AgendaAdobe ColdFusion Summit East 2025

It's that time again: another new ColdFusion version, and another chance for Charlie Arehart to reprise his classic "hidden gems" approach to finding what's new that you might miss, like he's been doing since CF4.0.1. Some may be modest features that few would use, while others may be pretty big deals but which just don't get much press. There are always FAR more new things with each release than most people realize–usually several dozen (and CF2025 is no exception), and then more may come in updates to follow. Charlie will identify them, highlighting some, as well as discussing edition differences, pricing, migration issues, and pointing to resources for learning more.

Understanding how to maximize performance on large scale ColdFusion applications is challenging. Determining where limits exist, which sliders to move, and how to scale can be daunting and confusing to understand. In this talk, Dakota Clum of xByte Cloud will examine how to push your current ColdFusion applications to their limits and beyond, to determine how to optimize performance while minimizing spend.

Understanding how to maximize performance on large scale ColdFusion applications is challenging. Determining where limits exist, which sliders to move, and how to scale can be daunting and confusing to understand. In this talk, Dakota Clum of xByte Cloud will examine how to push your current ColdFusion applications to their limits and beyond, to determine how to optimize performance while minimizing spend.

Join Mark Takata, Senior Technical Evangelist for Adobe ColdFusion, as he explores some of the best additions to the Adobe ColdFusion development ecosystem’s CFScript language. He will cover additions made to ColdFusion in versions 2021, 2023 as well as the latest version, 2025.

In this session Pete Freitag will guide you through Mitre's "2024 CWE Top 25 Most Dangerous Software Weaknesses" list. We'll look at how each weakness applies to ColdFusion code, or in some cases why ColdFusion's architecture avoids it. Attendees will walk away with some practical tips to avoid what some consider to be the most dangerous classes of vulnerabilities across all modern software platforms.

A new STIG for Adobe ColdFusion 2023 is in the final review stage! STIG (Security Technical Information Guides) are security standards for the DOD that are issued and maintained by DISA. Just as the Federal Government looks to NIST (National Institute for Standards and Technology) for guidance and civilian agencies looks to FISMA, the Department of Defense (DOD) have yet another layer of requirements promulgated by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). These Security Technical Information Guides (STIGs) are the configuration standards for DOD Information Assurance, or IA-enabled devices/systems. The STIGs contain technical guidance to 'lock down' information systems/software that might otherwise be vulnerable to a malicious computer attack.

Github Copilot has added a lot of features since its first release. The Copilot technology is now enabled in different aspects of programming. Please come to this session to see how Copilot can be incorporated into your ColdFusion development process.

Discover how JWTs revolutionize security in web applications. Learn the ins and outs of JWTs, including their structure, benefits, and seamless integration with ColdFusion applications. Explore the best practices and security considerations to safeguard your applications effectively. With live demonstrations and interactive discussions, this session equips you with practical knowledge and actionable insights to elevate your application security while delivering an exceptional user experience. Don’t miss this opportunity to stay ahead in the realm of secure web development with JWTs and ColdFusion!

Testing doesn't have to be scary! Testing Paralysis is real! Join us for a deep dive into TestBox, the powerful BDD/TDD testing framework. Learn how to write clean, fluent tests, automate your workflows, and banish bugs with confidence. Whether you're new to testing or a seasoned pro, this session will equip you with the tools to kill off that paralysis and win!

Modern applications require use of various cryptographic services to ensure data confidentiality, integrity, authenticity, and more. ColdFusion provides solutions to cover all of your encryption needs, so let's dive deep into everything you need to know to properly handle sensitive data. Which AES block cipher mode is best to encrypt large documents? What is an initialization vector? How should I properly store passwords? How can I securely store data without having access to it? Get answers to these questions and more in this informative look at ColdFusion's cryptographic services.

In this talk, Dave will outline some top tips and tricks you're missing out on to bring the performance and security of your Adobe ColdFusion x  SQL Server web applications up to the next level. From choosing the right data types (NOT EVERYTHING IS NVARCHAR OR INT!) to the proper parameterization of variables, this talk will send you home with new ideas and tools to improve your apps.  He will also review some of the secret sauce DBAs try to keep from you.

Does your JavaScript write your HTML or does your HTML drive your JavaScript? The principle of Progressive Enhancement is often being neglected in modern web development, and in most cases to our detriment. Come see the advantages in using the DOM as your source of truth to which your JavaScript (and CSS) should be subservient. See examples of how following this principle makes your code easier to read and easier to enhance.See how much functionality you get for free when you use the web in alignment with its original designs.

Join Corbin Crutchley as he helps you learn how to leverage containers to create a highly usable development environment right on your own machine. Corbin will cover installation and setup of the Adobe ColdFusion Docker images in your local Docker Desktop, attaching and running your own code, then connecting the Adobe ColdFusion Builder Extension running in VS Code to create and edit your application code. Finally he will cover bringing that code back out to your git repository, creating a modern end-to-end software development lifecycle workflow. This is a technical, code-centric talk and participants are encouraged to bring a laptop and follow along.