Threat Modeling Connect Toronto – Guelph Event Recap
Our June event, hosted in the Cyber Lab at the University of Guelph, was a great success, showcasing the strength and reach of our community beyond the Toronto core. Despite being held outside the city, the event drew an impressive 90 registrations on Luma. This achievement would not have been possible without the dedication, outreach, and teamwork of our chapter leadership team and volunteers.
Welcoming Remarks
Quin opened the event with a warm welcome and Land Acknowledgment, setting a respectful and thoughtful tone for the day.
Jamil, our Chapter Leader, then took the stage to share the vision and ambitions of our chapter, introduced the leadership team, and expressed sincere appreciation to Dr. Ali Dehghantanha, Director of the Cybersecurity Program at UoG:
Dr. Ali also addressed the audience, reinforcing the growing collaboration between the University of Guelph and our Toronto Chapter.
Speaker Sessions
Prahav delivered an insightful talk on the fundamentals of threat modeling. He explained how this practice builds more secure systems by identifying risks early and encouraging cross-team collaboration, using frameworks like STRIDE.
Next, Parul, Director of Technology Governance and Controls at Manulife, shared a presentation on Threat Modeling for Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) applications. She highlighted how threat modeling for RAG gets particularly tricky because the data a model can retrieve may come from external or dynamic sources, compared to traditional LLMs that only draw from fixed, pre-trained datasets.
Networking Session
The event wrapped up with a lively networking session. Attendees engaged with speakers and chapter leaders over refreshments, exchanging ideas and forming new professional connections. The atmosphere was energetic and inspiring.
Leadership Team Contributions
Months of planning by the Toronto Chapter Leadership Team led to this successful gathering, which welcomed a diverse mix of students, early-career professionals, and seasoned cybersecurity experts. Special thanks to our featured guests: Gowri (Manager at EQ Bank), Mark (Director of Security at GuideWire), and Ikhlaas (Software Development Manager at Accelerated Systems).
Several team members played key roles in making this event run smoothly:
- Maheen Munir managed the registration desk and ensured guests arrived and settled in with ease.
- Duronke Owoleso co-moderated the event and kept the momentum strong throughout.
- Nour invested weeks preparing an interactive Slido Quiz designed to engage the audience, unfortunately skipped due to time constraints.
- Dr. Sumit Giri and Owen Tang, two newer members of the leadership team, contributed immensely. Sumit supported event logistics and contributed to in-depth discussions. Owen brought great energy, invited guests, and actively facilitated conversations during the networking portion.
Closing Appreciation
A heartfelt thank you to our parent company, IriusRisk, whose continued support makes these community events possible. We also extend our sincere gratitude to the University of Guelph for providing such an amazing facility and environment to host this event. We’re proud of the connections, ideas, and inspiration shared and excited to keep the momentum going at our future meetups!
