ISSA

"Security Convergence" is the subject of The Alliance between ISACA, ISSA and ASIS. Seeing what the focus of all the three groups is it really does make sense: ISACAs main operational field is Governance, especially IT governance; ISSA is "the global voice of information security" and ASIS is primarily concerned with physical security.
It's pretty clear that those three fields do converge more and more, so The Alliance is an important step in the right direction. It will help to open the eyes of security professionals worldwide to the other fields. It will, thus, help to raise a more business oriented security program in enterprises. We shouldn't expect too much in too little time, however: I don't believe that many companies understand at the moment that security is something that needs to be considered in a (I hate to use the term, but it does fit so nicely) wholistic way.
So, at the Network Security Conference/Security Management Conference of ISACA in Amsterdam last Monday the panel discussion was just about this: "Security Convergence". I was invited to represent ISSA at the panel. It was rather interesting to see the different points of view on the panel - and in the audience. Another member of the panel, Carl Thorp, stayed on for the day (I had to get back unfortunately) and reported that there were quite a few interesting discussions about the convergence thing. However, it seems to be of prime import to define what "Convergence" really means.
It will be interesting to see the discussions around the term in the near future.

I've been invited to represent ISSA at a panel discussion at the ISACA Network Security/Security Management Conference in Amsterdam. It's my first time to the Netherlands and, unfortunately, I won't have any time to do some sightseeing.
The panel discussion is about The Alliance between ISACA, ISSA and ASIS about the convergence of physical security and information security. The folks are great and I wish I had more time to spend here.

I've just come back from a very good event in Brussels, Belgium. The ISSA Chapter Bruxelles European had organized a one day event about ISO17799/BS7799 titled "Making progress on a work in progress".

The talks were excellent, ranging from the future of the standard to case studies. Apart from the educational aspect the networking part was really good: I met some people for the first time in person (like Lois Gamon and the notorious famous Richard Starnes).

On a related note, ISSA is currently working on taking part in the development of ISO 17799.

It looks like ISSA is finally taking off on the Continent. There are several new Chapters and several new Chapter Presidents in Europe. We're currently in the process of founding the German Chapter and the Belgians will host a European event on March 22^nd. Apart from that Infosecurity Europe will host a few events for (ISC)² constituents and ISSA members. ISSA Int'l. is recognizing Europe as a growing market and is working with the local chapters on sponsoring, support and event organization.

All in all, it is a pretty exciting time right now.