About René Pfeiffer

System administrator, lecturer, hacker, security consultant, technical writer and DeepSec organisation team member. Has done some particle physics, too. Prefers encrypted messages for the sake of admiring the mathematical algorithms at work.

1109, 2018

Whatever happened to CipherSaber?

René Pfeiffer/ September 11, 2018/ High Entropy

Some of you still know how a modem sounds. Back in the days of 14400 baud strong encryption was rare. Compression was king. Every bit counted. And you had to protect yourself. This is where CipherSaber comes into play. Given the exclusive use of strong cryptographic algorithms by government authorities, the CipherSaber algorithm was meant to be easy enough to be memorised, and yet strong enough to protect messages from being intercepted in clear. It is based on the RC4 algorithm. According to the designer CipherSaber can be implemented in a few lines of code. Basically you have crypto to go which cannot be erased from the minds of the public, because it is readily available. That’s where the name came from. It is modelled after the light sabers found in the Star Wars

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0709, 2018

DeepSec Training: Bug Bounty Hunting – How Hackers Find SQL Injections in Minutes with Sqlmap

René Pfeiffer/ September 7, 2018/ Security, Training

In a previous article we talked about the Bug Bounty Hunting training by Dawid Czagan at DeepSec 2018. In case you do now know what to expect, there is a little teaser consisting of a full blown tutorial for you. Dawid has published as video tutorial that shows you how to use Sqlmap in order to find SQL injections. It serves as a perfect example of what to expect from his two-day training and what you absolutely need to play with for preparation. DeepSec trainings are in-depth, not superficial. Dawid’s training will go into much deeper detail. Software developers are well advised to use attack tools against their own creations. It helps to understand what error conditions your code might be in and what you have to do when sanitising data. SQL injection attacks

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0609, 2018

Translated Press Release: DeepSec Conference releases Schedule for 2018

René Pfeiffer/ September 6, 2018/ Conference, Press

Focusing on the Insecurity of Things and infrastructure Vienna (pts014 / 21.08.2018 / 09:25) – This year’s DeepSec In-Depth Security Conference will focus on the topic of Insecurity of Things (IoT) and components of everyday infrastructure. The ever-advancing networking opens up completely new ways for attackers – faster than developers and manufacturers can fix bugs. Instead of using secure design for products and code, machine learning and artificial intelligence are integrated – unfortunately, implemented using convenient statistics and the algorithm of the week from the daily menu of the development kit. The presentations at the DeepSec conference will therefore put the alleged technologies of the future to the test. Mobile networks, the Internet of Things, collaboration platforms in the cloud, customer relationship management systems and the human factor are in the cross-hairs. Smart is

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2908, 2018

DeepSec 2018 Special Training: Bug Hunting Millionaire – Mastering Web Attacks with Full-Stack Exploitation

René Pfeiffer/ August 29, 2018/ Conference, Security, Training

How do bugs in software get fixed? Well, first of all you have to find them. All code has bugs. Most probably, that is. Usually developers and users of applications find bugs. The history of information security has taught us that now attackers also look for bugs in software. Therefore flaws in code leading to security vulnerabilities have a higher priority for both developers and adversaries. The problem is that software testing finds all kinds of bugs and not always the important ones. Where is the incentive to go and debug software? Well, there is quality assurance, there is full disclosure, and now there are bug bounties. Bug bounties are rewards for bugs in software that have an impact on security. Companies offer these bounties as a means of software quality testing. Bug bounties

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2708, 2018

ROOTS 2018 Call for Papers – Deadline extended

René Pfeiffer/ August 27, 2018/ Administrivia, Call for Papers

ROOTS‘ deadline for abstract submissions has been extended. The new deadline is the 17 September 2018. Authors will be notified by 30 September 2018. We need your camera-ready papers until 13 October 2018. Please spread the word. The Reversing and Offensive-Oriented Trends Symposium 2018 still accepts your research. We are looking forward to the results of your work. Information security is all about well-researched facts and reproducible findings. If you need some more time to prepare your submission, this is the time. Let us know if you need help when submitting. The first European symposium of its kind, ROOTS aims to provide an industry-friendly academic platform to discuss trends in exploitation, reversing, offensive techniques, and effective protections. Submissions should provide novel attack forms, describe novel reversing techniques, or effective deployable defences. Submissions can also

