OCTOBER 16, 2025 | 11:00 AM
Hacks and hops
Target Center, MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA
GET YOUR TICKET TODAY!
ABOUT THE EVENT
HACKS & HOPS
IS BACK!
This InfoSec conference brings some of the most interesting speakers to Minneapolis. Whether it’s your first time or you’re a Hacks and Hops veteran, we hope you’ll join us. We’ve evolved from a few dozen people talking InfoSec over beers to hundreds of attendees filling stadiums.
This year we’re back, bigger than ever, and once again we’re taking over Target Center!
We can’t wait to bring you the most informative and invigorating edition of Hacks and Hops yet.
meet the emcee
Whitney-Lehr Koening
Whitney-Lehr Koening is the President and Publisher of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal (MSPBJ), where her team delivers the essential news and intelligence that empower professionals to grow their businesses, advance their careers, and simplify their work lives. Since joining MSPBJ in 2018, she has been instrumental in driving growth and building strong, lasting relationships. Her leadership and dedication have earned her numerous accolades, including the Twin Cities Finest Honoree and the TeamWomen WaveMaker Award: Under 40 Phenom.
EVENT SCHEDULE
Great news – For the first time ever, we’re adding speaker tracks!
We will be introducing two breakout tracks along with our main speaker lineup:
- Our Main Stage, featuring a little something for everybody, including war stories from an experienced penetration tester and a walkthrough on tabletop exercises.
- Our Executive Track, with exciting talks catered to C-Level security topics, such as our CISO/CFO Panel.
- Our Technical Track, meant to get into the weeds for our more technical folks, such as Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Compliance, the Purple Team Panel, and more.
10:15 – 11:00
Check in
11:00 – 11:20
Welcome
Whitney-Lehr Koening
President of MSPBJ
John Harmon
CEO of FRSecure
Evan Francen
Founder of FRSecure
11:20 – 12:00
State of the Union: Annual Information Security Report
Oscar Minks
President of FRSecure
The result of over 100 incident cases handled by the FRSecure response team in the last two years, President Oscar Minks will dive into the latest threats and response techniques you need to know—and what you can do to minimize the risk and impact of similar events. The breakdown will cover Business Email Compromise, Ransomware, and Internal Compromise. You can’t afford to miss it!
12:00 – 1:00
Lunch
1:00 – 1:30
LIVE RECORDING of Unsecurity's 250th Episode
Oscar Minks
President of FRSecure
Evan Francen
Founder of FRSecure
Brad Nigh
Consulting Team Strategist at FRSecure
Megan Larkins
Director of Consulting Services at FRSecure
1:30 – 1:45
break
MAIN STAGE
LOCATION: Main Court
MODERATOR: Whitney-Lehr Koening
EXECUTIVE
LOCATION: Backcourt Club
MODERATOR: Dave Tuckman
TECHNICAL
LOCATION: Lexus Lounge
MODERATOR: Charles Killmer
1:45 – 2:15
FedRAMP as an OnRAMP
Elisabeth Knottingham
Executive Director for Public Sector Information Security at JP Morgan Chase
1:45 – 2:15
BREAKOUT SESSION
Judy Hatchett
VP, Information Security & CISO at SureScripts
1:45 – 2:15
AI in the SOC: Promise, Pitfalls, and Practical Reality
EMAD BHATT
VP of IT at Ostra
2:15 – 2:45
STORIES FROM THE FRONT LINES
MATT FINDLAY
Offensive Services Manager at FRSecure
2:15 – 2:45
Building Your Team's Succession Plan
Theodore Peterson
CISO at Datasite
2:15 – 2:45
Practical Resilience and Cybersecurity in OT Environments
Paul Veeneman
President of ISSA (Minnesota Chapter)
2:45 – 3:15
Avoiding the AI Dumpster Fire
Dustin Saunders
Practice Lead for Automation & Data Solutions at Atomic Data
2:45 – 3:15
The New Leader's Playbook for Board Conversations
April Meyer
Information Security Consultant at FRSecure
2:45 – 3:15
Using Offensive Tools for Internal Security
Eric Hanson
Director of Technical Services at FRSecure
3:15 – 3:45
PANEL: Cyber Insurance is not your incident response plan
Evan Francen
Founder of FRSecure
Michael Kennedy
Founder of Ostra
3:15 – 3:45
Panel: Bridging the Gap between the CISO and CFO
Vanae Pearson
CFO of FRSecure
Greg Cloon
Information Security Consultant at FRSecure
3:15 – 3:45
Panel:
Purple Panel
Seth Bowling
R&D Team Lead at FRSecure
Kyle McCray
Incident Response Team Lead at FRSecure
Seth Feldman
Head, Cyber Threat Engineering & Response at Ostra
3:50 – 4:00
break
4:00 – 4:40
Response on Tap: An Interactive Tabletop
Ben Hall
Incident Response Case Manager at FRSecure
4:45 – 5:00
Closing Remarks
Oscar Minks
President of FRSecure
DREW BOEKE
CRO of FRSecure
5:00 – 6:30
Networking & happy hour
- Cocktail Reception: 4:45
- Basketball Court Opening: 5:00
- Raffle & Prizes: 6:15
event
kickoff
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HOTEL INFORMATION
COMING FROM OUT OF TOWN?
If you need a place to stay, we’re here to help!
We’ve secured a room block with The Lofton Hotel Minneapolis to make getting to and from Hacks & Hops as convenient as possible. In fact, The Lofton’s only a block away from Target Center!
Be sure to book your room before they run out!
