I cannot even begin to describe the benefits I have derived from my education. I was fortunate to get in on the ground floor of the MSIS program and then I received the CAS in the Telecommunications program. These degrees have catapulted my career, credentials, and impetus for further specific knowledge in my field of Information Security. My educational background put me further ahead of my peers in information systems from both technical and management perspectives. Thank you SIS -- I owe you in large part for my career successes.

His Bio: Ron Baklarz, CISSP, CISM, GSEC, has twenty years in the Information Security field including the development of information security programs for the Naval Nuclear Program and the U.S. House of Representatives, where he was their first Information Security Manager. In 1997, his work with the House of Representatives was ranked by InfoWorld magazine as 19th of the top 100 innovative computing projects in American business. He has also led incident response and monitoring teams for a variety of industries, including insurance and Big Five consulting firms. Ron is currently the Chief Information Security Officer for The American Red Cross and he held various technical security and security operations positions. His security expertise includes incident handling, network intrusion detection, computer assisted pattern recognition, and cyberforensics.

Ron is a frequent speaker and author on information warfare and security management topics. His books and articles include The Art of Information Warfare and the essay "The Enemy Within- Y2K Issues Below the Application Level" in the award-winning IS Audit & Control Journal, Volume III, 1998. He has also appeared on BBC radio and other media interviews.

Ron's professional affiliations include the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium (ISC2), Computer Security Institute (CSI), Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA), the High Technology Crime Investigations Association (HTCIA), and The American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS).

He holds an MS degree in Information Science and a Certificate of Advanced Study in Telecommunications, both from the University of Pittsburgh. Most recently, he successfully completed certifications in cyberforensics and is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and SANS GIAC GSEC.