REDMOND, Wash., Dec. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Registration is now open for the second Security Development Conference taking place in San Francisco May 14-15, 2013. The conference theme this year is "Proven Practices, Reduced Risk," and event keynotes will include Edna M. Conway, chief security strategist, Cisco Systems Inc.; Brad Arkin, senior director, Security, Adobe products and services; and Scott Charney, corporate vice president, Trustworthy Computing, Microsoft Corp.

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The annual event, which Microsoft hosts, brings together security professionals from a variety of organizations and industries around the world. Attendees will hear from leading security experts, grow their professional networks, and learn how to implement or accelerate adoption of secure development practices within their own organizations.

"The Security Development Conference fosters an open forum for IT professionals to discuss challenges and share best practices from their own experiences," said Steve Lipner, partner director of program management, Trustworthy Computing, Microsoft. "As an industry, we have a responsibility to deliver technologies that people can trust. The Security Development Conference helps accelerate the adoption of important security development best practices that can help organizations achieve this goal."

The event will include several tracks: Engineering for Secure Data, Security Development Lifecycle & Data Security, and Business Risk & Data Security. Track sessions will cover the latest in proven security development techniques that help reduce risk and protect organizations in the ever-changing technology landscape.

Registration is now open on the conference website; registering before Feb. 1, 2013, will save participants 50 percent off the normal registration fee. Seating is limited, so early registration is encouraged. Limited sponsorship opportunities are still available and offer organizations a valuable platform to share their expertise, tools and resources in secure development with peers and leaders in the field.

This year's event builds on the foundation of the successful inaugural conference last year, which featured keynotes from industry experts including Richard A. Clarke, former special advisor to the President for cybersecurity; Gen. Michael V. Hayden, former director, U.S. Central Intelligence Agency; and Charney. In all, more than 300 organizations from a variety of industries around the world attended the event. Following last year's conference, Arkin said, "For me, the most exciting aspect of this conference is that it's actually the practitioners attending, not necessarily the researchers or vendors. So it's really the folks who have the responsibility for getting secure code out the door in their environments. And when you get people who have all the same job together, you get so much creative energy ... talking together about what we're having trouble with or what our challenge is and how someone else solved it in their environment."

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

SOURCE Microsoft Corp.