Some of the world's top cyber security tsars hit Australian shores later this week to take part in this year's annual AusCERTconference which will be held from May 20 to 25, 2007.

Former white house aid and head of the national cyber security division of the US department of homeland security, Andy Purdy, will deliver the keynote sharing lessons he has learned defending cyberspace.

Purdy will apply his experience to risk management issues facing business today with a paper entitled "The cyber risk of untrustworthy software from the globalization of information technology."

He is head of US-CERT and runs DRA Enterprises which specialises in security, information assurance, business development and government relations.

Purdy also undertakes independent consulting work and serves as a special government employee on the US Defense Science Board Task Force on Software Assurance.

He will be joined by other prominent speakers including computer forensics pioneer and world renowned security expert Howard Schmidt of R&H Security Consulting, and open source researcher Ivan Krstic, author of the best-selling Official Ubuntu Book who specialises in the architecture and security of large distributed systems.

Due to popular demand two international guests that will be returning again this year include inspirational speaker Richard Thieme of ThiemeWorks and Marcus Sachs of SRI International.

Sachs will show how infrastructure control networks can be accessed from the Internet, what threat groups are planning, and what the risks and challenges are for critical asset owners and operators.

Joanna Rutkowska from Invisible Things Lab will change common beliefs surrounding the security of hardware acquisition methods such as PCI cards for forensic purposes. Rutkowska will show how to cheat these methods.

Also part of the international line-up is Oracle's chief security officer, Mary Ann Davidson.

This year's program also features Executive Boot Camp which was developed specifically for CEOs to discuss hypothetical and real IT security scenarios in a closed and confidential speaker-led forum.

For example, how would a CEO handle a massive leak especially if servers had to be handed over to police for investigation, disrupting business for a lengthy period of time.

AusCERT director, Nick Tate, said the boot camp is a rare opportunity for executives.

"This boot camp will bring together the decision-makers from notable Australian organizations and leading IT security experts and allow them to seriously discuss the information security issues they face," he said.,

AusCERT is Australia's national computer emergency response team monitoring and evaluating threats and vulnerabilities from different sources.

As the official media sponsor for AusCERT 2007, Computerworld will be providing comprehensive daily coverage of the event.