This has been a strangely quiet day on the Internet. I am not complaining mind you, however, days like this make being the Handler On Duty a really dull task and makes the Diary content difficult to come up with.



I have decided to take this lull in the action as an opportunity to look at our ?Mother Organization? SANS and point you to some terrific resources that are available on the site.



So with that said, let?s get started with a little background and discussion regarding SANS Institute and what they have to offer.



Inside SANS Institute



The SANS (SysAdmin, Audit, Network, Security) Institute was established in 1989 as a cooperative research and education organization. Today thousands of people and organizations participate in the programs, conferences, and training that is offered. In addition thousands participate in the Internet Storm Center, DShield and the various newsgroups that are available through their forum.



SANS provides training and educational material, conferences and outstanding resources, such as the weekly vulnerability digest (@RISK), the weekly news digest (NewsBites), the Internet's early warning system (Internet Storm pCenter), flash security alerts and more than 1,200 award-winning, original research papers are free to all who ask.



Most of you are probably familiar with the SANS site at:



http://www.sans.org/



Let?s first look at the About SANS link. On this page you will find links to some of the most valuable resources and material available.



http://www.sans.org/aboutsans.php



Programs of the SANS Institute:


?Information Security Training (more than 400 multi-day courses in 90 cities around the world)


?The GIAC Certification Program (technical certification for people you trust to protect your systems)


?Consensus Security Awareness Training (for all the people who use computers)


?SANS Weekly Bulletins and Alerts (definitive updates on security news and vulnerabilities)


?SANS Information Security Reading Room (more than 1,200 original research papers in 75 important categories of security)


?SANS Step-by-Step Guides (booklets providing guidance on protecting popular operating systems and applications)


?SANS Security Policy Project (free security policy templates - proven in the real world)


?Vendor Related Resources (highlighting the vendors that can help make security more effective)


?Information Security Glossary (words, acronyms, more)


?Internet Storm Center (the Internet's Early Warning System)


?SCORE (helping the security community reach agreement on how to secure common software and systems)


?SANS/FBI Annual Top Twenty Internet Security Vulnerabilities List


?Intrusion Detection FAQ (Frequently asked questions and answers about intrusion detection)


?SANS Press Room (Our press room is designed to assist the media in coverage of the information assurance industry.)


SANS sponsors the Wednesday Webcast where we present information on various topics ranging from the latest patches from Microsoft to the latest worm/virus outbreak to the latest in Information Security.



SANS publishes the TOP 20 List and a lot of papers that help with everything from Securing your Home Computer to Standards, Practices and Procedures.



Of course one of the best things that SANS has going for it is the terrific group of volunteers at the Internet Storm Center. We enjoy being here and interacting with all of the Diary readers. We are happy to answer your questions, take a look at suspicious files that you send to us, listen to your complaints, and in general just be here for all of you. I ?volunteer? in a lot of groups, belong to several boards and committees and I can tell you that by far this is the one that I enjoy participating in the most.



This is just a sample of the interesting information available through SANS Institute. Check out the training schedule, conference schedule and available resources. Take some time browsing around. I think you will find something for everyone at:



http://www.sans.org/



Conference Links from Reader Submissions and a couple more;

Zack said "ISC2 has a list of some conferences in their Resource Guide for Today's Information Security Professional, (the "schedule" starts on about the 11th page)."

Juha-Matti submitted the Help Net Security
page.

IrishMASMS submitted conference links at , ,
and while there I saw a page with links to
conferences.


Other conference links, of course there's http://www.sans.org/">SANS, and the lists at , sity of Cambridge Security Conference List, Cipher's Calendar of Security and Privacy Related Events, and . Thanks everyone!

Thanks to Patrick Nolan for compiling the list of Conference Links for us.


Deb Hale



Handler On Duty