Black Hat USA, self-proclaimed built by and for the global InfoSec community, has called Las Vegas home for the last 19 years. The conference matches its host city’s sparkle, excitement, and grandiose presentation. Security companies at Black Hat highlight their products with up to 600 square feet full of signs, posters, banners, TVs, and giveaways to entice visitors to stop by their booth.
At Black Hat 2016, these attractions included everything from t-shirts to a giant glass booth where visitors could wield a sledgehammer to reduce old computers to plasticky bits. CyberVista attended Black Hat for the first time this year.
A warm welcome
Occupying a modest 100 square feet space tucked into a back corner of the expansive show floor near the concessions, we waited with anticipation as we announced our live online CISSP Training program. In the two “booth days” of Black Hat, hundreds visitors engaged with our team, making our booth the most popular in its row. We didn’t attract our visitors with apparel or the rush of physical destruction, but rather a 31 x 21 inch piece of glass with its outside edges outlined with a strip of LED lights.
Lightboard technology
Visitors were fascinated by lightboard technology, which acts as the centerpiece of our live online learning sessions. Lightboard technology allows an instructor to draw diagrams and sketch important concepts on a transparent screen between the viewer and the instructor. Since the instructor is able to constantly face the students, the sessions are significantly more engaging than alternative teaching options.
CyberVista Marketing Manager, Joe O’Neill, shows off the lightboard at Black Hat 2016
Visitors interested in our CISSP certification preparation courses were impressed with the lightboard and captivated by how we plan on using the technology. Our lightboard classroom is used during more than 70 hours of live and on-demand expert instruction, spread over a full 12 weeks. The course’s structure and convenient online delivery came as a relief to many booth visitors who had attended CISSP training bootcamps, which attempt to cram 300 hours’ worth of information into just a few days using thousands of PowerPoint slides. Bootcamp attendees now know what CyberVista’s sister-company Kaplan has gleaned through 75 years of learning science and delivery: cramming is no way to learn. We believe that the real value of training and education is retention and application of knowledge for the long-term.
But that’s not all
In addition to the lightboard and course conversations, attendees enjoyed reading through CyberVista’s 10 Question Challenge to see how ready they were for the CISSP exam. These questions were borrowed from CyberVista’s 2,000 practice questions—the largest question library in the industry.
In the setting of Las Vegas, it was no surprise that our lightboard and neon markers were attractive. But, unlike many gilded objects in Las Vegas, there was substance behind the attraction. At CyberVista, there is long-term learning behind the lights, and knowledge behind the neon.