2508, 2023

DeepSec 2023 Training: Security Intelligence: Practical Social Engineering & Open-source Intelligence for Security Teams – Christina Lekati

Sanna/ August 25, 2023/ Conference, Interview, Training

Social engineering attacks remain at the top of the threat landscape and data breach reports. Reports tend to oversimplify breaches as just phishing attacks, but current research shows it’s more complex. Social engineering attacks have been evolving. Successful phishing emails are usually a result of a larger attack based on research and intelligence that identifies organizational vulnerabilities. But it doesn’t stop there. Weaponized psychology is still a powerful component of social engineering attacks. Security professionals and testers need to know how social engineering works and how to stop attacks. This class aims to provide participants with the necessary knowledge on open-source intelligence and social engineering, to help security teams build better protective measures (proactive & reactive) and to inform their security strategy. It also aims to help penetration testers improve their recommendations and provide

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2009, 2017

44CON revisited: Secure Design in Software is still a new Concept

René Pfeiffer/ September 20, 2017/ High Entropy, Interview, Security

We have been to 44CON, and we returned with lots of ideas and scary news about the state of security in devices and applications. Given the ever spreading Internet of Things (IoT) you can see why connecting random devices via a network with no second thoughts about design, updates, or quality control is a bad idea. Don Bailey illustrated this perfectly in the keynote titled The Internet of Us. His presentation touched all of information security, but IoT featured a prominent role. We are really surrounded by the Internet of SIM cards (sadly which we cannot call IoS). This opens up a new perspective and demystifies the IoT hype. You should watch Matt Wixey’s talk Hacking invisibly and silently with light and sound as soon as the videos are published. Matt discussed hardware hacking

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0311, 2016

DeepSec 2016 Talk: Why Companies Must Control Their Data in the Era of IoT – and How To – Kurt Kammerer

Sanna/ November 3, 2016/ Conference, Internet, Interview, Security

In his talk Kurt Kammerer addresses any company’s dilemma: The need for data sharing in the era of IoT while at the same time controlling access and ownership. In order to succeed in business, it is imperative to make data available to customers, suppliers and business partners. However, the explosion and the proclaimed free flow of data can turn against an organisation and threaten its very existence, if not professionally controlled. We asked Mr. Kammerer a few questions beforehand. Please tell us the top 5 facts about your talk. The relevance of “data” increases by the day and “data” is imperative to compete. Therefore, it is an asset companies must control. Data ownership is increasingly being challenged in the era of cloud/IoT (who created the data and who actually owns it?) Not exercising enough control

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2110, 2016

DeepSec2016 Talk: Abusing LUKS to Hack the System – Interview with Ismael Ripoll & Hector Marco

Sanna/ October 21, 2016/ Conference, Interview

Please tell us the top facts about your talk. It discloses a vulnerability that affects Linux systems encrypted with Luks, and how it can be abused to escalate privileges: CVE-2016-4484 Includes a sketch of the boot sequence with a deeper insight into the initrd Linux process A brief discussion about why complexity is the enemy of security: The whole system needs to be observed. A practical real working demo attack will be presented. How did you come up with it? Was there something like an initial spark that set your mind on creating this talk? Well, this is a difficult question. Basically, it is an attitude in front of the computer. When we start a research line, we don’t stop digging until the ultimate doubt and question is addressed. After the GRUB 28 bug, we keep reviewing the rest of

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1404, 2016

Thoughts on Lawful Malicious Software and its Impact on IT Infrastructure

Sanna/ April 14, 2016/ Interview, Press, Security

During the premiere of „A Good American“ we had a chat with journalists. Markus Sulzbacher of Der Standard wanted to know what the implication of the so-called Bundestrojaner (litterally federal trojan, the colloquial German term for the concept of inserting government malware in order to extract information from a suspect’s computer and telephone devices). The idea is to infect a computer system with malicious software that sits in the background and to siphon off the hard-to-get data connected to communication (i.e. messengers, Skype, emails, etc.). We have translated the interview from German to English for you. You can find the original on Der Standard web site. Der Standard 12.04.2016 “The federal Trojan is governmental malware” Police praise the software as a “wonder weapon against terror”. But for IT expert René Pfeiffer the planned introduction

