2009, 2017

Workshops, Trainings, Talks: DeepSec and ROOTS Schedule Update

René Pfeiffer/ September 20, 2017/ Administrivia, Conference

As you might have noticed, the DeepSec schedule is not complete yet. Furthermore the ROOTS schedule is not published at all. The reason for this are the still pending reviews. The major part concerns ROOTS. ROOTS is an academic workshop where academic publications are presented. There has been some confusion about the term workshop. In the context of ROOTS this means presentations. This is why we have replaced the word workshops on the DeepSec web site and in (hopefully) all texts with the word training. Trainings are the two-day, well, trainings in advance of the DeepSec conference days. ROOTS features presentations, also called workshops in ROOTS-context, as does the DeepSec conference (on the conference days). So we have trainings (the two-day training courses; one, the ARM exploit laboratory is for three days, be careful)

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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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3108, 2017

DeepINTEL Conference approaches the next generation of IT Security

Sanna/ August 31, 2017/ Conference, Discussion, Security Intelligence

Strategic Information Security: Predicting the Present DeepINTEL Conference presents Approaches to the Next Generation of Security Many products and approaches of information security are trying hard to predict the future. There is always a lot of talk about threats of the future, detection of attacks before they arise or the magic word “pro-active”.  But the prediction of the future does not benefit your business if the present is still unknown. When it comes to information security this means: Do you now know enough about your current situation to make the right decisions within the next few hours? The DeepINTEL seminar conference, which takes place on 21st/22nd of September in Vienna, focuses on this strategic question. Analogies distort Perception and Facts Analogies are often used to illustrate connections. Especially in the areas of IT security,

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2908, 2017

DeepSec 2017 Training: The ARM IoT Exploit Laboratory

René Pfeiffer/ August 29, 2017/ Conference, Security, Training

If the Internet of Things (IoT) will ever leave puberty, it has to deal with the real world. This means dealing with lies, fraud, abuse, exploits, overload, bad tempered clients (and servers), and much more. Analysing applications is best done by looking at what’s behind the scenes. IoT devices, their infrastructure, billions of mobile devices, and servers are powered by processors using the Advanced RISC Machine (ARM) architecture. This design is different from the (still?) widespread Intel® x86 or the AMD™ AMD64 architecture. For security researchers dealing with exploits the change of design means that the assembly language and the behaviour of the processor is different. Developing ways to inject and modify code requires knowledge. Now for everyone who has dealt with opcodes, registers and oddities of CPUs, this is nothing new. Grab the

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2608, 2017

DeepSec 2017 Talk: Malware Analysis: A Machine Learning Approach – Chiheb Chebbi

Sanna/ August 26, 2017/ Conference, Security

Software has a character. It can be beneficial. It can also be malicious. A networked business world and the Internet of connected individuals make life for malicious software, also known as malware, easier. Just like international travel facilitates the spread of diseases and parasites, the networked globe is a big advantage for malware. Researcher can hardly keep up with the numbers of detected viruses, worms, and trojan horses. So why not let machines look for malware on their own? Certainly automation already benefits the hunt for malicious code. Chiheb Chebbi has some ideas that can help. Threats are a growing problem for people and organizations across the globe. With millions of malicious programs in the wild it has become hard to detect zero-day attacks and polymorphic viruses.This is why the need for machine learning-based

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2408, 2017

DeepSec 2017 Keynote: Social Science First! – Dr. Jessica Barker

Sanna/ August 24, 2017/ Conference, High Entropy, Security

While the schedule is still preliminary, we have already some confirmations from our speakers. We are happy to announce Dr Jessica Barker as the keynote speaker for DeepSec 2017. Information security has a lot to do with interactions. Despite AI (a.k.a. Assisted Intelligence), „smart“ assistants (a.k.a. paper clips on steroids), and a metric ton of gadgets we still have a lot of contact with human beings. Marketing departments and tech people lost in code often forget this. Jessica will give you something to think about which you can’t discuss with Siri, Alexa, the Google AI, or even HAL 9000. Bruce Schneier popularised the concept in 1999: cyber security is about people, process and technology. Yet almost two decades later, the industry still focuses so much more on technology than the other two dimensions of

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2208, 2017

Administrivia: How to access ROOTS and DeepSec 2017

René Pfeiffer/ August 22, 2017/ Administrivia, Conference

We have received some question on how to attend the presentations of the 1st Reversing and Offensive-oriented Trends Symposium (ROOTS) 2017. It’s very easy. ROOTS is co-hosted with DeepSec 2017. This means if you attend DeepSec, you also attend ROOTS. In turn attending ROOTS gives you also access to the DeepSec conference. So you only need one ticket to access both events. Bear in mind that our sponsors can give you discount codes for buying tickets. In addition we have a special programme for academics to give you the academic discount for the tickets. Don’t forget: Buying early means saving money! The early bird tariff is still valid until 25 September 2017. After that the ticket price increases. Do us and yourself a favour and book as early as possible. Thank you! See you

