Vegas Lights, Utility Security Sights: ISC West 2025 Preview
The Security Industry’s Biggest Event is Bigger in 2025 and Has Expanded its Utility-Specific Education and Events
Last year, I went to ISC West—the nation’s leading converged security trade—for the first time ever, and let’s just say I felt a tad unprepared by just how massive of a security event it is. To put it simply, there’s a big difference between reading that the event draws nearly 30,000 total industry professionals and actually seeing with my own eyes swarms upon swarms of security professionals buzzing and navigating through the halls of the Venetian Expo.
It’s a security spectacle unlike any other I have seen—and one that I found to be especially valuable to my efforts to grow my connections, learn about new security solutions and take in some insightful educational sessions presented by leading security minds.
For those reading who might not know, ISC West is a leading comprehensive and converged security trade event that happens every year in Las Vegas. It draws security and public safety professionals from across the globe who come to learn from educational sessions, discover the latest safety solutions and make valuable networking connections.
This year’s event is taking place from March 31 to April 4 at the Venetian Expo and has been expanded to feature an additional day of education as well as new spotlights on cybersecurity, drones, robotics and more. With these expansions, utility security professionals looking for industry-specific elements to the event will be happy to discover there are more than ever before.
I sat down with Mary Beth Shaughnessy, the ISC Events Vice President with RX, the event producer, and the Security Industry Association’s (SIA) Senior Director of Industry relations, Ron Hawkins, to talk all about the many ways that utility security professionals can get the most out of ISC West 2025.
Curtis Marquardt
Thank you so much for joining me to talk ISC West! So, last year was my first ever ISC West and I was amazed at how massive and well attended that event is. It really is a Super Bowl of security. Can you tell our readers why ISC West 2025 is such an important industry event?
Mary Beth Shaughnessy
ISC West is the kickoff security event of the year! One of the biggest reasons that it is such an important event to security industry professionals is that we feature more than 700 exhibitors and, often, ISC West is the place where they launch and announce their new products and services. As our industry continues to evolve at such a fast pace, there is a lot of “new.” So, our event gives attendees a chance to be the first to see industry evolution.
Ron Hawkins
ISC West certainly has a lot for everybody, especially utility security professionals. We know that utilities are looking at drones and counter drone capabilities. Our expo floor has a drones and robotics section where they can learn all about those things. There are endless perimeter security solutions throughout the expo as well as a wealth of cybersecurity solutions. Convergence is a big issue, of course. And then that’s just the show floor.
Our educational lineup has a wealth of expert presenters who will present topics that are specific to utilities and critical infrastructure. And the networking opportunities are fantastic. Beyond that, there are multiple networking events every day. It’s not hard for an attendee to find themselves double or triple booked at ISC West just because there is so much to do.
Curtis Marquardt
I’m glad you brought up the utility security-specific content. What are some of the educational offerings that utility security professionals will be excited about?
Ron Hawkins
In terms of the specific sessions that utility security professionals will enjoy, we have many! For example, Executive Assistant Director of the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Steven Harris will be doing a presentation. Brian Harrell, the CSO at Avangrid, will be presenting at least one session. Some of the session topics your readers will likely want to attend include: Countering Elevated Nation State Threats to US critical infrastructure, Game Changers: Robotics and Critical Infrastructure Security, and Safeguarding Critical Assets: a Guide for Security Professionals.
Mary Beth Shaughnessy
I’m excited about the fact that we have extended our educational offerings from a three-day program to a four-day program and now have more ways to learn than ever before. This expanded lineup gives attendees more flexibility and time to both attend educational sessions and visit the expo floor. And, there’s much more to choose from. We’ve increased our session count from about 120 sessions to 130!
Ron Hawkins
We have so much more education and we are excited about that. I also want to add that we are thrilled to be bringing back a key event for utility security professionals and that is our Protecting Utilities Luncheon. The last one was very popular and was standing room only! We already have one speaker confirmed and that will be Bluma Sussmen from NERC. We will be announcing another speaker for that soon.
Curtis Marquardt
Utility Security magazine was both grateful and excited to be the media partner for Protecting Utilities luncheon last year and are very excited to have the opportunity to be the media partner for this year’s luncheon as well! So, let’s shift gears and talk about the expo hall. You already mentioned some of the exciting things you have planned for the expo hall. Are there any other aspects or offerings happening there that attending utility security professionals should go see?
Mary Beth Shaughnessy
Definitely! The Emerging Tech pavilion is always a very hot spot to visit while you’re at ISC West. So this year, we’re going to be featuring more than 70 emerging technology exhibitors. We will also have a smaller startup area on the show floor that will be embedded into the Emerging Tech area, which provides new innovators with the ability to showcase their solutions on the show floor. Also, we are bringing back a new area we launched last year which is called the AI Discovery Zone where attendees can see the latest in AI solutions.
Ron Hawkins
I personally will be interested to see all of the new AI solutions that are out there. Obviously that’s having more and more of an influence in the security sector and every other sector for that matter.
One other thing I’d like to mention is the SIA New Products & Solutions Awards ceremony. We have new products submitted and they are evaluated by 30 independent judges who determine which new security products and solutions are worthy of the award. This is a great way for attendees to really discover some of the very best security innovations.
Curtis Marquardt
So let’s talk about networking. Connecting with and learning from one’s peers I feel is really one of the most powerful ways to grow one’s knowledge. What sort of networking events at ISC West should our attending readers put in their calendars?
Mary Beth Shaughnessy
One I’m excited about is we are hosting our second ever music concert. Our first one last year featured a band called the Wallflowers and it was a big success. This year we will be featuring the Gin Blossoms. If you don’t remember their 90’s hits, I encourage you to go check them out on Spotify.
We also have our ISC Appreciation event. It takes place at TAO Nightclub on Thursday night and is a great place to network. And then right on our show floor, the Cyber Hub is a great spot where we’ve got solutions that are being presented, but it’s also a spot that is always really packed with a lot of attendees and sponsors who gather to talk about the latest and greatest in cyber. One other great networking area on the show floor is the Bridge which has seating, educational sessions, award presentations and more. It’s a great space to meet up with a peer, grab a cup of coffee and see what’s going on.
Ron Hawkins
Since Mary talked about the Bridge, I want to bring up a utility-specific event that your readers will be interested in. On Friday, April 4th at 11AM, SIA will have a NERC CIP discussion. Along with some members of our utilities advisory board, we will be talking about NERC CIP and SIA’s recently published Guide to NERC CIP Compliance.
On top of that, on Tuesday night, we have the Market Leaders Reception which is a really great event that happens at Dr. Dre’s Beach Club. That’s definitely a top-notch networking event featuring lots of great food and drinks. Of course, as I mentioned, a key event for utility security professionals is the Protecting Utilities Luncheon on Thursday, April 3rd at noon. We already have one speaker confirmed and that will be Bluma Sussmen from NERC. We will be announcing another speaker for that soon.
Curtis Marquardt
There is definitely a lot to do! So, final question: just summarize why utility security professionals should attend ISC West.
Mary Beth Shaughnessy
As this discussion has revealed, ISC West and SIA just offer so many things that focus on utilities and critical infrastructure from a robust educational component to the solutions you’ll find on the expo floor—not to mention the many networking opportunities to take advantage of.
Ron Hawkins
Recently, Trade Show Executive named ISC West as the Greatest Trade Show of 2023—an honor that inspires a lot of pride in all of the folks who put this event together. It was a really huge honor and that reveals just how highly regarded this event is. There is a lot of time and effort put into making sure the attendee experience is a great one!
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For more information about ISC West, go to iscwest.com.
