About

About Us

(ISC)² San Francisco Chapter is an affiliate organization of (ISC)2 based in San Francisco, California and serves to promote the awareness of Information Security throughout the San Francisco peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties. We are a California 501(c)(6) non-profit corporation. Our chapter program provides members a forum to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and ideas, opportunities for leadership and professional skills, and a voice for the advancement of information systems security. Our members enjoy benefits including discounts on events, merchandise and services, networking, educational and mentoring opportunities and voting privelidges. Additionally, members have access to privileged information regarding employment, research, institutional knowledge of information security, chapter information and much more.

Membership

Our members consist of individuals interested in the information security field and be either credentialed chapter members (those holding an (ISC)2 credential and in good standing with the (ISC)2 global organization) or uncredentialed chapter members. Our chapter program is focused on sharing knowledge and exchanging ideas among security professionals in the local area. Ultimately, we want to advance the field of information security by educating practitioners and the public at large on how to protect and defend against security threats. Learn more about the benefits of becoming a Chapter Member, visit our Membership page.

Meetings

Our member meetings are held on invite (typically monthly), and professional events and activities are held at various times throughout the year. Visit our Events page for our calendar of upcoming events!

Bylaws

We have provided a copy of our corporate bylaws here.

Chapter Leadership

2022 Chapter Officers

Vahan Galachyan

President

Vahan Galachyan, CISSP, is a hands-on technologist with over 20 years of experience across a wide variety of industries and platforms, including banking, legal and pharmaceutical. His passions are information security, automation, and business process optimization. For his achievements, Vahan has received numerous excellence and innovation awards.

In the last few years, Vahan's been busy building a start-up specializing in Identity Governance in Administration on ServiceNow platform. The startup's been recognized by leading industry professionals and analysts.

In his spare time, Vahan mountain bikes and spends time with family and friends.

Sam Mughal

Treasurer

Sam Mughal is currently the CTO/Chief Security Architect for Bay Systems Consulting, Inc. located in Mountain View, CA. As an engineer and physicist, Sam has worked for a variety of government related organizations including: Lockheed Martin, NASA Ames Research Center and NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory. While working for NASA, Sam managed the DNS E-Root Server, Stratum 1 clock server and the nasa.gov domain and represented NASA at the United Nations conference in France. Sam has been published in the Wall Street Journal, NY Times and USIS. In addition to his work with the (ISC)2 San Francisco chapter, Sam has served on the board for the (ISC)2 Silicon Valley chapter and was the president and treasurer for the Northern California Certified Small Businesses Association (formerly NorCal 8(a) Association). Sam holds a CISSP certificate, was a nominee for the Senior Information Security Professional 2011 (ISC)2 ISLA Americas Award. He is a member of PMI and NCMS and holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology and Physics from Ohio Wesleyan.

Larry Halme

Past President

Larry Halme is a security consultant with over twenty-five years of industry experience focused in the area of IT security. He has worked closely with state government, financial firms, credit card companies, service providers, global enterprise clients, branches of the military, and government agencies to plan, assess, remediate, and maintain robust security postures. By supporting a wide spectrum of consulting engagements, Mr. Halme has gained a broad knowledge of corporate security and Government INFOSEC issues. He has extensive experience in the areas of cross-discipline security assessments, compliance audits, enterprise operations security, penetration testing, intrusion detection, government criteria evaluation support, and security policy and documentation development. In the mid 80’s, Mr. Halme was a founding member of pioneer information security consulting/training company Arca Systems, Inc., its transition to a subsidiary of Exodus Communications, and Exodus’ acquisition by Cable & Wireless, and finally Cable & Wireless America’s acquisition by SAVVIS. Mr. Halme holds ISSMP, ISSAP, andCISSP certifications from (ISC)2; CISM and CISA certifications from ISACA; IEM and IAMcertifications from NSA; and a BS-EECS from the University of California at Berkeley. Mr. Halme is a founding member of (ISC)2-SF Chapter’s Board.

Vacant

Membership Director

Vacant

Secretary

We're looking for volunteers, email us if interested!