SANS Secure Europe 2012, one of the region’s largest infosec training events will be offering a new course this year to help business and technical staff learn the fundamentals of the audit process, governance, and compliance regulations, as well as a hands-on introduction to the latest technology tools.


The new Audit 407: Foundations of Auditing Information Systems will be one of ten courses running during the two week event that is returning to Amsterdam’s Radisson Blu Hotel from 5th to 19th of May.

“Auditors are the unsung heroes of organizations,” is the view of James Tarala, SANS Senior Instructor and course author, “Well planned information technology audits save time and money by identifying security risks and ways to reduce those risks.”

However, Tarala believes that being a good auditor is more than following a checklist, “Great auditors have proficient technology skills but they are also project managers, technical writers, persuaders, presenters, and subject matter experts. In this class, we provide students a solid foundation to understand the audit process.” The six-day course also shows how to identify and evaluate security safeguards, and create a toolbox of automated technical auditing tools.

Secure Europe 2012 will feature the widest range of courses ever offered at the annual event. Popular courses like Security 401: SANS Security Essentials Bootcamp and Security 504: Hacker Techniques, Exploits & Incident Handling are complimented by courses on Ethical Hacking and Network Penetration Testing.

An additional new course on Private Cloud Security will also make its debut in Amsterdam this May.

“The growth of the our Secure Europe event mirrors the wider remit of security, audit and compliance in the real world,” explains Gareth Dance, Conference Director, EMEA SANS Institute, “The range of attendees is the widest we have ever had and includes security and assurance professionals, system administrators, business and operational staff as well as consultants and security specialists – this mix of ages, sexes, technical backgrounds and knowledge levels makes the event a fantastic environment to learn and grow as an individual.”

Alongside the event, the NetWars tournament will be running for the first time in Amsterdam and will be free to any registered student. After its debut in London last year, NetWars participants will again compete in a mock environment to test their defensive, analysis, and offensive cyber skills, fighting off intruders while trying to take over other target systems and networks.