Facebook CSO, World-Renowned InfoSec Expert & Privacy Advocate, Alex Stamos, will Keynote Black Hat USA 2017

SAN FRANCISCO, June 8, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Black Hat, the world's leading producer of information security events, announced that Alex Stamos, Facebook's Chief Security Officer and world renowned industry veteran, will keynote Black Hat USA 2017. Known for his cybersecurity prowess and expertise in global scale infrastructure, trustworthy system design, and mobile security, Stamos also grabbed headlines for speaking out against the NSA over its use of mass surveillance in 2014. He will take the keynote stage to present a critical analysis of the current state of the global security industry and raise a call to action, specifying the ways security practitioners can better protect the world.

Black Hat USA will take place July 22–27, 2017 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. For more information and to register, please visit: blackhat.com/us-17/ 

As a widely-respected veteran of the security industry, Alex Stamos is committed to bringing more openness and collaboration to the community, and to building solutions that keep people safe in the circumstances they face every day. He currently serves as CSO at Facebook, where he leads a global team of professionals focused on ensuring the safety of the billions of people who use Facebook and its family of services. Prior to joining Facebook, Stamos served as Yahoo's VP of Information Security where he revitalized the company's security program with innovative technology and products. He also previously founded both iSEC Partners and Artemis.

Throughout his career Stamos has served as an advocate for privacy – in 2014, he made headlines by publicly criticizing the NSA for its surveillance tactics and spoke out against a deal with the NSA to roll out a formula that created a "back door" in software used to enhance security in personal computers among various other products. He is a frequent speaker at conferences and industry events and has been instrumental in his role as a member of Black Hat's Emeritus Review Board.

Stepping up our game: Re-focusing the security community on defense and making security work for everyone
Stamos will take the keynote stage to explore how the Information Security community can adapt to better confront the obstacles they face as security practitioners. He will demonstrate ways the security industry has changed but hasn't kept pace with the increased importance of technology in our society. As a result, Stamos will argue that the industry now has a responsibility to the people of the world that goes beyond traditional facets of information security. Stamos' talk will dive into whether the security industry is living up to its responsibility of protecting the world from the vulnerabilities it discovers, and whether the community can incentivize and celebrate defensive security research in the same way that they applaud the discovery of vulnerabilities. He will pull from real world cases to explore where the security community could have risen to the occasion, analyze what failed, and propose how to better protect people in the future.

For the first time, the Black Hat USA Keynote will be held at the Mandalay Bay Events Center - a modern 12,000-seat sports and entertainment complex that will provide a much larger platform for this year's presentation. Stamos will take the stage Wednesday, July 26 at 9 AM.

Register for the world's leading information security event by July 7 to save $300 on Briefings Pass: blackhat.com/us-17/ 

Top sponsors of Black Hat USA 2017 include: Diamond Sponsors: Cisco, FireEye, Forcepoint, LogRhythm, McAfee, Qualys, RSA and Tenable Network Security; Platinum Plus Sponsors: AlienVault, Arbor Networks, Carbon Black, CrowdStrike, Cylance, DarkMatter, Digital Guardian, ESET North America, Fidelis Cybersecurity, Fortinet, IBM, Leidos, Palo Alto Networks, Raytheon and Symantec; Platinum Sponsors: Bromium, Code42 Software, Core Security, Cybereason, Darktrace, F5 Networks, iboss cybersecurity, Malwarebytes, Optiv Security, Proofpoint, Inc., Rapid7, SentinelOne, StackPath, Tanium, Trend Micro and Webroot.  For all sponsorship opportunities, visit: blackhat.com/us-17/sponsors.html

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Future Black Hat Dates and Events

• Black Hat Europe 2017, London, England, December 4-7
• Black Hat Asia 2018, Singapore, March 20-23

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SOURCE Black Hat