Marcus J. Ranum is a world-renowned expert on security system design and implementation and is a pioneer in creation of the technology of Information Security – from firewalls to intrusion detection and beyond. In the late 1980's he developed the first successful commercial firewall product, the DEC SEAL. When the Clinton administration decided to connect The White House to the Internet, Marcus designed, implemented, and managed whitehouse.gov, The President's secure Email server. Based on the technology he developed for whitehouse.gov, Marcus implemented a second commercial firewall product, the Trusted Information Systems Gauntlet firewall, which at one point was the firewall market leader.

Marcus also implemented the TIS firewall toolkit (fwtk) which was used to secure thousands of sites Internet-wide. In the mid 1990's, Marcus spent several years as a consultant with customers including FORTUNE 500 firms, major banks and brokerages, and several national governments. Marcus served as chief technology officer of V-One Security, Inc. and oversaw V-One's technology development as well as participating in V-One's initial public offering road show. In 1996, Marcus founded NFR Security, where he served as Chief Technology Officer. As founder of the company, Marcus was responsible for day-to-day operations, financing and fund raising, as well as overseeing development and technology. Today he is the Chief of Security for Tenable Security, Inc., where he is responsible for research in open source logging tools, and product training. He also serves as a technology advisor to a number of start-ups, established concerns, and venture capital groups.

Lawrence M. Walsh is the founder, president and managing director of 2112, an IT business development and media consultancy. Walsh is a well-known expert in IT security technologies and policies, managed technology services and IT reseller channels who helps IT vendors, resellers and end users innovate and turn technology into a competitive advantage. He evangelizes the need for efficiency, simplicity and focus in business and technology infrastructure.

On security, Walsh knows every aspect of the technology, policies and marketplace. Major corporations have engaged Walsh for strategic direction on product development and market delivery models. And consumers of security technologies seek Walsh’s counsel on best practices for developing and managing synergistic IT security systems.
                                                   
A seasoned, lively speaker, Walsh has presented at such high-profile venues as the Commonwealth Club of California, Black Hat Security Conference, the World Summit on Intrusion Prevention, Information Security Decisions conference, the InfoSecurity Conference and XChange, as well as a numerous corporate events. He is one of the first professional speakers to conduct a presentation in Second Life, the growing virtual world and precursor to the 3D Internet. His Internet video presentations for CMP Technology has drawn thousands of online participants.

An award-winning journalist, Walsh has served as editor of VARBusiness, GovernmentVAR and Information Security magazines. He has written hundreds of articles, analyses and commentaries on the development of reseller businesses, the IT marketplace, managed services, and information security policy, strategy and technology. His 2003 expose of Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing initiative earned him the American Society of Business Publication Editors’ award for feature writing. His columns on innovation earned him a second ASBPE award for column writing. And he led a team of journalist that won two ASBPE awards for a series of research articles on the state of technology. Over the course of his career, Walsh and his teams have earned more than two dozen journalism honors.

A native of Massachusetts, Walsh is earned his degree in political science from Suffolk University in Boston. He served in the U.S. Army, 1986-1990, as a communications and security specialist. Prior to his magazine career, Walsh was a newspaper editor and reporter, having held editorial positions at the Boston Globe, the MetroWest Daily News, the Brockton Enterprise and Community Newspaper Company. In 1997, he led a team of journalists that covered the event and consequences of a teen mass-drug overdose; their coverage earned several awards including the 1997 New England Newspaper Associations’ Newspaper of the Year honor.

Walsh’s current projects include the creation of return on investment metrics for managed services, leveraging the power of virtual worlds for business purposes and developing new techniques for improving communications between business partners.

Melise R. Blakeslee is a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP based in the Washington, D.C. office.   As a member of the Intellectual Property, Media & Technology Department, Melise is the leader of the Firm’s Tech Transactions and e-Business Group. She is admitted to the bars of New York and Washington, D.C.

Melise’s practice is unique in that she has a transactional practice focusing on information technology and the Internet as well as an active litigation docket focusing on complex software and copyright disputes.

Melise’s practice routinely bridges across a wide range of complex IT and IP arrangements, including Multinational IT and BPO outsourcing; and B2B, B2C and commodity exchanges.

In addition, she counsels internet-based businesses on issues such as: consumer privacy, transaction authentication, content licensing, electronic payment systems, advertising concerns and e-business-related insurance issues.

Melise has 19 years of experience protecting and licensing IP in many industry sectors, including software, advertising, art and music.  She leads the Firm's large-scale Internet policing program on behalf of many famous brands.