Tag Archives: thailand

SAS-2025 is already long gone, but a tale from the Thai side still needs to be told!…

So, after the business part of the event (which, it goes without saying, was great), we needed to unwind and hang out with SAS participants in a more relaxed atmosphere – I call it “decompression”. And that’s why our whole group headed out to the Similan Islands in the Andaman Sea – about 65km west of the Thai coast (not far to the north of Phuket). And I couldn’t have been happier, since I’m fast approaching a full 200 islands visited in my life, and I hadn’t been to this particular one (rather – this particular grouping of islands)!…

So what can I say? I’ll say that the Similan Islands are really great: they’re rather unusual, really picturesque granite formations. However, the islands in the bay just east of Phuket are even better for contemplative sightseeing, IMHO. Never mind; these granite islands still have a special charm of their own…

Read on…

Hi folks!

Phew! Another year – and another Security Analyst Summit wrapped. This time is was – ooh, let me see: yes, the 16^th edition of the event, and it was held in the Thai resort village of Khao Lak (here) – about a hundred kilometers north of Phuket.

In case you don’t know already, SAS is a one-of-a-kind security conference – very different from the usual, more buttoned-up, corporate events in the field. It actually started out as a gathering for our internal team – back when our own group of experts was growing and becoming more global. As it did, it made perfect sense to bring everyone together in person once a year: so the team members could get acquainted, interact face-to-face, and share their impressive research and investigations with each other. And it turned out to be a brilliant idea.

Eventually, someone (clearly thinking ahead) suggested we should invite outside cybersecurity experts, and so we began to welcome colleagues from other companies and organizations too. And slowly but surely, year after year, SAS grew into what it is now – a global conference for top analysts that still manages to maintain a bit of a party spirit. Here we allow ourselves to bend the rules a little, play, break from tradition, and do things our own way. But more than that, SAS has kept its club-like, invite-only character: a special expert committee decides who gets to attend. This has helped preserve its more open, candid atmosphere, where folks feel comfortable sharing more than they would at a typical IT security event.

Read on…

Hi folks – from sunny thunderous Thailand!

Been a while, I know – but I’ve been busy (as always). Of course I have – for it’s our partner-conference (both regional and global) season. We’ve already had Italy and Hungary; now it was Thailand’s turn…

After landing, we head on over to the venue, which turns out to be the same hotel where we put on another conference (SAS) late last year. Small world, and déjà vu, as they say…

But back to this year’s conference: it was the partner conference for the ~Middle Eastern and African regions, aka META (Middle East + Turkey + Africa). But enough already with definitions and demarcations! Let me simply tell you the conference was a 10/10!

• Guests: 135 (140 were planning to attend, but five didn’t get their visas in time; we’ll take this into account for the future)
• Countries represented: 24
• Partner companies represented: 65

But enough of stats already! Let me simply repeat that the conference was a 10/10 :)

Read on…

Hi all!

Central Bangkok river excursion – done.

Next up, as promised, it was back on land and a walk over to the Grand Palace and former royal residence. And royally grand, swish, sumptuous, splendid and magnificent it is too…

All righty. Walkies…

Read on…

Our business in Thailand duly completed, it was time for my traditional spot of micro-tourism. First things first – boat trip on the Chao Phraya river through the heart of Bangkok…

In a nutshell: beauty all around – plenty.

We pass our first “temple/palace” – a beaut – but, curiously and perplexingly, it turns out it’s nothing special – neither noteworthy nor Wiki-worthy. I couldn’t even find it on Google Maps! Rather – I could, but it’s not marked as this or that temple or palace; it’s just someone’s mansion, it seems! ->

Read on…

Korea ✅
Japan ✅
Singapore ✅
Thailand ⬜ – therefore, that’s where we’re headed next!…

My spring tour of Southeast Asia had entered its final stretch, after which would come a long-awaited few days of decompression back home before getting back into the thick of busy things: new contacts, contracts, projects, products, services and solutions – and all so as to make the world more secure, safer, better. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Rewind – to Bangkok!…

Thailand’s capital is a short two-hour flight from Singapore. Take-off, ascent, “the seatbelt sign has been switched off”, a brief pause, “the seatbelt sign has been switched on”, and a short while later you’re touching down. First up – checking into our hotel. And here’s the view from my window:

I hadn’t been here for a full 17 years! I’d been in Thailand in the interim – at conferences in Phuket for example, but not the capital. It was therefore tricky remembering what it was like here nearly two decades ago. Anyway, today – it’s like this:

Ah – some of it was coming back to me: yes, for example, on that tall, thin skyscraper just to the right of the center in the following pic, I remember distinctly… a Johnnie Walker whisky advert! Its text read “don’t drink and drive”! Let me guess – drink and walk, instead?!

As you can see, the city is densely built up. Something else is dense – and long – here: the traffic jams down below (.

Here’s a less salubrious district, just like in any other city:

And down there the streets are a hive of busy activity:

There was a hive of busy activity at our event too – especially up on the stage:

The following day – walkabout-tourism! But I’ll save that for tomorrow’s post. For now – photographic hors d’oeuvres…

The Chao Phraya river:

We took a nice long stroll around the grounds of the Grand Palace – the kings’ residence:

And a superb stroll it was too!

And several more nibbles pics:

To be continued!…

All the photos from Thailand are here.

Hi all, from Phuket, Thailand, where we’re having our fourth yearly regional Partner Conference.

It’s the wet season (rainy season / monsoon season) here. We were warned about it so it wasn’t like it was a surprise. But I’d never actually experienced it before somehow, and thought that it was just a time when it rains heavily on and off: I didn’t realize quite what I was in for…

More: Phuket Bucket …