From Sept. 22-25, 2008, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will host a conference and accompanying workshops demonstrating the use of open standards to automate computer security tasks. The 4th annual 2008 Security Automation Conference and Workshop will take place at the NIST campus in Gaithersburg, Md. from Sept. 22-25, 2008, and is co-sponsored by NIST, the National Security Agency (NSA), the Defense Information Systems Agency, and the Department of Homeland Security.
The conference will contain the latest information on the computer-security specification known as the Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP), which can be used to automate tasks needed to comply with federal directives such as the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) and the Federal Desktop Core Configuration (FDCC). It will also showcase emerging topics such as digital rights management, virtualization, and situational awareness, in which data are collected in order to grasp a situation and predict its course.
This year's workshops are being split into two tracks: management and technical. Keynote addresses will feature speakers from NSA and other organizations. Vendors will demonstrate SCAP-validated products.
General registration closes on Sept. 16. More information on the conference can be found at www.nist.gov/public_affairs/confpage/080923.htm