His ex-military credentials give me the good shivers, and his dedication to philanthropy is helping bring technology education to the places it's needed most. Meet Marcus J. Carey, founder of Maryland IT security consulting and research firm Saecur, and mastermind behind DojoCon, the newest, and in many ways most promising, IT security convention on the East Coast.

After moving from the public sector at U.S. Navy Cryptologic Security Group, to the private sector's Computer Sciences Corporation, Marcus landed in his very own boardroom with a headful of ideas and, clearly, a belly full of Wheaties.

Collaborating with Johnny Long, whose group Hackers for Charity brings PCs and the know-how to use them to impoverished areas of Uganda, Carey launched DojoSec, a monthly security meetup which quickly became popular in the U.S. northeast. Now, Carey casts his net wider with November's upcoming DojoCon.

We catch up with Marcus in his secret underground bunker beneath the Baltic Sea for some crumpets, pear cider, and a quick chat.

DojoCon is a newcomer on the conference scene, yet it immediately sets itself apart from the pack with its uniquely charitable goals. Tell us a little about Hackers for Charity, and how you two teamed up.

Actually DojoSec, DojoCon, and Hackers for Charity were all born in the same place. Johnny Long and I were both working as security researchers at Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC). It was weird that we came from different backgrounds, he was a hacker and I am the ex-military network defense geek. Working with Johnny was a blast because in mentoring me to be his replacement, he taught me how to "hack stuff". Co-workers would joke about our relationship calling me "Pretty Much Johnny".

Johnny and I had a lot in common. We both shared the same faith and the desire to help people out. After Johnny's first trip to Uganda he found his calling. My calling has always been to share my knowledge. I'm a compulsive mentor.

Long before there was a DojoCon, Saecur has been holding DojoSec monthly security breifings. What are those all about?

The goal of DojoSec monthly briefings is to give people a taste of what they're missing at industry conferences. Many conferences are cost / travel / work / family restrictive. I just want to provide a forum for people to share information.

So what inspired the DojoCon convention?

After attending a couple of conferences with Johnny, I was convinced we could do something like that locally. Many of the speakers we would see at major were local to Maryland, Virginia, or DC. With Johnny, I knew I had an ace in the hole for the first keynote speaker. People loved Johnny, and they loved the food.

We have been able to recreate the quality of the first DojoSec almost every month since October 2008. So that's how DojoSec became a hyper-local security phenomenon. According to people who would know, it's the most well attending local security meet-up in the country.

It has long been a goal of mine to be able to make a significant financial contribution to Hackers for Charity. DojoCon will start the process of making that goal come true.

Were the DojoSec briefings a stepping stone to DojoCon in the sense that the connections you made doing DojoSec have allowed you to smoothly scale up?

Definitely, DojoSec has received a lot of support from the information security grassroots. I've had amazing people show up to DojoSec and volunteer to speak. There is a saying that "Real recognizes real". There are a lot of very "famous" people in the information security industry that have reached out and supported me. I just want to say thanks

You do not have flash or javascript support.

Average (1 vote)

Reply