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.

0506, 2018

Rookie Track – BSidesLondon 2018

René Pfeiffer/ June 5, 2018/ Conference, Security

We are looking forward to see the Rookie Track at BSidesLondon 2018! If you are curious what the rookie have to say, drop by and have a look! Presentations are meant to be heard. Do the newbies a favour and listen to them. They have put a lot of work into their 15 minute talk slot. They deserve an audience. Presenting a topic is hard. You have to understand what you are talking about. Furthermore you need to know a bit extra, because people will ask questions. Richard Feynman once said: If you want to master something, teach it. A great way to learn is to teach. If you have ever conducted a workshop, this will sound familiar. DeepSec sponsors the winner of the rookie track – a ticket to DeepSec 2018 and a

2505, 2018

DSGVO / GDPR / RGPD Update – We have Policies and Stuff!

René Pfeiffer/ May 25, 2018/ Administrivia, High Entropy

In information security policies are like opinions – everyone has one or more. So this is why we did some updating. You can now find our privacy policy on the main DeepSec web site and on our blog. We use few third party services, because most of our infrastructure is hosted on our own systems. When it comes to (tele)communication, payment services, and (sadly) email we have to rely on operators doing this for us. Our email infrastructure will move in the near future (i.e. in 2018). We will announce the change via your local DNS resolver when the time comes. 😊 Bear in mind that we take the agile approach when it comes to developing policies. Publish often, do rolling releases. At least that is how we understand the process. A policy is

1405, 2018

#efail, Crypto, HTML, PDF, and other complex Topics

René Pfeiffer/ May 14, 2018/ High Entropy, Security

You probably have noticed the #efail hashtag that came with the claim that the crypto world of PGP/GPG and S/MIME is about to end. Apocalyptic announcements were made. The real news is due for 15 May 2018 (i.e. the publication with all the facts). There was even the advice to stop using encryption until more information is known. The authors of the bug claimed that responsible disclosure was being followed. Well, it seems that this is not the case. Judging from the Internet response, the bug depends on the content of the encrypted message, not on the protocol of the encryption or the encryption tools. Lessons learned so far: It is a bug in some mail user client software. It’s all about the content of the message and how it gets interpreted. Responsible disclosure

1405, 2018

Reminder: DeepINTEL and DeepSec Call for Papers are still open

René Pfeiffer/ May 14, 2018/ Call for Papers

We have been a bit radio silent. We have to deal with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and we are moving our infrastructure across the Internet. The blog is already moved. Further services wait for their transport. The reason is simple maintenance work and hosting our data a bit more privacy-friendly. For example our new ticket portal features privacy by design. Since the threats to information security don’t have to deal with boring stuff such as privacy and upgrades, we would like to remind you that the call for papers for both DeepINTEL and DeepSec is still open.

0104, 2018

Manufacturers integrate Blockchain into Processors to counter Spectre and Meltdown

René Pfeiffer/ April 1, 2018/ Discussion, High Entropy

The Spectre and Meltdown security vulnerabilities gathered a lot of attention in January. Processor manufacturers have rushed to fix the design of the chips and to patch products already in production. The vulnerabilities show that secure design is critical to our modern infrastructure. Computing has become ubiquitous, so has networking. The current fixes change the microcode on the chips. Altering the flow of assembler instructions is bound to have a detrimental impact on performance. There is not much you can do about this – but there is hope. Future generations of processors will have a defence against unknown security vulnerabilities – the blockchain! The past decade in information security has taught us that a pro-active holistic approach to IT defence is not enough. To counter unknown threats you have to go below 0(day). The

2803, 2018

Metrics, Measurement, and Information Security

René Pfeiffer/ March 28, 2018/ Discussion, High Entropy, Security

Metric is a great word. Depending how you use it, it changes its meaning. The metric of a network path is quite different from the metric system. When it comes to measuring something, the might be an agreement. Why bother? Because we have heard of the term security metrics being used for something which should better be called security statistics. In mathematics a metric is a function which tells you the distance between each pair of elements in a set. While this does not necessarily have to do something with distance, it is a fitting analogy. It also connects metric to physics. Measuring how far two points are apart gives you usually a distance (either a straight line or a sum of straight lines). In essence measuring something boils down to comparing your object

2603, 2018

Advanced and In-Depth Persistent Defence

René Pfeiffer/ March 26, 2018/ Discussion, Security Intelligence

The attribution problem in digital attacks is one of these problems that get solved over and over again. Of course, there are forensics methods, analysis of code samples, false flags, mistakes, and plenty of information to get things wrong. This is nothing new. Covering tracks is being done for thousands of years. Why should the digital world be any different? Attribution policy tactics, APT, is part of the arsenal and thus part of the threats you are facing. It has less impact though, because it is only of interest when your defence is breached – and this means you have something else to worry about. Attribution is not useful for defending against threats. While you can use to to „hack back“, this will most probably not help you at all. The main problem with

2303, 2018

Upgrade to HTTP2

René Pfeiffer/ March 23, 2018/ Administrivia

We are busy with a little housekeeping. Among other things we have changed the way you can access our blog. It is now using HTTP2. We also added encryption and redirect all HTTP requests to HTTPS. Search engines should update their caches as soon as they refresh the pages. Hopefully this does not break anything. If so, please let us know. The DeepSec blog has been long using HTTP only. This was due to infrastructure constraints. Since future versions of web browsers will give you a warning when surfing to a HTTP site, we decided to change the blog configuration. You might want to do the same before June 2018. Otherwise you might get some enquiries about the security warning. Next stop: TLS 1.3.

