A Note from Your Chapter President
Dear Chapter Members,
Q2 is done. What a quarter.
We closed out April with our joint event with ISACA Toronto. ISC2 and ISACA serve the cybersecurity community in different ways, and our members know that better than anyone. But when two organizations that both care about elevating this profession and building a stronger cybersecurity community decide to share a room, good things happen. The conversations that night reflected that.
May wrapped up with a really memorable evening at Deloitte, featuring a keynote on frontier AI risk and the future of cyber defense, followed by a panel exploring the connection between mental resilience and cyber resilience. It might not be the obvious pairing, but once that conversation got going it felt completely natural. Credit to Deloitte for hosting and to everyone who made it such a thoughtful night.
We also got out into the wider conference community in a big way this quarter. Our volunteers showed up and represented the chapter at both SiberXCon and the Toronto Official Cybersecurity Summit put on by the CyberRisk Alliance, staffing our booth, making connections, and doing the kind of community building that keeps this chapter growing. That presence matters, and it doesn't happen without people giving their time. A genuine thank you to everyone who came out. I also had the chance to join a panel on AI and emerging tech at the security frontline at the CyberRisk Alliance event, and I may or may not have taken the top spot on the cyber escape room leaderboard at SiberXCon. I'll let you decide if that's something to brag about.
Our mentorship program also officially launched this quarter. The response has been incredible. Mentor-mentee pairs are already connected and working through their 5.5-month journey together. That said, we still have 10 mentees sitting on the waitlist, passionate people ready to go, who just need the right mentor to step up. One meeting a month, flexible and virtual. If you have experience in GRC, cloud security, AI governance, incident response, or honestly anything in between, please consider it. You might not realize how much you have to offer until someone tells you.
We also have some board news. First, a sincere thank you to Kanishka Bansal and Syed Ali Turab for everything they contributed to this chapter. Their time and dedication made a real difference. On the transition side, Eddie Liao, who has been serving as Acting Director of Events, has now taken that role on permanently. Bram Weitzman, a longtime chapter volunteer, has stepped into the Director of Technology role. And we're thrilled to welcome Gaya Rajamohan, another familiar volunteer face, as our new Director of Professional Development and Volunteers. The board is in great hands.
Q3 is already underway. This month, on June 25th at 5pm, we're at Tundra Talent with our friends at OWASP Toronto for an evening focused on career growth and leveling up in cybersecurity. Keynote from Sohaib Syeed Ahmed, plus a panel of leaders sharing real, practical perspective on navigating this profession. 4711 Yonge Street, Suite 700. Come out.
We're also putting together a casual summer meetup, something outdoors, low-key, just good people and some fresh air. Details to come.
And the one you've been waiting for: ISC2 SECURE Canada is coming together. September 15-17 at the Delta Hotel Toronto, with workshops on the 15th and 16th and the main conference on September 17th. Chapter members get a 15% discount off registration. We're actively working with the ISC2 team on speakers and sponsors, and if you have connections you think would be a great fit, we'd love to hear from you. More details dropping soon.
Thanks for being part of this. See you out there.
Jon Rohrich, CISSP, CCSP
President - ISC2 Toronto Chapter
