Host Dave Johnson sits down with Walter Martín Villalba, founder of InfoSecMap, to explore how he's solving one of the cybersecurity community's most persistent challenges: finding and tracking the thousands of InfoSec events happening worldwide. This conversation covers the origin story of InfoSecMap, the mechanics of manually curating event data at scale, and the unique welcoming nature of the InfoSec community that keeps people coming back.

Key topics & timestamps

The problem InfoSecMap solves (3:37 - 5:16)

• Missing events after expensive travel, information scattered everywhere
• Turned frustration into action during early pandemic 2020

Building InfoSecMap from scratch (5:54 - 9:45)

• Started as side project, realized one person couldn't maintain it alone
• Today: 6-7 people handling operations, outreach, and development

Recent explosive growth (10:40 - 12:55)

• Crossed 10,000 unique monthly visits two months ago
• Now at 23,000 monthly visits (120-130% growth)
• 100% organic traffic—no paid promotion

Strategic partnerships and credibility (12:55 - 15:47)

• Official partnership with OWASP Foundation provides credibility
• Partnerships with BSides Security globally

Partnership opportunities (15:51 - 19:01)

• Flexible models: cross-promotion, highlighting CFPs, sponsor calls
• Powerful filtering by dates, regions, and topics

First conference and community passion (19:17 - 21:49)

• First major conference: OWASP Global AppSec USA 2013
• InfoSec community uniquely welcoming with knowledge sharing culture
• Platform lists CTFs valuable for career development

Manual curation at scale (23:28 - 25:29)

• Everything manually curated to ensure accuracy
• Prevents spam and vendor pitches
• Expecting 5,000+ listings by end of year

The actual numbers (25:54 - 27:44)

• Conservative estimate: 7,000-10,000+ InfoSec events annually worldwide
• InfoSecMap has close to 5,000 events for 2024 alone

Automation and AI exploration (27:44 - 30:50)

• Exploring AI for curation automation with mixed results
• Higher priority: making platform self-sustainable long-term

Future vision and new features (33:14 - 37:00)

Key quotes

"I simply got tired of wasting a lot of time searching online... spending a lot of time and finding only a handful of events and still missing a lot." - Walter Martín Villalba

"The InfoSec community is very special in regards to certain aspects. It's very welcoming. There's a ton of knowledge sharing. There are a lot of people willing to give you a hand, not expecting anything in return." - Walter Martín Villalba

"It doesn't really matter how big or small the event is. If it's a legit InfoSec event, we'll list it, even if it is five friends getting together every other Friday to try to do some Hack The Box machines." - Walter Martín Villalba

Helpful links

• InfoSecMap.com

Production Credits

• Co-hosts: Dave Johnson
• Producer: Ben Baker
• Sponsor: Expel MDR

Connect

• Follow Expel (follow us on LinkedIn, X, and YouTube)
• Rate and review on your favorite podcast platform

The Job Security Podcast explores the unique perspectives and stories of the people who make the cybersecurity industry what it is, whether they realize it or not.