GR-ISSA
An Information Systems Security Association Chapter

About Us

GR-ISSA is a local chapter of the international Information Systems Security Association (or ISSA). GR-ISSA provides local security professionals and practitioners a variety of information security resources ranging from presentations and knowledge sharing to social networking opportunities. This site is dedicated to the Grand Rapids, Michigan chapter of ISSA. GR-ISSA was founded in 2003. For information about the parent international ISSA organization, you are encouraged to visit www.issa.org.

Meetings

Meeting Time

Meetings are held nine months out of the year on the third friday of the month unless stated otherwise. Meetings are suspended during summer months (June through August) in recognition of vacations etc.

Social Networking 2:30 - 3:00 PM EST
Presentation 3:00 - 4:30 PM EST
Open Discussion 4:30 - 5:00 PM EST

Meeting Location

Chapter meetings are held at Steelcase Global Headquarters in Grand Rapids Michigan. Steelcase Global Headquarters are located on the northeast corner of 44th street and Eastern avenue. Guest parking is available free of charge, accessible from the 44th street entrance closest to Eastern avenue. Attendees are asked to use the main entrance facing 44th street. Upon entering the lobby a receptionist will greet you, please sign in and take a name tag. Chapter meetings are held downstairs in one of the multipurpose rooms near the cafeteria.

Steelcase Global Headquarters
901 44th Street SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49508

Presentations

Friday May 16, 2008 - Onion, Not Parfait

Presented by Jared DeMott - Owner, VDA Labs

Mr. DeMott will begin by speaking to the security scene at large and address the many layers involved. This fly though is not your average wiki read, but proves to be rather enlightening. He will transition into a lower level discussion revolving around Incident Response. How does one detect and then decode the operation of some really nasty stuff that could be tucked inside your host? Jared will reveal his personal malware analysis methodology and speak to the effectiveness of current tools and techniques. This talk is intended to be interactive so bring good questions.

Past Presentations

Electronic presentation material are available with chapter membership through the chapter archives.

Membership

GR-ISSA Chapter Membership

To become a member of the Grand Rapids ISSA chapter we ask that you be a West Michigan information security student or professional. Membership benefits include access to chapter emails advertising coming events and peer commentary on topics of information security. Benefits also include access to email and presentation archives.

Chapter membership requires a multi-step process as outlined below.

  1. Begin the application process by providing a valid email address and choosing a password for your chapter account. You should receive an email seeking confirmation of your email address.
  2. Follow the instructions provided in the confirmation email. Once confirmed, a moderator will contact you via email.
  3. The moderator will ask for additional information about you such as title, organization and contact information. You will also be asked to agree to the chapter terms shown below. Reply to the moderator to continue the application process.
    1. Professionalism: you agree to follow common standards of email etiquette.
    2. Relevance: you agree to only post messages relevant to the interests of GR-ISSA.
    3. Privacy: you agree to not breach the privacy of list participants (e.g. by not revealing names or forwarding content without the owner's permission).
    4. No advertising: you agree to refrain from advertising any product or service.
  4. The moderator will issue a final email either granting or denying your chapter membership.

Chapter members will be added to the chapter mailing list, [gr-issa-discuss@gr-issa.org].

GR-ISSA Chapter Dues

GR-ISSA does not require dues. GR-ISSA solicits guest speakers that will donate their time and information. GR-ISSA also solicits local organizations that will donate their conference room facilities for a few hours each month to accommodate our monthly meetings. Combined, these donations of time, information and facilities have allowed GR-ISSA to waive all requirements for monthly or yearly chapter dues.

ISSA Membership and Fees

International ISSA membership requires an annual fee paid by either an individual or an organization as appropriate. Although ISSA membership is not required to attend GR-ISSA chapter meetings, we strongly recommend attendees to consider the benefits of ISSA membership. The international site also offers an online option for joining ISSA at any time.

Archives

The GR-ISSA archive contains discussion list (gr-issa-discuss and gr-issa-announce) and past presentation material. All archive access begins with chapter membership. Without chapter membership, you will not have access to the archive and its contents. Consult membership for details.

Archive and discussion list logon information will be synchronized. If your chapter membership is new or passwords where changed, you must wait 24 hours before the account settings take effect on the archive.

Chapter members will have access to the following materials:

  1. email archive for gr-issa-discuss
  2. email archive for gr-issa-announce (deprecated in 2007)
  3. GR-ISSA past presentation materials

Contact

There are a few options available for contacting Grand Rapids ISSA chapter members.

  • [gr-issa-discuss at gr-issa dot org], entire chapter member base.
  • [gr-issa at gr-issa dot org], prominent chapter members and the chapter executive board.
  • [gr-issa-exec at gr-issa dot org], chapter executive board.

Additionally, some executive board members can be contacted directly.

President Lloyd Guyot [lloyd dot guyot at spectrum-health dot org]
Vice President Paul Melson
Membership Director Ed Jaros
Treasurer Kevin Tyrrell
Secretary Jason Link

 

Last modified: November 26, 2007