DeepSec Proceedings: The Book – Call for Papers Reminder

Sanna/ June 25, 2013/ Administrivia

Dear DeepSec speakers this goes out to you: It’s our pleasure to inform you that we will publish a book as proceedings about past and present DeepSec topics. A summary, a factual overview on what’s been going on at our annual event, from 2008 – 2012, a collection of the most compelling talks and captivating topics we’ve featured at our conference so far. To make this book a bummer we need your help. We want you to send us the abstracts of the talk you held at DeepSec – and we ask you to open up your topic once again. What’s been going on in the very special field you held your talk about? Have there been some new developments? Is your talk still up to date or does it seem kind of antiquated

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Timeless elegance: DeepSec T-Shirts 2011

Sanna/ June 25, 2013/ Administrivia, High Entropy

Somewhere it’s still 2011. In another dimension it’s probably always Monday. ANYWAY — for those of you who want to wear a garment of timeless elegance we have the very T-Shirt: DeepSec T-Shirt 2011 proudly presented by our favourite model, Mme Cyberduck.     Wow, look at this imprint   – neat, isn’t it? T- Shirt can be ordered either via e-mail Price: 25€ (VAT excluded) + shipping costs Payment: Prepay, either via Paypal or Credit Card or you can get them at our next conference, DeepSec 2013. C u!  

CfP for DeepSec 2013 is still open! Send us (your?) security nightmares!

René Pfeiffer/ June 22, 2013/ Administrivia, Conference

Hello to all you late birds! The Call for Papers for DeepSec 2013 is still open! We are eagerly waiting for your workshops and talks! Don’t tell us that the world has become a safe place and there’s nothing out there that can’t be broken or is broken by design – We won’t believe you. In case you have forgotten, the motto for DeepSec 2013 is „Secrets, Failures, and Visions!“. We came up with this idea in December 2012, long before the headlines of this month. Everyone has secrets to protect. Failures are more common than you might think. Visions is what we need in the future to tackle the problems of today. All of these concepts touch the topics usually discussed at (IT) security conferences. It doesn’t matter if you have to deal

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Protect your Metadata

René Pfeiffer/ June 9, 2013/ Discussion

In the light of the recent news about the collection of call detail records (CDR) the term metadata has come up. Unfortunately the words cyber, virtual, and meta are used quite often – even as a disguise  to hide information when not being used in a technical context. We have heard about all things cyber at the last DeepSec conference. The word virtual is your steady companion when it comes to All Things Cloud™. Now we have a case for meta. Actually metadata is what forensic experts look for – a lot. Metadata usually lives in transaction logs or is part of a data collection. It describes the data it accompanies. Frequently you cannot make sense out of or use the data without the corresponding metadata. A well-stocked library seems like a labyrinth if

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How to defend against “Cyber” Espionage

René Pfeiffer/ June 6, 2013/ Discussion, Security

When it comes to defence and protection, don’t forget how your organisation treats data. The mindset plays an important role. This can be illustrated by a simple correlation. Organizations which take the protection of data privacy seriously have an edge when it comes to implementing IT security measures. We talked about this relation in an interview with ORF journalist Erich Moechel (article is in German, Google translation). The findings are not surprising. Auditors and penetration testers can tell if your IT staff takes the role of protecting digital assets seriously. The correlation is easily explained : Once you establish data protection guidelines, you also create a motivation to implement defensive procedures and measures against intrusion. Directly linking operational aspects to a reason makes sure that everyone understands why defence is important. Bear in mind

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Podcast Finux Tech Weekly #25 with DeepSec CfP and U21

René Pfeiffer/ June 5, 2013/ Administrivia, Mission Statement

MiKa and me have been chatting with Finux for his latest recording of the Finux Tech Weekly #25 (mp3/ogg download). We talked about the next DeepSec conference and our special U21 initiative for young security researchers. We like to support young researchers (under the age of 21, hence U21) and enable them to present their works and results in an appropriate manner. Listen to the podcast to hear about our motivations! Oh, and don’t forget, the Call for Papers for DeepSec 2013 is still running! Send us your submissions! We’re looking forward to it 🙂