I will be presenting “Sharpening the Axe – How to Chop Down a Cloud” at BayThreat 2011

…the 2nd annual information security conference in the South Bay at The Hacker Dojo, December 9th, 10th & 11th.

My title is in reference to President Abraham Lincoln who was said to have once quipped:

If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six hours sharpening my axe.

The runner-up quote from Lincoln was

If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee

…but I couldn’t figure out how to make it into a full presentation, let alone a title. Perhaps “if this is cloud, please bring me on-premise; but if this is on-premise, please bring me cloud”?

The axe title works fine, though, and also is in reference to Theseus’ paradox, sometimes known as the Ship of Theseus or my grandfather’s axe, which seems appropriate given this year’s badge.

At BayThreat this year, we’re giving attendees circuit board badges. These badges are plain boards to start, but on Sunday we will have a soldering workshop where everyone can work on their badges. We will have kits available for the badge.

The presentation is based on some of the material you will find in my new book soon to be published by Wiley on security in virtual environments. Hope to see you there.