2702, 2018

Support for BSidesLondon’s Rookie Track

René Pfeiffer/ February 27, 2018/ Security

We are proud to support the Rookie Track at BSidesLondon in 2018 again. This means that one of us will be present at the Rookie Track and that the winner will get to attend DeepSec in November. It’s hard to get a start, so we like to help the rookies with that. We also like to encourage everyone to share ideas, thoughts, code, and insights either at the Rookie Track or on the main stage. If you have never presented before, get a mentor and work on your presentation. Don’t be afraid. We like to hear your thoughts on infosec and related topics. The same is true for our U21 presentation slot. We encourage young researchers to submit a presentation to DeepSec. We also offer mentoring and help you to get your content on

3101, 2018

Change of Ticket System for DeepSec and DeepINTEL

René Pfeiffer/ January 31, 2018/ Administrivia, Conference

We have made some changes behind the scenes, as always when preparing the new events for the year. This time we decided to change the ticket shop for both DeepINTEL and DeepSec. The reason for the new shop is its focus on privacy and security. Most shops are part of a social media network or collect too much information (can be both, depends on the interaction and the platform). It doesn’t matter if the collected information is being protected by privacy procedures or not. Our intent was to streamline the process. For you this means that you can buy your tickets as easy as before. We still have vouchers, too. Ask our sponsors. Furthermore the payment is done directly to us, so we can manage your visit to DeepSec and DeepINTEL more efficiently. Also

3101, 2018

DeepSec 2018 calls for Trainings and Content – Focus Mobility

René Pfeiffer/ January 31, 2018/ Call for Papers, Conference, Discussion

The DeepSec 2018 Call for Papers is open. The focus for this year is mobility. Mobile networks and mobile devices have established themselves firmly in our society. And mobility doesn’t end here. Transport is transforming into new technologies by incorporating access to data networks (yes, that’s the „Cloud“), the power grid (think electric vehicles), drones, new propulsion systems, artificial intelligent (sometimes even both!) personal assistants and algorithms (mathematics has become mainstream). The ever growing number of dependencies between components are a fertile breeding ground for cascading errors that impact more than your new car or your latest order from your favourite online shop. Information security must become as mobile as home deliveries of goods and electric power. And it must become common. Infosec isn’t optional any more. Since bug logos have captured the minds

2601, 2018

Secret Router Security Discussion in Germany

René Pfeiffer/ January 26, 2018/ Internet, Security

Routers are the main component when it comes to connect sites, homes, and businesses. They often „just“ take care of the access to the Internet. The firewall comes after this access device. The German Telekom suffered an attack on their routers on 2016. The German Federal Office for Information Security now tries to create a policy for securing these critical systems. In theory this should add a set of documents on how to securely operate a router for the last mile access. Information security basically runs on checklists and policies. The trouble starts with the firmware. In Germany these is a discussion about using alternative devices as access components, enabling customers and organisations to use products of their own choice. Since firmware is the worst code on this planet, changing models and code is

2401, 2018

Save the Dates for DeepSec 2018 and DeepINTEL 2018

René Pfeiffer/ January 24, 2018/ Administrivia, Conference

While everyone was busy with the holidays, Meltdown and Spectre, we did some updates behind the scenes. DeepSec 2018 will be held from 27 to 30 November 2018. We tried not to collide with Thanksgiving, so that you can come to Vienna after being with your family. As always, the first two days will be the trainings followed by two days of conference. DeepINTEL 2018 will be on 17 / 18 September 2018. We have a topical focus for both events and will present each of them in a separate article. There still some details to work out. Wordsmithing and administrivia are the equivalence of dependencies and patches in software development – necessary, but they take time. It’s worth it, you will see for yourself. We have a special message for anyone who intends

0112, 2017

DeepSec 2017 Presentation Slides

René Pfeiffer/ December 1, 2017/ Administrivia, Conference

While the videos are on their way to the rendering farm, the presentation slides for DeepSec 2017 can already be downloaded. We put them online as soon as we get the final version from our speakers. If you do some guessing URL-wise you can also find the presentations of past conferences at the very same spot. Since we collect the final slides after the conference and not ask speakers to put USB sticks into their computers during the conference, the download repository will fill in time. Unfortunately we cannot speed up this process. So bear with us, we are as curious as you (especially since some of us never get the see any presentation at DeepSec because there is too much to do). As for the videos, all speakers and attendees will also get

About René Pfeiffer

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