Presentation Title: IT security in an active warzone
Presentation Details:

We draw general lessons in technology deployment and project management from the extreme environment of Iraq. This environment has some unique characteristics – active adversaries, physical insecurity, recently destroyed infrastructure, and a dynamic and uncertain political environment – but also has many universal characteristics, such as a vast potential market, substantial “anchor customers", and technological problems which seem ideally suited to the features of next-generation and almost-there technical solutions, but which demand simplicity and reliability.

In deploying these cutting-edge systems in this demanding environment, we have learned many technological and organizational lessons which should greatly assist in similar deployments in more traditional environments throughout the world.

About Ryan Lackey:

Ryan Lackey is founder and CEO of Blue Iraq, a communications and IT company which provides satellite, cellular, and microwave networking throughout Iraq, both for the military and civilian markets. Blue Iraq aims to bring communications and finance technologies to emerging markets throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia. Previously, he operated HavenCo, an offshore datahaven located in the “Principality of Sealand” in the North Sea off the coast of the UK, and has been involved in electronic cash, tamper resistant computing, payment networks, and cryptography.