ISMG’s 2025 Data Security Summit: Seattle Rallies Cybersecurity Leaders for a Post-AI, Post-Compliance Future

Summit Will Spotlight Insider Threat Simulations, Intelligent Infrastructure and Data Decoupling Strategies

Princeton, NJ — As organizations worldwide wrestle with escalating cyberthreats and regulatory disruption, ISMG’s 2025 Data Security Summit: Seattle convenes on September 30 to provide a comprehensive blueprint for safeguarding the digital enterprise.

This year’s gathering arrives at a critical juncture. From the rise of agentic artificial intelligence to unprecedented regulatory frameworks in Washington State, security leaders are under intense pressure to recalibrate how they protect data, defend infrastructure and build trust.

Set against the backdrop of Washington’s groundbreaking data privacy laws – the My Health My Data Act and the Washington Privacy Act, the summit explores the nexus of technology, compliance and real-world resilience. These laws have rapidly shifted the regulatory landscape, demanding a level of operational transparency, consumer empowerment and technical enforcement that goes far beyond federal mandates. In response, the summit agenda has been curated to offer leaders practical, in-depth guidance on achieving compliance while future-proofing their organizations against ever-sophisticated threats.

“In designing this year’s summit, we focused on creating a program that goes beyond surface-level discussions,” said Jennifer Eisenhofer, vice president of events at ISMG. “We listened closely to what CISOs, privacy leaders and technologists told us they’re struggling with, from agentic AI to fragmented compliance environments, and built a highly curated agenda that gives them the tools to act, not just react.”

The summit brings together a powerhouse of speakers – including CISOs from major enterprises – legal experts and privacy officers from public agencies. Together, they form a multidisciplinary faculty charged with leading attendees through a day of strategic insights where the goal is not simply awareness, it’s actionable readiness in a time of accelerating change.

One of the cornerstone sessions, led by Ralph Johnson, state CISO of Washington Technology Solutions and CyberEdBoard member, and Chaim Sanders, CISO of Lyft, explores the evolving role of the CISO in navigating data security across jurisdictions, infrastructures and threats. With an emphasis on real-time detection, incident response and policy orchestration, the discussion dissects how today’s CISOs must balance technological oversight with cross-functional leadership.

The theme continues in a pivotal session on data decoupling and compliance, where Alaska Airlines’ Lana DeMaria and Orrick’s Aravind Swaminathan explore how separating sensitive information from non-critical data can reduce breach impact while streamlining regulatory conformance.

Later in the day, the spotlight will turn to agentic artificial intelligence. Augie D’Agostino of UW Medicine and William Lidster of AAA Washington will examine the promise and peril of this emerging class of AI. While agentic AI holds potential for automation at scale, it also introduces novel vulnerabilities.

A highlight session of the summit is the immersive simulation hosted by CyberEdBoard, where attendees participate in a tabletop exercise involving a fictitious insider threat powered by generative AI. Facilitated by Paul Vanderwulp of the U.S. Secret Service and ISMG’s Sean D. Mack, the scenario forces teams to think tactically about cascading IT and operational impacts, as well as to devise real-time strategies for detection, containment and long-term remediation.

Closing the day is a session on intelligent data infrastructure led by Eric Sanchez of Orrick, George Williams of the Washington Liquor, and Cannabis Board and Brian Cady of PeaceHealth. The panel will emphasize how integrated AI, security-first design and future-ready architectures can serve as both an operational backbone and a security perimeter.

“This is a working summit – intensely practical, forward-looking and shaped by the people on the frontlines of security,” Eisenhofer said.

From CISO keynotes to legal deep-dives, the 2025 Data Security Summit: Seattle positions itself as the region’s premier event for security professionals navigating complexity, regulation and risk.

To learn more about the agenda and register for the event, click here.

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About ISMG

Information Security Media Group (ISMG) is the world’s largest media organization devoted solely to cybersecurity, information technology, artificial intelligence and operational technology. Each of our 38 media properties provides education, research and news that is specifically tailored to key vertical sectors including banking, healthcare and the public sector; geographies from North America to Southeast Asia; and topics such as data breach prevention, cyber risk assessment, OT security, AI and fraud. Our annual global summit series connects senior security professionals with industry thought leaders to find actionable solutions for pressing cybersecurity challenges.

About ISMG Events

ISMG Events is a premier platform for security professionals and practitioners worldwide. Our global, annual events bring together the ISMG Events Community, comprising over 40,000 members, to exchange knowledge, insights and best practices in the field of cybersecurity. The cornerstone of our event portfolio is the ISMG Global Summit Series. These summits take place both virtually and in-person, offering participants a diverse range of topics to explore. In addition to our Global Summit Series, ISMG Events hosts exclusive Executive Roundtables and ISMG Engage events that are closed-door, topic-focused discussions that provide practitioners with a collaborative environment to address today’s most pressing security concerns.