Editor's note: Charyn Faenza co-authored this blog. Learn more about Charyn.

As the fun of the festive season ends, the buzz of the new year and the enchantment of SAS Global Forum 2017 begins. SAS Global Forum is a conference designed by SAS users, for SAS users, bringing together SAS professionals from all over the world to learn, collaborate and network in person. Sure, online communication is great, but it’s hard to beat the thrill of meeting fellow SAS users face-to-face for the first time. It feels like magic! To help you prepare for the event, Charyn and I wanted to share a few things including information on metadata security. Read on for more.

Start your SAS Global Forum journey now!

Want to stay up to date with SAS Global Forum activities, and get a head start on your conference networking? Join the SAS Global Forum 2017 online community. Here you can post questions, share ideas, and connect with others before the event. While you are at it, the SAS User Group for Administrators (SUGA) community also feels magical for me.  As part of the committee, we regularly get together (virtually!) to discuss and plan exciting events on behalf of SAS administrators around the world.  Join the SUGA community and watch for upcoming events, including a live meet-up at SAS Global Forum! That event is scheduled for Monday, April 3, from 6:30-8:00 p.m.

Security auditing

During his workshop at SAS Global Forum 2014, Gregory Nelson pointed out that the SAS administrator role has evolved over the years, and so has one of their key responsibilities: security auditing. Once you’ve set up an initial security plan, how do you ensure that the environment remains secure? Can you just “set it and forget it?” Probably not. Especially if you want to ensure regulatory compliance, to maintain business confidence and keep your SAS platform in line with its design specifications as your business grows and your SAS environment evolves.

Thinking about your own SAS platform:

• What would happen in your organization if someone accessed data they shouldn’t?
• When was your last SAS platform security project?
• When was it last tested? How extensive was it? How long did it take?
• Have there been any changes since it was last tested? Whether they are deliberate, accidental, expected or unexpected.
• How do you know if it’s still secure today?

Presenting at SAS Global Forum

If security is important to you and your organization, please join us at this year’s magical SAS Global Forum, as I co-present with Charyn Faenza on SAS® Metadata Security 301: Auditing Your SAS Environment. Hold your horses… “301?,” Did I hear that right? “What about 101 and 201?" Glad your curious mind asked... At the last two SAS GLOBAL FORUM events, Charyn has presented SAS Metadata Security 101 and 201 papers that step through the fundamentals on authentication and authorization. Check them out at:

• SAS® Metadata Security 101: A Primer for SAS Administrators and Users Not Familiar with SAS
• SAS® Metadata Security 201: Security Basics for a New SAS Administrator

Our upcoming 301 paper will focus on auditing to complete the three ‘A’s (Authentication, Authorization and Auditing), including how you can use Metacoda software to regularly review your environment, so you can protect your resources, comply with security auditing requirements, and quickly and easily answer the question "Who has access to what?"

Here are the details for our paper:
Session Title: 786 -  SAS Metadata Security 301: Auditing your SAS Environment
Type: Breakout
Date: Tuesday, April 4
Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: Dolphin, Dolphin Level III - Asia 4

Our security journey

Whether you’re a new SAS administrator or an experienced one, you’ll know that security is a journey rather than a destination.

To help make sure you’re on the right path, check out the SUGA virtual events, SAS administrator tagged blog posts, Twitter #sasadmin and platformadmin.com.

If you’d like to chat more about SAS security auditing, please comment below, join our chat in the SAS Global Forum community, or connect with us on Twitter at @HomesAtMetacoda, @CharynFaenza.

Looking forward to seeing you in April at SAS Global Forum 2017 in the enchanting and magical Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort, Orlando, Florida!

About Charyn Faenza

Ms. Faenza is Vice President and Manager of Corporate Business Intelligence Systems for First National Bank, the largest subsidiary of F.N.B. Corporation (NYSE: FNB). An accountant by training, she is passionate about not only understanding the technology, but the underlying business utility of the systems her team supports. In her role she is responsible for the architecture and development of F.N.B.’s corporate profitability, stress testing, and analytics platforms and oversees the data collection and governance functions to ensure high data quality, proper data storage and transfer, risk management and data compliance.

Throughout her tenure at F.N.B. her experience in data integration and governance has been leveraged in several cross functional projects where she has been engaged as a strategic consultant regarding the design of systems and processes in the Finance, Treasury and Credit areas of the Bank.

Ms. Faenza earned her bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Youngstown State University where she is currently serving on the Business Advisory Board of the Youngstown State University Laricccia School of Accounting and Finance.