In support of National Cyber Security Awareness Month, the UF IT Security team hosted a series of three "Lunch and Learn" sessions in October. These sessions gave UF IT professionals a relaxed and informal venue to learn about and discuss the latest security tools, ideas, and guidelines.

Information technology workers asked questions of UF IT Security Engineers John Sawyer and Jordan Wiens in round-table discussions on System Hardening (Oct. 2), Encryption (Oct. 16) and Centralized Log Management (Oct. 30). The two-hour sessions featured Sawyer and Wiens as moderators and hosts. There were no formal presentations, no PowerPoint slides, no laser pointers; just Sawyer and Wiens facilitating discussion and sharing their knowledge on the most pressing IT security issues at UF.

"The sessions were great. The attendees brought great ideas and discussions to the table and it was interesting to see the problems different departments are having and how others have solved them." said Sawyer. "I look forward to evolving the Lunch and Learns into monthly Lightning Talks."

Of course, the University of Florida isn't limited to the main campus in Gainesville. Many of those interested in these sessions weren't able to attend in person. Fortunately, those folks had the option of audio streaming the discussions and asking questions via instant messaging.

Even better: the discussion hasn't ended! If you missed the October dates, you can hear the recorded audio and see the notes at http://infosec.ufl.edu/events/lightning/. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed for updates. And as always, you can contact the security team for any questions or problems at ufirt@ufl.edu.