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0110, 2015

DeepSec2015 Talk: Hacking Cookies in Modern Web Applications and Browsers – a short Interview with Dawid Czagan

Sanna/ October 1, 2015/ Discussion, Interview, Security

You don’t have to be the cookie monster to see cookies all around us. The World Wide Web is full of it. Make sure not to underestimate their impact on information security. Dawid Czagan will tell you why. 1) Please tell us the top 5 facts about your talk. The following topics will be presented: – cookie related vulnerabilities in web applications – insecure processing of secure flag in modern browsers – bypassing HttpOnly flag and cookie tampering in Safari – problem with Domain attribute in Internet Explorer – underestimated XSS via cookie – and more 2) How did you come up with it? Was there something like an initial spark that set your mind on creating this talk? I noticed that cookie related problems are underestimated. People claim, for example, that XSS via cookie requires

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1009, 2015

DeepSec 2015 Talk: “Yes, Now YOU Can Patch That Vulnerability Too!” A short Interview with Mitja Kolsek

Sanna/ September 10, 2015/ Discussion, Interview, Security

Patching software is a crucial task when it comes to fixing security vulnerabilities. While this totally works, usually you have to wait until the vendors or the developers provide you either an upgrade or a patch. What do you do in the meantime? Reducing the exposure of the software helps, but sometimes you have no choice. Public interfaces are public. There’s help. Do it yourself! Mitja Kolsek will tell you more. Please tell us the top 5 facts about your talk. We want to shake the security world by introducing a simple twist and essentially reinventing software patching. Attackers’ main advantage comes from software vulnerabilities (often very old and long-patched ones), which are a critical ingredient of most breaches into corporate and government networks. Unfortunately, most software vendors are lacking economical motivation for providing patches, let alone pro-actively

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2910, 2014

DeepSec 2014 Talk: Build Yourself a Risk Assessment Tool

Sanna/ October 29, 2014/ Conference, Interview

„The only advice I might give to everyone who is responsible for information security is that it is never about a tool or a methodology“, says Vlado Luknar. The never-ending quest for the “best” tool or methodology is a futile exercise. In the end it is you, the security specialist, who adds the most value to a risk assessment (RA) / threat modelling process for your company, claims Vlado Luknar (Orange Slovensko a.s. / France Telecom Orange Group).  In his talk at DeepSec Mr. Luknar will demonstrate that it is quite easy to capture your overall security knowledge in a home-made, free-of-charge tool.  But first, let’s ask Mr. Luknar a couple of questions: 1) Mr. Luknar, please tell us the top 5 facts about your talk! There is no problem with understanding existing RA

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2810, 2014

DeepSec 2014 Talk: Cloud-based Data Validation Patterns… We need a new Approach!

Sanna/ October 28, 2014/ Conference, Interview

Data validation threats (e.g. sensitive data, injection attacks) account for the vast majority of security issues in any system, including cloud-based systems. Current methodology in nearly every organisation is to create data validation gates. But when an organisation implements a cloud-based strategy, these security-quality gates may inadvertently become bypassed or suppressed. Everyone relying on these filters should know how they can fail and what it means to your flow of data. Geoffrey Hill has been in the IT industry since 1990, when he developed and sold a C++ application to measure risk in the commodities markets in New York City. He was recently employed by Cigital Inc., a company that specializes in incorporating secure engineering development frameworks into the software development life-cycles of client organizations.  He was leading the software security initiative at a major phone

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2010, 2014

DeepSec 2014 Talk: Safer Six – IPv6 Security in a Nutshell

René Pfeiffer/ October 20, 2014/ Conference, Internet, Interview

The Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) is the successor to the currently main IP Version 4 (IPv4). IPv6 was designed to address the need for more addresses and for a better routing of packets in a world filled with billions of networks and addresses alike. Once you decide to develop a new protocol, you have the chance to avoid all the mistakes of the past. You can even design security features from the start. That’s the theory. In practice IPv6 has had its fair share of security problems. There has been a lot of research, several vulnerabilities have been discussed at various security conferences. DeepSec 2014 features a presentation called Safer Six – IPv6 Security in a Nutshell held by Johanna Ullrich of SBA Research, a research centre for information security based in Vienna.

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