Dear members of the (ISC)² Chapter Switzerland,
Dear friends, dear professionals.
Another year comes to a close. For Information Security and for you as professionals it was challenging, but we hope, rewarding and ultimately successful. The stakes in our field have never been higher, as ever more everyday activities are moving into Cloud services, yet security weaknesses that could have been closed ages ago continued rearing their ugly head. If technology was still the key problem, we’d be closer to a sustainable solution. In the real world, security has to rely on a successful combination of human skill and volition. It is the human factor that makes or breaks security.
For the Chapter, and for (ISC)², 2014 was a great year. (ISC)² passed 100’000 members this year, and held its first EMEA Congress. In Switzerland, the Chapter has continued to grow, and we had ten events in the French and German speaking parts of Switzerland. This included SecureZurich in June and SecureFribourg in September, both with record attendance. We would like to thank all delegates to our events, all speakers and sponsors, as well as our friends from other Chapters, other Swiss security organizations, (ISC)² and its partners for the excellent collaboration!
The Safe & Secure Online program, to which many Chapter members are volunteers, had a tremendous year, with no less than eleven presentations and over 550 parents, teachers and children reached. 2014 also saw the expansion of Safe & Secure Online into German speaking Switzerland. Bringing the program into so many classrooms for free is the merit of the volunteers, leaders and sponsors for Safe & Secure Online, without who this program could not exist.
We are looking forward to building on this year’s accomplishments, welcoming the new year with our now traditional drinks in Zurich, and the General Assembly a couple of weeks later (both by separate invitation).
However, the Chapter is a grassroots effort. That’s why we are always looking for volunteers to organize, present or help running the Chapter. Make this part of your new year’s resolutions! Contact the Board with your ideas, and, if you would like to volunteer for Safe & Secure Online, get in touch with Richard Lane. If you don’t already have them, you will find all contact details on our web site.
Until then, we would like to wish you relaxing holidays, and we are looking forward to seeing you next year. Lets make a difference in 2015.
With kind regards
The Board of the (ISC)² Chapter Switzerland
Peter, Andrej, Camillo, Jean Paul, Rüdiger and Sandro
