Rochester Security Summit 2026

October 14 - 15, 2026 Rochester Riverside Convention Center We are excited to announce our 20th Anniversary Keynote line up for the Rochester Security Summit. See Our Volunteering Page for Details Brian Krebs is an independent investigative reporter who writes about cybercrime at the award-winning Web site KrebsOnSecurity.com. Formerly with The Washington Post (1995-2009), Krebs is best known for breaking stories on high-profile data breaches, including those that hit Target, Home Depot, Michaels, Ashley Madison, and Capital One. A frequent interviewee and public speaker, Krebs has been profiled by 60 Minutes, The New York Times, Poynter.org, and Business Week. Krebs's book, "Spam Nation: The Inside Story of Organized Cybercrime - From Global Epidemic to Your Front Door" – is now a New York Times bestseller. More recently, he was invited to an “Ask Me Anything” discussion on Reddit about investigative reporting. Colin Ahern was appointed by Governor Kathy Hochul in February 2026 as New York State’s Director of Security and Intelligence. In this role, he leads a whole-of-state response to cyber, hybrid, and foreign malign influence threats, and coordinates the State’s defense industrial base, drone, counter-drone, and quantum initiatives. Before this appointment, Mr. Ahern served as New York State’s first Chief Cyber Officer. Prior to joining state service, he was First Deputy Director of New York City Cyber Command and Acting Chief Information Security Officer for the City of New York. He also worked in cybersecurity in financial services. James Brodsky is the VP of Security Solutions Engineering, AMER for SentinelOne, where he leads technical strategy, field enablement, and customer engagement across the region. With a career spanning leadership roles at Google, Splunk, and IBM, James brings deep expertise in security operations, data analytics, and large-scale enterprise defense. An RIT graduate, he began his career in IT and cybersecurity at Frontier Communications/Rochester Telephone, giving him a strong foundation in both practitioner-level challenges and executive-level strategy. His work has consistently focused on helping organizations modernize their security posture, adopt emerging technologies responsibly, and navigate the evolving threat landscape with clarity and confidence. Technical Special Agent Edward Sakocius brings 18 years of law enforcement experience to his work as a digital forensic incident responder with the Buffalo Field Office's Empire State Cyber Fraud Task Force. He has led responses involving ransomware, business email compromise, and point of sale breaches affecting organizations ranging from small businesses to large enterprises. Sakocius supports local and federal law enforcement through cryptocurrency tracing and digital forensic examinations, most notably contributing to the FBI's joint advisory on BlackByte ransomware. He has acted as an instructor for the International Law Enforcement Academy and the Baltic Computer Forensic Training Program. His frontline work provides leaders with a clear understanding of today's cyber risks and helps organizations navigate modern day threats. Thomas Barillari brings over 25 years of law enforcement experience to his role as a Network Intrusion Forensic Analyst (NIFA) with the United States Secret Service. Based in the Buffalo, NY Field Office, he supports investigations throughout New York State and Internationally, focusing on cyber intrusions, electronic fraud, cellphone/computer related forensics and the growing complexities of cryptocurrency-related crimes. His expertise was honed during six years as a Task Force Officer with the USSS Cyber Fraud Task Force, where he collaborated with federal, state, and local law enforcement partners. As the primary point of contact for network intrusion incidents in the region, especially those impacting financial institutions, Tom plays a critical role in safeguarding our digital infrastructure. The Rochester Security Summit values the safety and privacy of its attendees, staff, presenters, sponsors, and volunteers. Therefore, we recently updated our rules and our Code of Conduct, which you can see on our website. We feel it's important to emphasize one element of these rules for all before anyone arrives at the conference with incorrect expectations and we have a difficult situation: Glasses such as the Meta Ray-Bans and all similar items that have an operating mode of recording audio and/or video as the wearer goes about, are not allowed to be operated within the Security Summit. Anyone observed operating one of these devices at the Summit will be asked to deactivate it and put it in their car or hotel room. Thank you for your understanding. Ensuring the safety and privacy of everyone at the Summit is our priority. Since 2006, the Rochester Security Summit has been a leading regional event that brings together a broad range of experts and professionals from the field of informa