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Q&A Series with RSAC APJ Ambassador Magda Chelly

Cyberthreats present big global challenges. It takes big thinking from the industry’s brightest minds to tackle them. As APJ’s leading information security conference, RSA Conference APJ serves to illuminate the latest cybersecurity solutions and bring together infosec professionals to share their talents and skills with an international community.

We spoke with four industry experts who will be joining us at RSAC 2018 APJ as session speakers for the inside scoop on session content, the preparation process and what they are looking forward to when they arrive in Singapore next month.

In part one of this four-part series, meet RSAC APJ Ambassador Magda Chelly!

Magda Chelly

Magda Lilia Chelly is the managing director of Responsible Cyber Pte. Ltd. and the CEO of Secucial Pte. Ltd., and a first-time speaker at RSAC APJ. We reached out to Magda to ask her a few questions about her upcoming session and what has piqued her interest from this year’s Conference offerings: 

This will be your first time speaking at RSAC APJ. What are you most looking forward to?

Cybersecurity is a passion for me, and I truly enjoy sharing my work, research and innovative projects with other passionate professionals in the field. Addressing identity challenges with a variety of people from similar and related areas of study is a real opportunity to obtain constructive feedback and make relevant connections. I am also looking forward to receiving various perspectives about my work and meeting people interested in the topic.

As a female professional in the cybersecurity field, I am establishing my brand in this male-dominated field. This requires exposure and open acknowledgment of your skills and capabilities in your domain of expertise.

I am also looking forward to experiencing the Conference as an attendee. With such a diverse infosec audience, I am sure I will learn new things outside of my area of expertise and expand my horizons.

What regional or global topics do you look forward to discussing with peers?

In recent years, a lot of privacy challenges have surfaced in governance, risk and compliance, an area my career has been evolving around, and a topic I’d like to discuss further with other professionals. Data privacy, cloud security, blockchain privacy compliance challenges, and identity management for both traditional and disruptive technologies are also topics I’m interested in discussing with industry peers from a global viewpoint.  

Is there a session that you’re looking forward to attending?

I am looking forward to Blockchain for Cybersecurity—Microsegmented Network Access Control. I have been involved recently in a new, innovative, blockchain-based startup, Naoris, building a threat intelligence system. I am currently one of their advisors and therefore the above session will provide a valuable understanding of the use cases of blockchain for cybersecurity.

Is there a speaker you’re excited to hear?

As a cyberfeminist, I encourage women in cybersecurity, and I have been following Paula Januszkiewicz, the CEO, security expert, penetration tester and trainer, and MVP of CQURE Inc., for a while. Her session, Top 10 Ways to Make Hackers Excited: Shortcuts That Were Not Worth Taking, is definitely one of the sessions that I am looking forward to attending. The topic is interesting and relevant. Companies do not realize how important and valuable a security by design and a privacy by design approach can be. In an era where cyberthreats differ and evolve through new attack surfaces, shortcuts might end up being very expensive for businesses.

What is the topic of your session?

My session is, ‘’Identity for All, and Internet of Everything: The Future of Identity Management is Self-sovereignty,” within the seminar Blockchains: Ushering in a New Age?

The rise of cyberthreats is proportionally aligned with emerging technologies deployed by businesses across industries. Those new technologies manage information related to transactions and identities.

My session will highlight the unique challenges of implementing a decentralized identity management solution based on an open standard and open source—the Hyperledger Indy Project, as well as some use cases and innovative implementations.

Blockchain is a great example of a new disruptive technology based on a decentralized, distributed and public digital ledger. Blockchain technology presents a solid solution for data storage, sharing and automation of processes, making it ideally suited for various purposes. However, the blockchain technology does not address the identity factor. It does not give the assurance of authenticity of the identity, and it does not provide control over personal data.

Decentralized identity management presents the future of identity and the best-suited fit to integrate with disruptive technologies like blockchain, as well as traditional ones. The goal of a decentralized and self-sovereign identity for individuals, businesses and things addresses two main challenges: security and privacy.

How are you preparing for your session?

My other passion is public speaking. I have had the opportunity to participate in several international conferences and love it. My talk is built on an approach that empowers the audience. I make people think, I make people laugh, and I make people share.

I have already prepared my draft, and I will be discussing the presentation with the RSA Conference blockchain seminar program chair, Saurabh Shintre. This will allow us to align with the audience’s expectations and RSAC standards.

What skills and info will those who attend your session walk away with?

One of the reasons I have chosen to run this session was to further provide information, guidance and support around the new disruptive and futuristic/realistic approach to identity. A decentralized identity for subjects and objects, based on a zero-proof system, is exciting and different. 

For those looking to comply with new privacy regulations across the world with an important heterogeneity, the session will provide key components and clear action steps for compliance. For those looking to improve and enable their business through new technologies, my session will describe immediate use cases across different industry sectors.

My session will not only open the audience’s mindset around decentralized identities—the differences between a ledger and a hyperledger—it will also provide insights on how regulation and technology convert and diverge, depending on their applications. This will address matters like smart contracts and KYC.

Technology is progressing faster than ever. My session will showcase the implications of technology’s acceleration in an industry sector where experience matters and brings credibility, but age doesn’t necessarily determine expertise.

To check out the seminar, grab your Full Conference Pass today. Click here to register: Register 

Check back on the RSAC blog soon for Part Two and to hear more from our RSAC APJ ambassadors!

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from RSAConference Blogs RSS Feed authored by RSAC Editorial Team. Read the original post at: http://www.rsaconference.com/blogs/qa-series-with-rsac-apj-ambassador-magda-chelly