Jim Hietala, CISSP, GSEC, is Research Director and a principal of Compliance Research Group, providing research, analysis, and consulting services in the areas of compliance, risk management, and IT security. He is also the Vice President, Security for The Open Group, where he manages all security and risk management programs and standards activities.

Jim has provided research and consulting services to organizations such as SANS, The Open Group, and a number of IT security and compliance vendors. He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences, and he recently authored a comprehensive course on IT risk management. He participates in the SANS Analyst/Expert program, having written several research whitepapers and participated in several webcasts for SANS. He has also published numerous articles on information security, risk management, and compliance topics in publications including The ISSA Journal, Bank Accounting & Finance, Risk Factor, SC Magazine, and others.

An industry veteran, he has held leadership roles at ControlPath, Avail Networks, Alternative Technologies, eSoft, Qwest, Concentric Network, and Digital Pathways. He developed and launched the industry’s first remote access VPN service (Concentric RemoteLink) and encrypting ISDN router (at Network Express), and launched a compliance and risk management software start-up in the IT-GRC market.

He holds a B.S. in Marketing from Southern Illinois University.

Blog: www.compliancefocus.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/jim_hietala

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jimhietala