Press Releases | October 10, 2024

SecTor Announces Leigh Honeywell and Omkhar Arasaratnam as Keynote Speakers for SecTor 2024


TORONTO, October 10, 2024 — SecTor, Canada's largest cybersecurity conference, today announced Leigh Honeywell, founder and CEO of Tall Poppy; and Omkhar Arasaratnam, Guest Lecturer, New York University (NYU) Tandon School of Engineering: Graduate School, as Keynote speakers for SecTor 2024. The live, in-person event will take place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in downtown Toronto from October 22 to October 24. Keynote speakers will present on Wednesday, October 23 and Thursday, October 24.

As part of the Black Hat global cybersecurity events portfolio, SecTor provides an unmatched opportunity for the Canadian cybersecurity community to convene each year.

SecTor 2024 Keynote Lineup:

  • Leigh Honeywell is the founder and CEO of Tall Poppy, where she helps companies protect their employees from online harassment. She was previously a Technology Fellow at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and has held roles at large technology companies, including Slack and Microsoft. Honeywell will present her talk on Wednesday, October 23 at 9:00 AM.
  • Omkhar Arasaratnam is a cybersecurity and technical risk management executive with more than 25 years of experience leading global organizations. He was previously the General Manager of the Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) and is currently a guest lecturer at NYU Tandon School of Engineering. Arasaratnam will present his talk, "The XZ-Utils Backdoor: A Case Study in Software Supply Chain Security and Social Engineering," on Thursday, October 24 at 9:00 AM.

Following the Keynote presentations, attendees will gain insight into the latest in information security risks, developments, and trends. SecTor 2024 will feature 45 Briefings and more than 35 Sponsored Sessions.

Briefings highlights include:

  • Breaching AWS Accounts Through Shadow Resources – This talk will present six critical vulnerabilities that researchers found in AWS, along with the stories and methodologies behind them. Researchers will share their story of discovery, how they were able to identify commonalities among these vulnerabilities, and how they developed a method to uncover more vulnerabilities and enhance the impact by using common techniques leading to privilege escalation.
  • Isolation or Hallucination? Hacking AI Infrastructure Providers for Fun and Weights – This talk will discuss how companies are adopting AI as a service (AIaaS) solutions to collaborate, train, and run their artificial intelligence (AI) applications, as well as how thousands of customers trust these services with their proprietary models and datasets, making these platforms attractive targets for attackers. Researchers will explore the unique attack surface they discovered in AIaaS providers, and share how to mitigate and detect the kind of vulnerabilities they were able to exploit.
  • Career Campaigns: How to Re-Spec Your Professional Class for an InfoSec Role – This gamified and interactive talk, inspired by the Speaker's own mid-career pivot into cyber threat intelligence from an untraditional, non-information technology (IT) background, will share how to hack your way into a new cybersecurity career. This session will demonstrate how to reskill your resume to better help information security hiring managers understand previous strengths, share advice to join the cybersecurity job field, and more.

Business Hall passes, or Business passes, are currently available for the 2024 event. The Business Hall showcases the latest products and technologies from leading information security solution providers, and will take place from October 23 to October 24. Business passes provide access to the Keynotes, Arsenal, Sponsored Sessions, Bricks & Picks, and more. All SecTor 2024 pass holders will have access to the Business Hall.

This year's Black Hat Arsenal at SecTor 2024 will take place from October 23 to October 24. Black Hat Arsenal brings together researchers and the cybersecurity community to showcase and demonstrate their latest open-source tools and products in a conversational environment where presenters can interact with the attendees. This year's event will feature 40 in-person tool demos and six labs, spanning exploitation and ethical hacking, reverse engineering, vulnerability assessment, and more.

Top Sponsors and Partners of SecTor 2024 include:

  • Diamond Sponsors: Armis, CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, Sophos, and Trend Micro.
  • Platinum Sponsors: Google Cloud, ManageEngine, Okta, and Rubrik.
  • Sustaining Partners: Akamai, Armis, Axonius, Cisco, CrowdStrike, Fortinet, KnowBe4, ManageEngine, Microsoft, Pentera, Proofpoint, Qualys, SentinelOne, Snyk, Sophos, Sysdig, ThreatLocker, Trend Micro, Wiz, and Zscaler.
  • Global Partners: Adaptive Shield, Corellium, HackerOne, Hack The Box, Snyk, Swimlane, Sysdig, and Varonis.

For registration and additional information on SecTor 2024, please visit www.blackhat.com/sector/2024.

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About SecTor
Since 2007, SecTor, Canada’s largest cybersecurity conference, has brought relevant, engaging, and reputable content for the benefit of the Canadian cybersecurity community. As one of the global events in Black Hat’s portfolio, SecTor provides an unmatched opportunity for security professionals to connect with their peers and learn from their mentors. For more information on SecTor, please visit www.blackhat.com/sector.

About Black Hat
Black Hat is the cybersecurity industry’s most established and in-depth security event series. Founded in 1997, these annual, multi-day events provide attendees with the latest in cybersecurity research, development, and trends. Driven by the needs of the community, Black Hat events showcase content directly from the community through Briefings presentations, Trainings courses, Summits, and more. As the event series where all career levels and academic disciplines convene to collaborate, network, and discuss the cybersecurity topics that matter most to them, attendees can find Black Hat events in the United States, Canada, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Asia. For more information, please visit www.blackhat.com.

Contacts:
PRESS
Stephanie DeAngelo
Black Hat PR & Communications Manager
619.510.1564
BlackHatPR@informa.com

Sustaining Partners