Panel - Diversity in Information Security

Panel - Diversity in Information Security
Jennifer Imhoff-Dousharm Informatics student, co-organizer of theSummit, NCWIT affiliate member
Sandy “Mouse” Clark Security Researcher and part-time Phd. candidate
Kristin Paget
Jolly Full time hacker
Vyrus Independent Security Consultant
Scott Martin CIO Spikes Security

Discussion from the point of view of a diverse panel of leading representatives currently in or thinking of becoming part of the Information Security industry. This panel will give you insight to the evolutionary landscape of diversity in the hacking community. We will present statistical evidence showing the lack of sub-culture representation in the hacking community and while these numbers have been decreasing we can still work to encourage cultural variance. By analyzing how diversity is critical to improving the information security industry we will explore positive approaches to encourage recruiting and retention of deficient subcultures, removing of unconscious bias’ and discouraging inclusiveness, and introduce the audience to a wide variety of existing support structures. There will be no witch hunt here, there will be no judgement, only information. All of this and more will be answered with open and honest dialogue into one of the most controversial issues currently within our community.

Jennifer Imhoff-Dousharm - Lil Jinni is currently a student of informatics and network security. She is a primary coordinator for Vegas 2.0 and co-founder/principal of the Cuckoo's Nest hacker space. She is an affiliate member of NCWIT and avid participant in many local women in tech groups. When not studying, planning theSummit fundraiser, or herding hackers, she spends her free cycles as a Curiosity Hacked guild leader and Kitchen OverLord contributor.

Twitter: @lil_jinni

Sandy Clark (Mouse) is a security researcher and part-time Phd. candidate in the Distributed Systems Lab at the University of Pennsylvania and is advised by Matt Blaze and co-advised by Jonathan Smith. Her research focuses on understanding the mechanisms involved in the computer security Arms Race, and in modeling the cyber-security eco-system. Early in her career, she wrote the back-up flight control computer for the US Air Force F-16 aircraft, and a gate-level software simulator for NASA), after several years as a sys-admin for Princeton University, she ended up in the hacker community. It was at a hackercon that someone introduced her to Matt Blaze and he invited her to come hang around his lab at Penn. Her first project was breaking wiretap systems and with its success and after much encouragement and mentoring, she got the courage to enroll as a student. It is taking much longer for her to get her degree than she thought (going back to school is hard as a grownup), but definitely worth it!

Her broad experience, excessive curiosity and ability to make connections from many different areas is leading to some interesting new ways to think about systems security. She's still an active member of the hacker community and considers it one of her missions in life to bridge the gap between hackers and academia.

Sandy can be reached at [email protected] or [email protected]

Kristin Paget - Princess Kristin hacks hardware, software, networks, radios, people, the law, herself, and society - and she’s still getting warmed up. She’s been hacking things ever since she heard that POKE 35136,0 gave her infinite lives in Manic Miner, and she's truly thrilled to be returning to Def Con after taking a couple of years off the speaking circuit to de-anonymize her brain.

Twitter: @KristinPaget

Jolly - Hacker, Photographer and conference addict. Jolly has previously been a back to back winner of Hacker Fortress. In the past 2 years he has not stayed in any one place more than 11 days. His team, Jolly and Friends, has won Capture the Flag. Avid health nut. Loves taking advantage of vendors easy contests to win prizes at conferences.

Twitter: @Jolly

Carl "Vyrus" Vincent is a self-proclaimed nerd who learned to build radios from his grandfather, a fellow nerd who worked in the aerospace industry. Carl first attended Def Con as a teenager and earned money doing small IT projects while still in high school. Today he his an independent security consultant.

Twitter: @vyrus001

Scott Martin is currently CIO of Spikes Security and formerly the Director of Firewall Operations for Symantec Corporation. He works throughout the Silicon Valley advising various startups and is the Committee Chair for Donations and Community Outreach for Vegas 2.0