0202, 2021

DeepSec / DeepINTEL 2021 Preparations – Save the Dates! Document your Projects!

René Pfeiffer/ February 2, 2021/ Administrivia

Usually we are radio silent during December and the beginning of January. This is due to some well-deserved rest, infrastructure updates (we run a lot ourselves), content creation (in our own projects), and the general Christmas holidays. The COVID-19 lock-down made it different to tell if there are holidays or not. Every day looks mostly like yesterday. We would like to change this. So please keep the following dates in your mind and in your calendar: DeepSec 2021 Trainings – 16 / 17 November 2021 DeepSec 2021 Conference – 18 / 19 November 2021 (including ROOTS & ACOD) DeepINTEL 2021 Conference – 18 November 2021 The Call for Papers will open soon and will be published here in our blog (along with push messages to Twitter and Xing). If you are interested in getting

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2011, 2020

DeepSec 2020 Mission Control – Behind the Scenes

René Pfeiffer/ November 20, 2020/ Administrivia, Conference

The fully virtual DeepSec conference was very different from the usual configuration and setting. While we learned a lot over the years, there is one constant: What’s the difference between hardware and software? Well, hardware can be kicked. There is always one converter, one computer, one network devices, one USB device, or something else that doesn’t quite fit into the ensemble. Then there are the many desktop oddities and multimedia formats. So we had to do some damage control during the first day of streaming (having damage control teams and replacement parts ready is not just for ships). Networking did its own magic by introducing delays between the speaker’s feed and the live stream. Fortunately the stream connections held, and we had no losses in terms of connectivity. Mission control at the office used

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2209, 2020

Administrivia: DeepSec 2020 will turn into a hybrid conference

René Pfeiffer/ September 22, 2020/ Administrivia, Conference

The current travel warnings and COVID-19 statistics have an impact on the DeepSec 2020 conference. As we expected, travel is the major obstacle. This means that DeepSec 2020, ROOTS, and DeepINTEL will turn into a hybrid event. We will still be on-site at the conference hotel. Presentations will be on-site and available by our conference streaming platform in parallel. Speakers that cannot be in Vienna will stream their presentations. Everything will be live, and everyone attending physically and virtually can participate. Furthermore, we constantly update our COVID-19 health protection in order to keep you and everyone here in Vienna at the conference safe. Two trainings are already virtually (right from the start). We are exploring which trainings can switch to a virtual mode and will update the schedule accordingly. In case you are interested

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0109, 2020

Administrivia – DeepSec 2020 Schedule, in-depth Articles, and Tickets

René Pfeiffer/ September 1, 2020/ Administrivia, Conference

We have some news. The schedule for DeepSec is getting stable. 🎉 Juggling the presentations slots and keeping in touch with all speakers and trainers is always the most dynamic part of DeepSec events. The current situation puts an extra strain on the preparations. We intend to conduct as much on-site presentations as possible. So far only two trainings and selected talks will be virtual. The main part of the schedule will be physically on-site. Please note our updated counter COVID-19 measures document. We have some more features planned for anyone attending, because we want to keep you busy during the conference. The ticket shop is online and waiting for your orders. We know that most people book late. Usually this is not a problem. Nevertheless we like to ask you to book early

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2507, 2020

Administrivia: DeepSec Mailing Lists and last Call for our CfPs

René Pfeiffer/ July 25, 2020/ Administrivia, Conference

Summer is always a bad time for getting things done. Usually people are on holiday, sweat, relax, or travel for recreation. Things are different due to the Covid-19 precautions. Unfortunately our Call for Papers ends on 31 July 2020. This means we have to remind you about the deadline. We plan to publish the schedule in mid-August, so we don’t have much choice to ask you again for research results, insights, incidents, weaknesses, helpful hints for defence, and more.. Tell us about your research. Keep our reviewers busy! We have some additional information. We added a mailing list system to our infrastructure. The server is run by our event partners, the Crowes. So you can get news by raven, not only figuratively. The mailing lists we created are a tool to keep you informed.

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2905, 2020

Administrivia Update: Regulations, Ticket Shop, and DeepSec

René Pfeiffer/ May 29, 2020/ Administrivia, Conference

Clear guidelines for events and conferences slowly emerge here in Austria. We have some news on how DeepSec, DeepINTEL, and ROOTS will look like in November. We will compile the set of regulations in a separate document and publish it on our web site. The constraints set by the authorities contain no show-stoppers for the event and the trainings. We will carefully work out a concept which we will use in November for everything that is going on on site in Vienna. 😷 We have the full support of our conference hotel, and we are confident that we can increase health protection and decrease risks for everyone attending. In addition we found some bug in the ticket shop system. The tickets for DeepINTEL, DeepSec conference / training, and ROOTS can be bought via the

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1305, 2020

Administrivia for DeepSec, DeepINTEL, and trainings

René Pfeiffer/ May 13, 2020/ Administrivia, Conference

We cleared some administrative obstacles in the past weeks. The conference hotel has confirmed that DeepSec and DeepINTEL can happen in November. Of course, we cannot look into the future, but technically everything is in place. We still don’t know how the regulations for events will look like, but we definitely plan to have a traditional conference in November. DeepSec and especially DeepINTEL cannot be moved easily into a virtual venue. We rely on face-to-face communication, having groups of people chat in our lounge areas, and random encounters in the foyer. One way or another we are convinced that this can happen. We will let you know about any changes, but we will carefully proceed. In order to improve the way you can learn new things and practice your security skills we made some

