The PhishMe Submerge user conference took place in Orlando, FL on September 28-29, 2016. The event provided attendees with the opportunity to learn phishing defense best practices and hear about case studies highlighting information security successes and failures. More than 100 phishing defense professionals attended the event from all over the world.
There were two tracks at the conference – The ‘Deep Dive’ track that focused on getting the most out of PhishMe products and the ‘Under the Surface’ track, that detailed the latest threats and attack trends. Industry experts talked about the latest malware, ransomware and phishing threats and tactics for ensuring an effective response to security incidents.
In addition to providing an excellent opportunity for learning and networking, several enterprises were honored with PhishMe Excellence Awards for their efforts in phishing prevention, detection, and incident response.
An anonymous panel of judges – including security professionals, industry leaders and PhishMe product experts – reviewed applications in each award category.
The Award for Phishing Defense Program of the Year was given to AvanGrid, Inc., an energy and utility company serving 3.2 million customers in New England and New York. The company had implemented the most effective all-round phishing defense program, demonstrating excellence in several categories including detection, alerts, training, reporting, participation and results.
The next-generation security company Palo Alto Networks received the Most Innovative Phishing Defense Program Award after demonstrating optimal training effectiveness and the ability to think out-of-the-box to improve defenses against phishing attacks and ensure company-wide cyber training participation.
PhishMe Excellence Awards were also given to the Incident Response Team of the Year – The response team that demonstrated a superior overall process of responding to phishing threats and the PhishMe Community Trailblazer of the Year. The PhishMe Community Trailblazer of the Year Award was given to the PhishMe user who had demonstrated the most commitment and drive to ensure his organization had the best possible phishing defense.
PhishMe CEO, Rohyt Belani was encouraged to see the efforts being put in to improve defenses against increasingly sophisticated phishing attacks and praised the quality of submissions, saying they were “outstanding and a credit to the entire industry.”