Protect 2016 Conference Is Happening This Week

The Philippine capital isn’t well-known for events catering to the security crowd. But each year a colorful train of attendees and speakers troop to the Protect conference series organized by Leverage International Inc. For the 11th installment of Protect cybersecurity and its vagaries hog the spotlight with eight sessions in 11 dedicated to its applications in the private sector, government, and security.

Protect 2016 is a two-day affair and runs from March 2 until 3 at the commodious SMX Convention Center beside Pasay City’s largest shopping mall. A combined workshop, lecture series, and networking venue, Protect 2016 offers presentations on security issues that impact regional and multinational businesses.

21st Century Asian Arms Race (21AAR) is a media partner for Protect 2016.

Protect 2016 kicks off on a Wednesday morning at 9:30 AM with a keynote address from Gen. Ricardo Marquez of the Philippine National Police. The first session is a briefing by intelligence analyst Steve Cutler about the state of global security with an emphasis on terrorism.

Before a sumptuous lunch is served executives from Microsoft and Cisco will be donning black hats for a joint presentation on attacking sensitive corporate data and then fielding questions from the audience.

The rest of the afternoon is occupied by breakneck talks (capped by a lengthy Q&A) spanning cybercrime, disruptive innovation, cloud computing, and big data. The first day of Protect 2016 wraps with a lively focus group discussion on protecting critical infrastructure and a company’s data.

The evening commences with cocktails and networking. The latter half of Protect 2016 on March 3 offers a morning session where various Philippine government officials discuss homeland security. These include presentations from agencies responsible for IP, technology, law enforcement, and disaster response.

The obligatory lunch break is followed by a session on “business continuity” and ultimately concludes with a round table on security mega trends. There will also be a showcase of new security products for cyber and physical security.

For the duration of Protect 2016 attendees and participants can also patronize different exhibitors for surveillance, biometric, and emergency equipment in their booths.