Guardium and The Herjavec Group Co-Host Executive Seminar on Best Practices for Data Security, Privacy & Compliance

WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Guardium, the database security company, and The Herjavec Group (THG), a leading provider of turnkey security solutions, are hosting an executive seminar entitled “Best Practices for Data Security, Privacy & Compliance.”

“Best Practices for Data Security, Privacy & Compliance.”

The seminar features M&T Bank Corporation’s Corporate Information Security Officer (CISO) and 2009 Northeast Information Security Executive of the Year, John Walp, along with database security experts from Guardium, including Ron Ben Natan, Ph.D., IBM GOLD Consultant and Guardium CTO. The seminar will be held on Thursday, November 19, 2009 from 9:00 am – 11:30 am at The Westin Harbour Castle, Toronto.

A recent data breach study by Verizon Business Services reveals that attacks targeting database servers accounted for 75% of all records compromised during 2008 -- compared to other IT assets such as laptops and backup tapes, which account for less than 0.05% of breached data -- with payment card data representing 98% of all compromised records. Database threats, both external and internal, are clearly on the rise; according to IBM, SQL injection attacks continued to increase in 2009, growing 50% in Q1 and nearly doubling in Q2 compared to previous quarters.

Protecting against cyberattacks, breaches, fraud and insider threats has heightened the need for banks, insurers, utilities, global manufacturers, other large enterprises and service providers to carefully review their security and governance programs in order to protect the confidentiality and integrity of their most vital information assets.

Organizations are also seeking to reduce compliance costs and complexity by automating and centralizing controls for key regulations and industry standards such as PCI-DSS, SOX, Canadian Privacy Act (PIPEDA), IT Governance and SAS 70 auditing and reporting requirements.

The seminar will feature the following thought leaders in data security, privacy and compliance:

John Walp, CISSP, CISM, Corporate Information Security Officer for M&T Bank Corporation, 2009 Northeast Information Security Executive of the Year, will discuss the people, process and technology challenges involved with implementing data-level security in a large financial services organization. He will also describe how M&T has implemented Guardium's scalable enterprise platform to secure its critical database infrastructure, while reducing costs and complexity by automating and centralizing controls across multiple DBMS platforms and data centers. John will look to share his thoughts on how regulatory compliance and timely incident reporting have triggered a greater need for alignment of the institution's IS strategy with its enterprise governance, compliance and risk framework.

Phil Neray, VP of Security Strategy at Guardium, will describe key business drivers for database security and compliance; present an overview of the Guardium architecture; and discuss real-world case studies including an ROI analysis. Phil has 25+ years of technology experience and holds a Bachelor of Engineering – Honours Electrical degree from McGill University.

Ron Ben Natan, Ph.D., IBM Gold Consultant and Guardium CTO, will discuss best practices for database security and compliance; differences between traditional network security and database security; how to leverage the latest technologies for database activity monitoring (DAM), privileged user monitoring, vulnerability assessment, sensitive data discovery and configuration change control; and reducing compliance complexity with automated controls and workflow processes.

Dr. Ben Natan has more than 20 years of experience developing enterprise applications and security technology for blue-chip companies. Prior to Guardium, he worked for Merrill Lynch, J.P. Morgan, Intel and AT&T Bell Laboratories. He has also served as a consultant in data security and distributed systems for HSBC, Phillip Morris, Miller Beer, HP, Applied Materials and the Swiss Armed Forces. An expert on distributed application environments, application security and database security, Dr. Ben Natan has authored 12 technical books including HOWTO Secure and Audit Oracle 10g and 11g (CRC Press, 2009) and Implementing Database Security and Auditing (Elsevier Digital Press, 2005), the standard texts in the field.

WHAT:		Executive Seminar: “Best Practices for Database Security, Privacy & Compliance”

WHO:		John Walp, Corporate Information Security Officer for M&T Bank Corporation Phil Neray, VP, Security Strategy, Guardium Ron Ben Natan, Ph. D., Guardium CTO

WHEN:		Thursday, November 19, 2009 9:00 am – 11:30 am

WHERE:		The Westin Harbour Castle, Toronto

WHO SHOULD ATTEND:		Both C-level executives and day-to-day practitioners will benefit from this practical seminar, including anyone involved with IT security, risk management and compliance, governance and privacy, enterprise application architectures and database administration.

Register today to qualify for complimentary admission to “Best Practices for Data Security, Privacy & Compliance” and get strategic insights delivered by the most respected data security and compliance professionals.

About The Herjavec Group

The Herjavec Group (THG) is one of Canada’s fastest growing Companies (Profit Magazine). By providing security expertise second to none we have grown as a trusted advisor to some of Canada’s largest enterprises. Not only do we provide security consulting and expertise – we partner with industry leading vendors to provide full turnkey security solutions – including a wide array of managed services. Today – we are one of the largest security, WAN acceleration, and infrastructure Companies – servicing our national clients from our offices in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, Quebec City and New York.

About Guardium

Guardium, the database security company, delivers the most widely-used solution for preventing information leaks from the data center and ensuring the integrity of enterprise data.

The company’s enterprise security platform is now installed in more than 450 data centers worldwide, including 5 of the top 5 global banks; 3 of the top 5 insurers; top government agencies; 2 of the top 3 retailers; 15 of the world’s top telcos; 2 of the world’s favorite beverage brands; the most recognized name in PCs; a top 3 auto maker; a top 3 aerospace company; and a leading supplier of business intelligence software.

Guardium has partnerships with Accenture, ArcSight, BMC, EMC/RSA, IBM, McAfee, Microsoft, Oracle, Sybase and Teradata, with Cisco as a strategic investor, and is a member of IBM’s prestigious Data Governance Council and the PCI Security Standards Council.

Founded in 2002, Guardium was the first company to address the core data security gap by delivering a scalable enterprise platform that both protects databases in real-time and automates the entire compliance auditing process.

Guardium and S-GATE are trademarks of Guardium, Inc.