Software Engineering Institute

June 8, 2020—FloCon has opened its call for participation in the 2021 conference on the theme of “Using Data to Defend.” The international conference on data analysis for security invites operational analysts, tool developers, researchers, security professionals, and others to submit abstracts for presentations, posters, and demonstrations by August 14.

Due to uncertainties related to the COVID-19 pandemic, FloCon 2021 will be a virtual event, held online January 11-14.

As it has since 2018, FloCon focuses on applying analytics to any large-scale dataset to enhance security. Submissions to FloCon 2021 must describe the theory, creation, implementation, or operational use of data analysis in support of security operations for networked systems. Of particular interest this year is analysis of big data to tackle the hardest security problems. The best presentations will leave participants with actionable insights, code, or analytics.

“The sudden and drastic increase in remote work prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed the data available to analysts,” said Joshua Fallon, a network defense analyst in the SEI’s CERT Division and chair of FloCon 2021. “The attack surfaces for enterprise networks have an entirely new shape, and threat actors have responded with novel attacks. Old models are no longer representative of today’s networks. FloCon attendees can expect presenters to share fresh insights into new threats, adaptations to the new normal, and unique perspectives on the security landscape. As in years past, FloCon presenters will share their experience leveraging a variety of tools to share new, powerful techniques to use data to defend.”

FloCon 2021 marks the conference’s 16th year. It started in 2004 as an invitation-only gathering of government workers, contractors, and academics centered on network flow analysis. Over the years, FloCon expanded its technical scope to include standardized data formats, the use of diversified and merged data, machine learning methods, analytical hardware, network storage devices, and big-data analysis, all in the service of network security. Along the way, FloCon’s courses and social events have fostered a robust community of data analytics researchers and practitioners.

Submit an abstract for inclusion in FloCon 2021 at https://resources.sei.cmu.edu/news-events/events/flocon/cfp.cfm.

Learn more about FloCon 2021 at https://resources.sei.cmu.edu/news-events/events/flocon/index.cfm, including a history of past conferences at https://resources.sei.cmu.edu/news-events/events/flocon/past-conferences.cfm.