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2408, 2018

DeepSec and Tor Tickets – Update

René Pfeiffer/ August 24, 2018/ High Entropy, Internet

We wrote about the German Tor operator relay organisation Zwiebelfreunde e.V. a while ago. They were raided on 20 June 2018 by the German police in five different locations. The police was investigating a German left-wing blog and was trying to find the author of articles published there. As many of you know, Tor exit relay operators are the last hop in a chain of communication channels, so the origin of the operator’s servers can be seen. However Tor exit relays bear to relation to the real origin of the transmission. This is the essence of the Tor anonymity network. Zwiebelfreunde e.V. is a non-profit organisation that runs Tor nodes for anyone donating money (realised by the Torservers.net project). Their nodes have a combined bandwidth of 5000 Mbit/s. They know what they are doing,

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1708, 2018

DeepSec 2018 Conference “Smart is the new Cyber” – Preliminary Schedule published

René Pfeiffer/ August 17, 2018/ Conference, Schedule, Security

The preliminary schedule for DeepSec 2018 has been published. It took us some time to select and review all submissions. We cracked the 100 submissions mark, thus we are pleased that you made it very difficult for us this year. The number of slots for presentations and workshops has been constant. The number of content being submitted is steadily growing. So we hope we did a good job and that you find a pleasant mixture of topics (as pleasant as information security can get). All speakers have been informed. There may be some changes to the schedule which we will announce on our blog. The abstracts of every presentation and workshop will be discussed in-depth here on the blog as well. We have asked the trainers and speakers some questions. As soon as we

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1008, 2018

New date, same Location: DeepINTEL 2018 has been moved

René Pfeiffer/ August 10, 2018/ Administrivia, Call for Papers, Security Intelligence

The DeepINTEL 2018 has been moved in time, not in space. DeepINTEL 2018 will take place on 28 November 2018. The day is the second day of trainings at DeepSec. DeepINTEL will be in parallel, and it will be for one day instead of the original two days. We had to moved because of organisational constraints. By moving DeepINTEL we hope to create a better placement for the security intelligence platform. In addition the DeepINTEL Call for Papers is easier, allowing trainers and speakers at DeepSec to contribute to the aspect of DeepINTEL with specific content. In case you have some content for us: he focus for 2018 are stealthy and persistent attacks. This is the classic espionage attack vector, only with modern means. Ubiquitous networking, complex trust-relationships, and the increased flow of information

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0808, 2018

DeepSec Call for Papers Ended – Review Process – Melting Brains – Hard Facts

René Pfeiffer/ August 8, 2018/ Administrivia, Conference

Year by year it is getting harder to review the growing numbers of submissions. Thanks a lot for your contribution! It’s always a pleasure to read what you sent us. We have started to review as soon as you submit, but given the heat and the sheer number of submissions, it will take a few more days. We only have two days of trainings and two days of conference – which isn’t nearly enough. We will try to come up with a schedule that covers current events, science, and threats of tomorrow. Speaking of science, the Call for Papers for ROOTS 2018 is still running! We like to see more solid research in information security. It’s easy to get headlines or flourish on social media, but information security needs to do its homework. This

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3107, 2018

DeepSec 2018 Call for Papers – Deadline today!

