Stephen Northcutt, President of the SANS Institute, does a highly acclaimed course on Security for Managers. He is making a special appearance here in my hometown of Chicago and asked if I would help spread the word. I'm intrigued by the more intimate setting away from the larger, national events that SANS produces. The setting and Stephen's engaging teaching style makes this a wonderful opportunity to get the benefit of SANS training without the distractions of 1000s of attendees or an exhibit hall packed with vendors.
Here's a quick explanation from the man himself:
Dear Colleagues,
I'm Stephen Northcutt, a fellow of the SANS faculty and the author of Management 512, Security Leadership Essentials for Managers.
This year I have asked SANS to book some smaller events so that we could offer this course in a more intimate and focused classroom setting. I am very thankful to come to Chicago and meet with you in person, March
3 - 7, 2008.
SANS Security Leadership Essentials for Managers is more than just another security technology course. We talk about the management application of technical security information as well has the financial alternatives. It has been good for me, but also for my students; more than a few have said they wish they had taken the course earlier.
Alumni of this course get access to courseware updates and also to an alumni mailing list where we are slowly building a community of leaders with security responsibilities. Dave Klatt of Sterling Savings Bank said, "Incredibly valuable session. Really was an eye opener on the nature of threats and risks. Good balance between tech and management info."
The three classes of people that benefit the most from the course tend to be
1. successful managers that have recently been given security
responsibility,
2. managers that are trying to understand what the security function
is trying to do
3. leaders that used to be technical and have been swallowed by budget
and programmatics for several years and want a high level tune up.
There are some technical sections, they are designed so that we can tell without doubt if our direct reports are giving us straight answers, and also so that we can discern whether they know what they are talking about.
We will give you tips about managing your direct reports in security as well as working with your peers and reporting to senior management. A key focus of the course is to help you align your security program with the greater business.
Please consider this invitation, as it will be a special time for us to learn from one another. Former student Bobby Joyce, Check n'fo wrote, "This course was incredible, I highly recommend it to security managers."
Thank you.
Stephen Northcutt, President
The SANS Technology Institute
For more info:
http://www.sans.org/info/21934I encourage you to take a serious look at this event,
Don