Software Engineering Institute

October 5, 2022—FloCon, the Software Engineering Institute’s conference on applying data to network defense, has announced its program and opened registration for its 2023 event. Security and data analysis professionals are invited to register online to attend FloCon in Santa Fe, New Mexico, January 9-12, 2023.

Presentations and workshops at the 19th annual conference will explore long-standing challenges in security and data analysis, as well as current and future networking technologies. “The rapidly changing security landscape, with increased focus on encrypting network traffic, cloud transition, and zero trust strategy, has driven our speakers to adapt and expand research for situational awareness beyond the network,” said Joshua Fallon, a network defense analyst in the SEI’s CERT Division and the conference chair. The FloCon 2023 program will include the following topics:

• knowledge graphs
• OSINT analysis tools
• Defense Industrial Base Vulnerability Disclosure Program
• synthetic IP header trace generation
• IPFIX and DPI information
• web3
• DNS misinformation, anomaly detection, and tunneling detection
• cybersecurity data lakes
• cybersecurity data preparation for machine learning
• QUIC protocol
• securing cloud workloads
• cyber environment complexity
• diamond model automation

This year’s training track will include detecting malware in a zero trust monitoring scheme. The workshop will expose some tactics used by malware actors, review ways to observe them on the network, and show how to test cases mapped to MITRE’s adversary tactics, techniques, and procedures.

Day two of FloCon will feature a keynote speech by Rear Admiral William E. Chase III, deputy commander of the Joint Force Headquarters, Department of Defense Information Network (DODIN). He leads command and control of DODIN Operations and Defensive Cyberspace Operations, Internal Defense Measures, which synchronizes DODIN defense and synthesizes global intelligence sharing to deter adversary attacks and enable power projection, freedom of action, and mission assurance across all warfighting domains.

FloCon has a history of gathering leading security researchers from academia, industry, and government. The conference started by focusing on network flow data. In recent years its scope has expanded to improving network security by analyzing a variety of data supported by innovative machine learning, hardware, and network storage.

FloCon 2023 returns in person after holding the event online for two years during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Being back in person allows us to dig into the collaborations that have built the FloCon community, during breaks and after hours,” said Fallon. “The social aspect of the conference makes it a rich opportunity to bring together remote and hybrid teams to spark innovation among themselves and with the broader group of participants.”

Check out FloCon 2023’s program or register online. View presentations from previous FloCon events on the FloCon website.