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0205, 2020

Update on DeepSec / DeepINTEL / ROOTS 2020 with regards to Covid-19

René Pfeiffer/ May 2, 2020/ Administrivia, Discussion, High Entropy

Lacking time travel we have no way to know what will happen in November 2020. That’s not news to us. We closely follow the development of the current Covid-19 crisis, and we constantly evaluate our plans for DeepSec, DeepINTEL, and ROOTS 2020. Given the current state of affairs and the experiments in various countries (including Austria) with lowering the restrictions for business and public life, we believe that our conferences can take place in November. There may be restrictions still present in November with regard to travel and protection measures at our venue. We have developed a schedule for keeping you informed. Additionally we have plans for changing the schedule in order to guarantee the minimum level of content required by our call for papers process. Updates regarding the state of our events in

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1603, 2020

Status Update with regard to the current Sars-Cov-2 / Covid-19 Emergency

René Pfeiffer/ March 16, 2020/ Administrivia

We wrote in an earlier blog article about the current Sars-Cov-2 / Covid-19 emergency. Mathematics and biology didn’t stop, so you (hopefully) live in an area with restrictions regarding crowds and place where people can’t keep a safe distance. We, the organisation team of DeepSec, are in close contact with peers, members of the community, and reliable sources of information regarding countermeasures by the Austrian government. Given the current state of affairs the November dates of our events are still in the far future. This means that nothing has changed for our plans. Our calls for papers are still open. The only change will be no marketing messages and advertising for DeepSec and DeepINTEL. We don’t think that a crisis should be used for one’s own advantage. Please stick to facts and verified sources

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0303, 2020

When? Where? What? Introducing https://deepsec.events/

René Pfeiffer/ March 3, 2020/ Administrivia, Conference, DeepIntel

Reading the calendar gets difficult given the many places people – including us – post dates. Furthermore, we have a habit of not detecting typos and not putting our dates in proper variables and rendering them out to the web consistently. So we create a little jump page called DeepSec Events. On this web site you will find all the most important facts about everything DeepSec. Our graphic designer went a bit overboard, but we hope the design is pleasing to your eyes.

2802, 2020

Complexity of Dependencies in Multidimensional Systems – Corona Virus

René Pfeiffer/ February 28, 2020/ Administrivia, Conference, High Entropy

This blog is often silent. Our policy is to publish if there is real information to send out. DeepSec is all about facts. We don’t do speculation. Sometimes it is hard to idly watch „news“ being published, revised, withdrawn, altered, commented, and even deleted. We, to the best of our abilities, try not to publish something which doesn’t hold. But we read and watch a lot or articles, opinion, and other sources. For the rare cases where we need to publish our opinion we have created the High Entropy category in this blog. This category is all about the things we like to discuss. This time it’s about biology, containment, and IT security defence. Let’s have a look at the current coronavirus. We are in touch with various partners in different countries. You may

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2602, 2020

Continuous Integration Ticket Shop for Conference Tickets is now open – book often, book early!

René Pfeiffer/ February 26, 2020/ Administrivia, Conference, DeepIntel

Running an event is a highly dynamic operation. This is especially true for (information security) conferences, even more so for trainings. We have seen our share of sad faces when the training of your choice didn’t happen, because people booked the ticket too late. In order to avoid great disappointments, the ticket shops for DeepSec and DeepINTEL are now open. Spread the word! And put some SDL into your tickets – book early, book often!

1402, 2020

BSidesLondon – Mentors wanted!

René Pfeiffer/ February 14, 2020/ Administrivia, Conference

You may have heard of the BSides London Rookie Track. It’s the track with the 15 minutes presentation slots where people who have never presented at a security conference before can give it a try. Take me word for it, preparing these 15 minutes is hard work. Even if you had your share of presentations you still have to put some thought into the structure, the material, and the way you want to make your point(s). It’s easier for veterans. It’s hell for rookies. Even with a moderately cleaned pile of information the first drafts of your presentation take ages. In addition you probably make all the mistakes we all made before. This is where the mentors come in. Mentors are experts in their field and have presented before. And mentors we want! Why

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1102, 2020

DeepSec 2020 Scholar Program – Call for Applications

René Pfeiffer/ February 11, 2020/ Administrivia, Call for Papers, Conference

DeepSec 2020 wants to support your project. We have teamed up with partners to foster research in information security. We already support the BSidesLondon Rookie Track, support the Reversing and Offensive-oriented Trends Symposium (ROOTS), publish the DeepSec Chronicles, and support individuals in their research. Now we want to go one step further. Purpose: To encourage research by young professionals and academics on new and emerging cyber security issues, information security, new ways to use technology, defence, offence, and weaknesses in hardware/software/designs. Suggested Topics: Vulnerabilities in mobile devices, vulnerabilities in the Internet of Things (IoT), advances in polymorphic code, software attacks on hardware wallets, side channel attacks, hacking industrial control systems and smart cities, quantum and post quantum computing, penetration testing – defining what it means and standardization, and related topics. Let your creativity run

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0502, 2020

DeepSec Support for BSidesLondon Rookie Track 2020

René Pfeiffer/ February 5, 2020/ Administrivia, Conference

We will support the BSidesLondon 2020 Rookie Track again. Talents need our support, and information security research knows no borders and no perimeter (ask the pentesters!). So we would like to keep up the tradition of lending a hand, hopefully beyond 2020. The best rookies will get the chance to attend DeepSec and to hold a presentation there. If you want to be one of the rookies, then head to the Rookie Track CFP 2020. Submit your idea! Present your project! In case you have a lot of experience and want to share this treasure with others, consider becoming a mentor for the rookies. The BSidesLondon Mentor Application 2020 is open. Presenting must be practised. However practice without proper training is quite difficult. This is where the mentors come in. To quote from the

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