INTRODUCTION

The ISSA2002 conference is the second annual conference being held by the Information Security Special Interest Group (ISSIG).  ISSA stands for Information Security for South Africa and is focused on the information security professional.   The ISSA2002 conference will run from 10-12 July 2002 at Misty Hills Country Hotel in Muldersdrift, Gauteng.

In recent years, many South African delegates have been active in participating and attending various international Information Security conferences.  Traveling abroad to present or to attend is a very costly endeavor and not always possible for many people interested in Information Security.

Many professionals from industry as well as researchers have expressed a need for a local platform to share knowledge, experience and research results in the field of Information Security.  The Information Security Special Interest Group (ISSIG) affiliated to the Computer Society of South Africa (CSSA) has taken up this challenge and is in an ideal position to coordinate and facilitate such an opportunity.

In 2001, the first ISSA conference was hosted in Magaliesberg.  The conference was well attended by both industry professionals and academics with over 90 delegates taking part.  This is interpreted as a good intendance as the information security community in South Africa is relatively small compared to our overseas counterparts.  Papers presented maintained a good balance between all the information security topics and there was something for everyone.  The reviews received were generally good with some constructive criticism on how to improve for this year.  

In 2002, we hope to improve on the baseline that we have now set for ourselves.  This can only be done with input from all those interested in the field of Information Security.  A few people commented that there were not enough papers presented by people from industry.  We therefore would like to urge more professionals in industry to take part and share their knowledge and experience.  

 The long-term goal of ISSA is to host an annual Information Security conference with an increasing number of South African Information Security professionals and academics participating and attending as delegates. It is the objective to provide an open platform as far as possible stimulating the participation of all interested.

 The ISSA conference should not just be “another conference” as the local market here in South Africa is currently over saturated with conferences covering topics such as e-Commerce, Disaster Recovery, Information Security and Risk Management.  Rather, we undertake to make it a positive “experience” where delegates can share and present valuable Information Security knowledge. As the intention is to make this a local South African conference, the organising committee will endeavor to select, as far as possible, interesting and affordable venues.

We have decided that every year should carry a theme to make us aware of the natural treasures we have in this country.  One of these assets is our wildlife.  Since the conference made such a strong start in 2001, we felt that the rhino would best represent our efforts.  

We look forward to seeing new and old acquaintances at ISSA2002.

Les Labuschagne
Secretary: ISSIG & WG11.2 of IFIP

KPMG Nanoteq The IQ Business Group