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. 
 
While our Main Stage talks will be open to all, the Executive and Technical tracks will be capped at 100 attendees each, so sign up before slots run out!
 
Stay tuned for more details and track locations!

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

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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!

GET YOUR TICKET TODAY!