2025-08-05 –, Emerald
You’ve identified the vulnerability, tested the exploit, and written the report. But they just don’t see the urgency. Now what? This 4-hour, hands-on workshop bridges the gap between technical mastery and executive and influence. We’ll move beyond simply reporting risks to crafting compelling narratives, quantifying value, and building the relationships necessary to drive meaningful security improvements.
We’ll delve into the psychology of decision-making, explore adversarial communication tactics (including those used against YOU), and arm you with practical strategies to become a trusted advisor who can effectively advocate for security and get things done.
Target Audience:
Security professionals of all levels (penetration testers, security engineers, analysts, red teamers, etc.) who want to improve their communication and persuasion skills to influence stakeholders and drive security initiatives.
Workshop Objectives:
Participants will be able to:
• Identify and analyze key stakeholders, influencers, and decision makers within their organizations.
• Translate technical findings or concepts, such as security by design, into business-centric language.
• Tailor your message to your stakeholders and influence them to make better decisions (social engineering for good!).
• Articulate the ROI of security investments.
• Effectively counter common objections and adversarial tactics.
• Develop a practical method for ongoing stakeholder engagement.
• Practice communicating complex security issues to non-technical audiences.
• Build trust and credibility with diverse stakeholders.
• Overcome their own fears and perceived limitations when dealing with key business decision makers.
Glen Sorensen is a Virtual Chief Information Security Officer (vCISO) with Cyber Risk Opportunities. He has worn numerous hats in his career, in areas such as security engineering and architecture, security operations, GRC, and leadership. He has held a variety of roles as an analyst, engineer, consultant, auditor, regulator, and information security officer for a financial institution.
Glen approaches problems with practical solutions that bring good business value and has worked across many sectors, including financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, and others. He has served as a consulting expert in a large legal case involving healthcare and cyber attack detection technology. He has been in IT and security for 15+ years, longer if you count years of misspent youth bending technology and countless hours of roleplaying games. He is a sucker for a good tabletop exercise and serves as an Incident Master for HackBack Gaming, the fun kind of TTX.
Daniela Parker is a risk and resilience professional with 20+ years of experience in the financial services industry. As the founder of Parker Solutions, she helps organizations navigate uncertainty and build resilience. Daniela brings a unique blend of deep risk management expertise and operational know-how, gained from leadership roles (including CRO and COO) at multiple credit unions.
She holds a Master's in Business Continuity, Risk, and Security from Boston University and is a Certified Business Continuity Professional (DRI). Daniela is passionate about helping organizations identify vulnerabilities, strengthen their response capabilities, and create a culture of preparedness.