Mons, Belgium, September 20, 2011 — NIKSUN®, a world leader in real-time cyber security and network monitoring solutions, is pleased to announce the company’s participation in the NATO Information Assurance Symposium (NIAS), in which Dr. Parag Pruthi, NIKSUN’s Founder and CEO has been invited to give an industry keynote. The NATO IA Symposium 2011, being held at SHAPE Headquarters in Mons, Belgium September 20th-22nd, is the largest Information Assurance event in the NATO calendar, providing an opportunity for senior NATO IA Staff, NATO Nations IA leaders and leading Industry IA providers to develop industry best practice solutions for NATO use. Attendance is expected to exceed over 800 delegates and up to 70 exhibitors.

NIAS 2011 is themed around "Building NATO's Cyber Shield - How High, How Wide." Convinced that cyber-warfare is on the horizon, the U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary, William Lynn is calling for the 28-nation NATO alliance to develop a "Cyber Shield" to protect critical military and civilian computer networks.

Building a NATO Cyber Shield will be "an enormous technical challenge," but the Alliance has an advantage in that a large portion of the world's most advanced information technology users are the NATO nations. The alliance needs to play a significant role in “extending a blanket of security over our networks.”

Amid a number of security experts and notable speakers, Dr. Parag Pruthi will discuss the current cyber security challenges facing nations today, and the methodologies for increasing the effectiveness of cyber defense practices leading to a maximal return on investment.

“Even with significant investments in cyber security infrastructures, breaches have become an all-too common occurrence,” said Dr. Parag Pruthi, Founder & CEO of NIKSUN. “Even the most sophisticated security measures are being defeated as recently witnessed by the RSA and the DigiNotar attacks. It is clear that more advanced techniques are needed for cyber defense such as complete and total monitoring with layered security practices, and advanced forensics and content monitoring. With key leaders under one roof at the NATO Symposium, we can get down to the business of discussing advanced practices and providing practical solutions that can be implemented immediately.”

The NATO Information Assurance Symposium is an annual event among senior NATO IA Staff, NATO nations IA leaders, and leading industry IA providers to develop industry best practice solutions for NATO use. Building on previous successes, this year's NATO IA Symposium will be the largest yet, bringing together more than 800 NATO and industry delegates to discuss innovative ways of meeting NATO's IA requirements.