René Pfeiffer/ July 31, 2018/ Call for Papers, Conference

Sadly the climate does not extend deadlines. The Call for Papers of DeepSec In-Depth Security Conference 2018 ends today at midnight. Please make sure that you send us your submission in time. All submissions reaching us before the deadline ends have priority over any later submissions! We will leave the submission form online for a while longer in order to compensate for the heatwave currently rolling over Europe. Don’t forget that the Call for Papers for ROOTS 2018 (the Reversing and Offensive-oriented Trends Symposium) is still open and accepts submissions! Please spread word about ROOTS. We would like to feature „Science first!“ again in 2018. A big thank you for all who already sent us their content! As always we will have a hard time sorting through everything and selecting the presentations and trainings.

1707, 2018

New in the DeepSec Ticket Shop: Tor Tickets for Early Birds and InfoSec Minds

René Pfeiffer/ July 17, 2018/ Administrivia, Discussion, High Entropy, Security

We have a new category in the DeepSec ticket shop. We now have Tor tickets! Why is that? Well, information security relies heavily on the tools of the trade and the knowledge to use them. Tools can be created and used, knowledge can be shared and used. This is not a new insight. The special Tor tickets are a way to help the German non-profit registered association Zwiebelfreunde e.V. for rebooting their infrastructure. They run Tor nodes and provide the necessary infrastructure to do this. Members of Zwiebelfreunde have been speakers at DeepSec in the past because they are also active security researchers. The difference between the Tor ticket and the normal ticket price will be given to them to recover the damage to their infrastructure. Security tools such as Tor are widely used

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1707, 2018

ROOTS and DeepSec 2018 Call for Papers – Reminder and Bugfix

René Pfeiffer/ July 17, 2018/ Call for Papers

The ROOTS and DeepSec Calls for Papers are still running! We did some bugfixing on the web page, so the deadline for any ROOTS submissions is now 26 August 2018. Please spread the word and submit your research. If you need any assistance feel free to contact us. The DeepSec Call for Papers closes on 31 July 2018. Now is the time for your submission. We are looking forward to see your presentation on stage at DeepSec 2018!

1307, 2018

Thoughts on the Information Security Skill Set

René Pfeiffer/ July 13, 2018/ Discussion, Security

As mentioned in an earlier blog article we moved our office infrastructure to a new location. Once you use a space for more than a decade things inevitably pile up. So I had to sort through hardware, software (on optical storage hardware and floppy disks), lecture notes from a previous life, ancient project documentation, and notes on ideas for a brighter future. Most things were thrown away (i.e. responsibly recycled), some stuff could be saved by enthusiasts (for example the two old Amigas that were sitting in the basement). All of the things we had to move had a purpose once. The main purpose was to get familiar with technology, accumulate knowledge, and understand how things work. This is essentially the hacker mindset, also found among scientists. Given the many presentations at past DeepSec

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1107, 2018

Infrastructure Update – Privacy Shield, Call for Papers, DNSSEC, ROOTS, and Humidity

René Pfeiffer/ July 11, 2018/ Administrivia, High Entropy

Our blog has been a bit silent in the past weeks, because we had to move some stuff around and rearrange our infrastructure. The old office had a problem with too much water. Leaking is for whistleblowers, not water pipes. Rain is fine if the water can get to the drains. If you take a look at the photograph, imagine the scene with Summer temperatures and a high dose of humidity. Moving infrastructure around is a lot more fun when having APIs, lots of bandwidth, and server minions to take care of the storage. This wasn’t the case with our office infrastructure in meatspace. So we did a bit of a workout. It’s amazing what ancient hardware you can find when sorting through real storage space. Remember AUI Ethernet connectors with matching network interface

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1806, 2018

DeepSec Web Server is moving today

René Pfeiffer/ June 18, 2018/ Administrivia

We are doing a little relocation of computing infrastructure today. Between 2000 and 2200 CEST we will shift the computing node to a new location. Most content is still being delivered by the reverse proxy, but you may encounter errors for the call for papers manager. For those of you who got a 5xx HTTP status code when submitting a workshop or a talk, we hope that the new infrastructure will solve this problem.