CSA ASEAN Summit and Thai TV

In June 2015, I visited Thailand, and the beautiful Bangkok. My visit was business first, as I was invited to lecture the psychology of security at the Mahidol University, and to be on a panel on cloud security standards on the CSA ASEAN Summit 2015.

I did enjoy a couple of days as a tourist too, I got to see the beautiful Emerald Buddha Temple, where we met with the best tourist guide I have ever met (possibly with an exception of myself, for those of you in the know!). Our guide was knowledgeable (as far as I can tell), and she treated us as kings who deserved only the best. She also had an immense respect for the holy place, and made sure the other tourists and guides were told straight when they failed to honor the temple properly. It was a great experience indeed!

I also got to visit the Chatuchak (Latin spelling is…diverse) Market, the (in)famous weekend market with an unbelievable number of sales boots. This was a great experience for me, and a place I would love to visit again.

There were shopping too, this time thai silk:

And do not forget the elephants!

More serious business was done in the evenings over beers and streetfood. There can be no doubt that if you want a fantastic meal in Bangkok, go eat on the streets. Bring friends along, and have fun! I got to sit down with some great people, including Kitisak Jirawannakool and his friends in the local security community. Food, beers, good people sharing experience — what more can you want?

I did some work too. I gave a lecture on Hacking Your Mind, how our mind is tricking us into doing poor security, at the Mahidol University. They treated me very nice, and gave me a tour of their campus — a very nice one indeed!

The main reason for my trip to Bangkok was the CSA ASEAN Summit 2015. I was invited as the CSA Norway chapter President, and did two panels:

• one on cloud security research, where I discussed the gap between academic research focus and the focus on the commercial industry, and how these two different focuses works to increase the distance between academia and industry, instead of closing it. We had a good discussion.
• the second panel was on cloud security standards, where I voiced my concern that bad implementations of standards are bad for all, as well as standards tends to create a common security approach, leaving many organizations open to attach because of their failure of implementing the standard according to their own needs.

The last panel was recorded on Thai TV, and can be seen below.

All in all, I enjoyed Thailand and Bangkok very much. A sucker for travel and exploring new cultures, I would love to spend more time in the region. So get those invites flowing!