Dallas Security Community

Each week, we’ll highlight a major city in the US and cover the places and events you can go to in that area to get your security information fix. This post is part of the information security communities.

The Cowboys, the Cotton Bowl, southwestern hospitality. There’s a lot of things to like about Dallas. The one we are interested in here are the local professional groups. Like other parts of the south, security is a pretty hot topic in Texas, so without further ado:

• OWASP Dallas Local Chapter – This Texan chapter offers regular talks on anything new in security. Get on clicking to join the chapter mailing list or RSVP for a future one.
• ISSA Cow Town – This particular ISSA chapter covers the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Meetings are every third Wednesday of the month. Email here for questions.
• ISACA North Texas Chapter – Some groups cast an even wider net, like this ISACA chapter that covers the northern part of the state. Lost of links here from presentations to a calendar to meeting schedules.
• Dallas NAISG – With over 2,200 members strong all over, this group meets at either Accuvant or Fox Sports Grill. Email them to know more about the meetings.
• North Texas InfraGard Chapter – This is a local effort to gain support from the information technology industry and academia for the FBI’s investigative efforts in the cyber arena. Visit here for contact info.
• AITP Dallas – IT professionals gain a lot of networking chops from these groups. You can review the events page or browse the newsroom. Meetings are every 4th Wednesday. Hurry, chapter elections are on the 27th.

There are also a few local meetings in the area by some pretty skilled pros.

• DC214 – Technology needs to be reined in and that’s why DC214 is here. Or maybe not, but in any case this local group welcomes people from all walks in its meetings, which are every second Wednesday. Take a gander at past presentations if you like.
• Dallas Personal Robotics Group – Not a infosec group per se, but if you are interested in programming and robotics, this is the group to be part of. Second Saturday meetings are held regularly and there are also other informal meetings.

Hackerspaces come far and few in Dallas. Here are a couple you might be interested in.

• Dallas Makerspace – Be part of this community and enjoy the company of like-minded fellows. Take note of their projects here and get in touch.
• Cohabitat Dallas – More of a coworking space, CoHabitat is a center for creativity and startup activity in the area. Contact them through this page.

You can also meet other professionals in the space though a few security events.

• APWG eCrime Researchers Summit – This is an event that focuses on the criminal aspect of the digital world. Topics include crimeware, fraud prevention, honeypot design and more. Signup for the event this coming October 18.
• BSidesDFW – This semi-unconference (their words not mine) has a lot going on with talks ranging from advanced Windows exploitation techniques to how to survive a teleporter accident. This event is happening on November 6th.

If we missed anything (particularly if DOH! has a site we can link to), feel free to comment below.