CSO

Mike's Bio:

Michael J. Assante, a recognized security and infrastructure protection visionary and new product development leader, brings a powerful combination of leadership/domain experience, technological vision and strategy development to the Idaho National Lab (INL).

Prior to assuming his strategic leadership position at INL, Mr. Assante was a vice president and Chief Security Officer at American Electric Power, the largest generator of electric power in the US, serving 5 million customers in eleven states. He provided leadership, developed and implemented strategies to enhance security and business continuity for AEP; he was also responsible for protecting and maintaining corporate facilities, critical operating assets and property; and ensured the security and continued preservation of all corporate information and proprietary data and the technology that supports it.

Selected for outstanding contribution at the RSA 2005 Conference and awarded the outstanding achievement in the practice of security within an organization. He has been recognized by SC Magazine among all Chief Security Officers as one of two finalists for the global 2005 awards as CSO of the year. He was selected as a finalist for Information Security Executive of the Year of the Midwest in 2005. In 2003, Mr. Assante was awarded best governance program "The Best of the Best--Best Governance Program," Information Security Magazine, December 2003 for the establishment of an enterprise executive security committee.

Aaron's Bio:

Aaron Turner is the Cybersecurity Strategist for the Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory (INL). In his role, Aaron applies his experience in information security to collaborate with control systems experts, energy management engineers and homeland security/law enforcement officials to develop solutions to the cyber threats that our critical infrastructure is currently facing. The Idaho National Laboratory's unique capabilities and facilities allow the INL team to test real-world scenarios in a full-scale production environment that is built on the 890-square-mile Lab facility. The INL's test range provides the un-paralleled opportunity to combine physical and cyber attacks to develop holistic security solutions that critical infrastructure providers can use to make their systems more resilient to the entire threat spectrum.

Before joining INL, Aaron worked within Microsoft's security teams for over 7 years - most recently as a Senior Security Strategist working in Microsoft's Security Technology Unit. While there, Aaron focused on working with executives and business decision makers to develop security solutions that provide short- and long-term business value to Microsoft's customers. He coordinated a series of Chief Security Officer Councils, Roundtables and Summits with the purpose of creating a community of senior-level security executives. Aaron also co-chaired the Technology Section of Microsoft's Child Safety Working Group which developed a coordinated roadmap of child safety technologies and features across all Microsoft products.