Zero Trust in raising the cybersecurity baseline, CSA will be making another major announcement pertaining to the Zero Trust Advancement Center (ZTAC), which was recently launched by CSA and its partners CrowdStrike, Okta, and Zscaler.

“Whereas nation state actors have been waging a silent war against their adversaries for many years, current global instability has brought the very real possibility of cyber warfare to the nation's collective consciousness. We are extremely pleased, therefore, to have one of the country’s leading cyber warfare experts share his unique perspective with us at this year’s SECtember, ” said Jim Reavis, co-founder and CEO, Cloud Security Alliance.

Prior to joining the Center for Strategic & International Studies, Gerstell served as the general counsel to the National Security Agency and Central Security Service from 2015 to 2020. He is a frequent guest commentator on CNN, MSNBC, and PBS, and has written and spoken widely about the intersections of technology and national security, with articles appearing in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Barron’s, and POLITICO. He has served on the President's National Infrastructure Advisory Council, which reports to the president and the secretary of Homeland Security on security threats to the nation's infrastructure, as well as on the District of Columbia Homeland Security Commission.

Preceding his time with the NSA, Gerstell practiced law for almost 40 years at the international law firm of Milbank, LLP, where he focused on the global telecommunications industry and served as the managing partner of the firm's Washington, D.C., Singapore, and Hong Kong offices. A graduate of New York University and Columbia University School of Law, Gerstell is an elected member of the American Academy of Diplomacy and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Earlier in his career, he was an adjunct law professor at the Georgetown University Law Center and New York Law School. He is a recipient of the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Civilian Service, and the NSA Distinguished Civilian Service Medal.

Other featured speakers include:

• Norma Krayem. A recognized expert in the fields of cybersecurity and data privacy, Krayem serves as Vice President and Chair of VSA’s Cybersecurity, Privacy & Digital Innovation Practice Group. She will speak to the rising threats hitting organizations as a result of the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, addressing the challenges both present and future, as well as any lessons learned to date. She created one of the first-ever cybersecurity practices at a major international AmLaw 100 law firm in 2005 at a time when most practices only focused on data security or privacy. Since that time she has held leadership roles running cybersecurity and privacy teams across a number of firms. She focuses on the intersection of trade, technology, homeland security, and cyber risk for clients in heavily regulated critical infrastructure sectors.
• Jim Routh. Recognized as an industry leader in digital transformations and innovation in cyber security practices using data science as a foundation for unconventional cybersecurity controls and enterprise resilience, Routh will draw upon his keen insights on the alignment of business strategy with digital transformation in the consumer marketplace in his talk. Routh has a long history in technology and cybersecurity as a leader and management consultant. He was formerly a cybersecurity leader for many large companies, including MassMutual, CVS Health, and Aetna, among others. While at Aetna, Routh developed one of the most mature converged security programs in the private sector. Prior to that he served as an IT leader at American Express and a management consultant for over a decade for financial service firms.

SECtember is the conference to attend in 2022 to obtain the tools for managing cyber risk in the modern enterprise. Attendees have the opportunity to enhance their cloud security knowledge and skills while earning up to 16 CPE credits. Attendees can receive a 25-percent discount on conference registration when bundled with one of the following training courses. (To redeem the discount, register for the conference and add the selected training session, then enter coupon code "COMBO25" at checkout.)

• Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge (CCSK) Foundation Training (Sept. 26)
• Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge (CCSK) Plus (Sept. 26-27)
• Certificate of Cloud Auditing Knowledge (CCAK) (Sept. 26-27)

Those interested in sharing their expertise with fellow security professionals, CIOs, CISOs, analysts and others in attendance are invited to submit a proposal through CSA’s rolling Call for Participation.

Those interested in attending are encouraged to register now and take advantage of early registration pricing of $499 through June 10. Afterward, rates will increase to $699. The registration rate is $250 for students and government employees.

About Cloud Security Alliance
The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) is the world’s leading organization dedicated to defining and raising awareness of best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment. CSA harnesses the subject matter expertise of industry practitioners, associations, governments, and its corporate and individual members to offer cloud security-specific research, education, training, certification, events, and products. CSA's activities, knowledge, and extensive network benefit the entire community impacted by cloud — from providers and customers to governments, entrepreneurs, and the assurance industry — and provide a forum through which different parties can work together to create and maintain a trusted cloud ecosystem. For further information, visit us at www.cloudsecurityalliance.org, and follow us on Twitter @cloudsa.