Stockton-on-Tees, 21 May 2008 - Leading IT security consultancy Sapphire is hosting the ninth annual National Information Security Conference (NISC), at the Fairmont Hotel in St. Andrews, Scotland on 21-23 May 2008. One of the UK’s largest delegate-focused security events, NISC will attract more than 250 attendees this year.

“NISC has rapidly established itself as one of the highlights of the information security calendar,” says John Morrison, Sapphire’s Managing Director. “It gives delegates the opportunity to enhance their practical and theoretical knowledge in a relaxed and informal environment, while at the same time enabling delegates, presenters and sponsors to benefit from peer-to-peer networking and collaboration.” This year’s event features over 30 presentations on topical security issues. Keynote speakers include Bryan Littlefair, Vodafone Chief Information Security Officer, who will present on “Recent and Future Trends of the Information Security Space”, Superintendent Brett Lovegrove, Head of Counter Terrorism at the City of London Police, who will highlight the criticality of partnerships in the fight against this threat and Vernon Poole, Head of Business Consultancy at Sapphire, presenting on the IT Governance issues around shared services. The event will also include vendor technical sessions covering specific products and services. These will enable attendees to participate in practical demonstrations while evaluating the functionality of the latest security solutions. In addition, there will be business-focused breakout sessions, panel discussions and an exhibition, with a broad range of products from leading security vendors on display. Microsoft is a platinum sponsor of the event while leading enterprise systems management vendor, Quest Software has taken out gold sponsorship. A further 23 organisations are either silver or bronze sponsors. For more information about NISC 2008 including details of how to register, contact Tina Deighton on +44 (0) 1642 702 100, or email her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. - ends - This year’s event features over 30 presentations on topical security issues. Keynote speakers include Bryan Littlefair, Vodafone Chief Information Security Officer, who will present on “Recent and Future Trends of the Information Security Space”, Superintendent Brett Lovegrove, Head of Counter Terrorism at the City of London Police, who will highlight the criticality of partnerships in the fight against this threat and Vernon Poole, Head of Business Consultancy at Sapphire, presenting on the IT Governance issues around shared services.

The event will also include vendor technical sessions covering specific products and services. These will enable attendees to participate in practical demonstrations while evaluating the functionality of the latest security solutions. In addition, there will be business-focused breakout sessions, panel discussions and an exhibition, with a broad range of products from leading security vendors on display.

Microsoft is a platinum sponsor of the event while leading enterprise systems management vendor, Quest Software has taken out gold sponsorship. A further 23 organisations are either silver or bronze sponsors.

For more information about NISC 2008 including details of how to register, contact Tina Deighton on +44 (0) 1642 702 100, or email her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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Notes to Editors

Headquartered in Stockton-on-Tees, Sapphire is a leading IT security consultancy. Since 1996, the company has primarily focused on Information Assurance solutions. Extensive security solutions have been provided to over 1,500 customers across the UK in both the public and private sectors. Clients include major blue chip organisations, many local government associations, some of the higher levels of central government and their agencies, police forces and security forces.

Outside of its commercial interests, Sapphire also takes a major part in the promotion of information assurance and has hosted the National Information Security Conference www.nisc.org.uk since its inception in 2000.

Sapphire has a wealth of experience in the security arena, which is backed up by qualifications in CLAS, CHECK, CISSP and CISM. It was also one of the first UK security consultancies to achieve ISO/IEC 27001.