I’m honored to be your guest here today and I can’t be more thankful for the opportunity to address some of the brightest information security practitioners in this region.

I visited this building for the first time yesterday and I’m not sure if you are like me but I experience buildings in different stages. When you first look at the architecture you start to understand what the purpose of the building is, what the architect was thinking when he designed it and some other basic things. It is only when you step through the door and interact with its residents that you become aware of the energy of the building. When I stepped through the doors of the Abu Dhabi Polytechnic Institute yesterday, I was blown away. While walking through the corridors and talking to Dr. Al-Karaki I learned that this building is filled with passion, a passion to achieve great things and to solve some of the hardest problems that exist in this world. It felt near to coming home. Once again I realized why I love my job. Obviously it allows me to provide for my family but at the same time it allows me to be passionate, creative and working with some of the smartest people on this planet.

Only a few weeks ago, United States President Obama released an executive order related to information security. In it he calls for the private sector, public sector and academia to work together in order to reduce the risk from information security threats. In the past almost 3 decades, we have built numerous products and management frameworks to address threats and risks to our most valuable assets but it doesn’t seem like we have made much headway. As we made progress in defending our infrastructures, our adversaries have also leveled up. As we get better at protecting they get better at thwarting our defenses. Threats are getting more advanced and the attacks we see today are extremely complex. We are not lacking the technology to defend our assets but it becomes increasingly hard to find competent information security workers. We are unlimited in our creativity but limited in resources. Through my work at (ISC)2, as a volunteer Board Director, I’ve had the opportunity to meet great people and support great initiatives. When I was invited to work with the Abu Dhabi Polytechnic Institute I was excited. (ISC)2 is passionate about educating and supporting the worlds leading information security practitioners. Through our Global Workforce Study we keep a finger on the pulse of this great industry and we observe not only the current needs but also those that will materialize in the future. When we saw the results last year our suspicions were confirmed. We realized that organizations today are facing enormous challenges. As the economy has been unkind to almost everyone, budgets are under pressure. At the same time it is known that innovation is key to developing and maintaining a profitable business. Organisations the world around are figuring out how to securely innovate through adopting technologies such as Cloud Computing and providing “Bring Your Own Device” to their workforce. In parallel we are being hit by vulnerability after vulnerability in systems that we have built our lives on. The lack of competent resources is for me personally the biggest challenge we face

today. Initiatives to take the lead in building a comprehensive information security curriculum such as the one here at the Abu Dhabi Polytechnic Institute are what the world needs today to solve the information security challenges of tomorrow. Contrary to popular belief, it is not easy to step forward as a leader. I can only encourage more organizations to take note of the leadership here and follow the example. We are limited in resources but unlimited in our power when working together.

As information practitioners we have arrived at a moment where security is understood by the world to be of the utmost importance. At this moment, where even the US President voices his concern about the challenges ahead, we realize there aren’t enough of us. Financial institutions around the world are bleeding money because of attackers subverting the most complex defensive technology, oil companies are paralyzed by targeted attacks, online businesses see there profits dwindle over prolonged Distributed Denial of Service attacks and individuals are going bankrupt just because it is that easy to steal their identities.

It’s important to realize that none of us, individual or company, government or academia, can solve these problems alone. We need to find eachother in a passion to protect our most critical infrastructures and our people. We need to understand and accept eachothers strengths and weaknesses. Only by working together there is a possibility that we will find the solutions we need. We have everything to gain from cooperating.

At this event today I feel like being at home because I know we are united in a passion for security. We are here to give the best that we have and allow our fellow participants to be the best they are. Not too long ago I saw a movie, a documentary called “Jiro dreams of Sushi”. This movie is about an old sushi chef with a small restaurant in the Tokyo underground. His restaurant only seats 10 people but yet he has received every award known in the culinary world. Jiro runs a 3-star restaurant in the Tokyo underground and is envied by the greatest chefs in the world yet when you talk to him, it sounds like it doesn’t matter to him. His only desire is to create the perfect piece of sushi, something he doesn’t seem to think he has achieved yet. Even though he has long passed the age of 80 years old, he gets up everyday to become better at his craft. Everyday he works from his passion to improve his craft.

I believe that in information security we can be more like Jiro. Selling the most products does not make us better, protecting our most valuable assets does and as such I believe that our combined passion is the weapon that will help us most in the battle against the threats we face.

To conclude I come back to the place where we are. When I entered this building yesterday, I met a passionate Dr. Al-Karaki who showed me some of the results of the poster and video competition. I was impressed by the work done by the students and I hope you can take the time to go and check some of their work out later today in the dedicated rooms. If it is our challenge to support these students, provide them

with the best possible information security education available and work with them to prevent our worst nightmares from becoming reality, I feel privileged to be part of it and I am convinced you feel the same. We are limited in our resources but we are united in a passion to secure.