I recently read a number of market research reports describing what’s top of mind for chief information security officers (CISOs), and the results are quite sobering. For example, more than 95 percent of CISOS say it’s likely they will experience an advanced attack in the next year; nearly 90 percent believe today’s advanced security threats can cause substantially more damage than traditional threats; and more than three-quarters of CISOs say they are being asked to the board at least once a year, with senior executives having become increasingly concerned about data breaches and hacks.

Why All the Angst?

The simple truth is that advanced and sophisticated threats are showing no signs of slowing down, and perimeter defenses can’t do the job alone. Organizations are turning to analytics to help detect advanced threats and drive intelligent responses. In fact, one Gartner study asserts that by 2020, 75 percent of security budgets will be allocated to rapid detection and response approaches, up from 10 percent in 2012.

Today’s new security technologies and the growing threat of sophisticated attacks are causing enterprises to rethink their security strategies. One place where you can learn more about new technologies and techniques for addressing threat, fraud and other offenses is the Security Analytics and Fraud Protection track at IBM InterConnect 2015 in Las Vegas from Feb. 22 to Feb. 26.

Dozens of Security Topics, One Great Conference

In this track, you will hear about new techniques for combating threats and fraud. It will feature expert security speakers from multiple industries, countries and disciplines who have faced the same challenges as you have and come up with creative and effective ways to address them.

To get an idea of just how cool and exciting this track will be, the following are a few highlights (find the full list of sessions here):

• A speaker from IBM Watson and the chief technology officer (CTO) of IBM Security Services will cover how cognitive computing and security intelligence can be used together to better understand security threats and develop actions for mitigation and remediation (Session No. 5146).
• A security officer from a large Spanish bank will describe how to protect online banking services against fraud (Session No. 1104).
• The CTO of IBM Security and his team will lead an interactive panel discussion and answer questions. This session was jam-packed last year, so plan accordingly (Session No. 3426).
• A panel of cross-industry security experts from the United States, Canada and Italy will conduct an interactive discussion about how they transform threats, vulnerabilities and risks into use cases to develop detection and protection plans (Session No. 4933).
• The Portuguese Navy will talk about how security information and event management can be used in demanding military environments to maintain security (Session No. 1477).
• IBM Cloud and Smarter Infrastructure managers will speak as a customer and describe how they use IBM Security Intelligence to protect the cloud (Session No. 1639).
• Learn how IBM and Sogeti built a next-generation security operations center based on security intelligence concepts (Session No. 1811).
• Hear about new incident forensics solutions that can reduce the time needed to investigate a security offense from days to hours — or even minutes (Session No. 3416).

If you haven’t already done so, I encourage you to register for InterConnect 2015, read more about all the great track offerings, create your personalized agenda and tell your colleagues and business partners to do the same.

Aside from the educational breakout sessions, InterConnect will also include Customer Engagement Center sessions, “Meet the Expert” panels, the IBM Security booth on the show floor, the security keynote on the morning of Feb. 24 and even an Aerosmith concert. Check back frequently for additional track information, follow-up blogs and event updates, and I hope to see you in Las Vegas.