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1808, 2017

Mythbusting: Anti-Virus Research considered dangerous

Sanna/ August 18, 2017/ High Entropy, Internet, Security Intelligence, Stories

Everyone doing research in information security or doing any work in this field takes some risks. Since most of the „cyber stuff“ is black magic to others not working in this context, there are a lot of problems and severe misunderstandings. The Crypto Wars still haven’t been decided in favour of mathematics. Real people prefer end-to-end encryption over insecure communication all of the time. Proposals of severely damaging information security for all of us by using sanctioned malicious software are still being debated in parliaments. Backdoors, covert or otherwise, are no line of any defence, as many military strategists will readily tell you. Marcus Hutchins was in the news recently, because of claims that he developed a strand of malware tied to attacks on financial institutions. While you can debate all you want about

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1708, 2017

DeepSec 2017 Preliminary Schedule published

René Pfeiffer/ August 17, 2017/ Administrivia, Conference, Training

After two weeks of intense reviewing we have published the preliminary schedule for DeepSec 2017. There are some blanks to fill, but this will be done in the coming weeks. We still have to do some reviews and wait for the speaker’s confirmation. In case you noticed, the ROOTS track is not filled yet. The call for papers was extended to 26 August. This means the ROOTS schedule will be published at the end of September. We have to give the programme committee ample time to review all submissions. So if you want to present your research at ROOTS 2017, please ready your submission. Science first!

0308, 2017

Decline of the Scientific Method: New (Austrian) “Trojan” Law without Technical Expertise

Sanna/ August 3, 2017/ Discussion, High Entropy, Security

The Crypto Wars are still raging despite everyone relying on secure communication. Everyone means everyone. The good thing is that mathematics still works, even though some people wouldn’t want it to. The latest cryptographic review comes from Amber Rudd, the current UK Home Secretary. She said recently: “Real people often prefer ease of use and a multitude of features to perfect, unbreakable security.” The corollary in turn states that DeepSec conferences aren’t attended by real people. Since we are not yet a purely robot-based event, there is something wrong with this approach to secure communication. The common denominator is simply the lack of technical expertise. There is no surprise there. Ever since the Internet was discovered by the rest of the world (which was in the 1990s, don’t get fooled by web sites who

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0308, 2017

DeepSec 2017 Schedule, ROOTS, and Closing of Call for Papers

René Pfeiffer/ August 3, 2017/ Administrivia, Conference

Thanks a lot for your submissions! We are currently in the final phase of the review. Expect the first draft of the schedule for the end of the week. Important: Don’t forget that the Call for Papers for the 1st Reversing and Offensive-oriented Trends Symposium 2017 (ROOTS) is still open and was extended to 15 August 2017! Please submit and help us to put more science into infosec! Given the headlines in the IT (security) news we need all the facts we can get.

3107, 2017

Last Call – DeepSec 2017 “Science First!” – Call for Papers

René Pfeiffer/ July 31, 2017/ Administrivia, Call for Papers

Today our Call for Papers for DeepSec 2017 (motto Science first!) officially ends. We are still up to our necks in submissions, but if you have content and want to join, then make sure you submit now! All in-time submissions will be preferred over the ones that missed the d(r)eadline! The call for papers for the 1st Reversing and Offensive-oriented Trends Symposium 2017 (ROOTS) still runs until 5 August 2017. Make sure you don’t miss this deadline in case you want to beef up the science content of infosec! Our reviewers love to hear from you!

2707, 2017

Unicorns in the Wild – Information Security Skills and how to achieve them

René Pfeiffer/ July 27, 2017/ Discussion, High Entropy, Security

Everyone talks about information security, countering „cyber“ threats, endless feats of hackers gone wrong/wild, and more epic stories. Once you have realised that you are reading the news and not a script for a TV series, you are left with one question: What are information security skills? The next question will probably be: How do you train to be „information secure“? Let’s take a look at possible answers. First of all, yes, you can study information security or security-related topics. Universities, schools, and companies offer lectures, training, exercises, etc. Great. However it may not help you right away. We talked with top quality head hunters from a nameless big corporation. When they look for infosec specialists, they filter for anyone having worked in three different fields related to computer science (applied or otherwise) for

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2707, 2017

DeepINTEL Schedule updated – Psychology and Power Grids

René Pfeiffer/ July 27, 2017/ Administrivia, Conference

We have updated the schedule for DeepINTEL 2017. The human mind and power grids are both critical infrastructure. Both can be manipulated and switched off, arguably. And most of us use both every day. So this is why we added two more presentations to the schedule. Stefan Schumacher of the Magdeburg Institute for Security Research talks about Manipulating Human Memory for Fun and Profit. Since memory is crucial for forensics, you should spent some thoughts on this matter. Your brain doesn’t cope well with cryptographically signed timestamps or hashes. Since you need to understand all aspects of the environment, the human psychology is part of every „cyber“ strategy – before and after incidents. Mathias Dalheimer’s presentation is titled The Power Grid is vulnerable – and it’s really hard to fix this. Anyone familiar with physics

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1907, 2017

Malicious Software explores new Business Models – Politics

René Pfeiffer/ July 19, 2017/ Discussion, Internet, Security

Malicious software has become a major component of criminal business and geopolitics. In addition it is a convenient explanation for anything one does not want to investigate. Since code always come from somewhere you have to ask yourself many more questions when it comes to infected networks and compromised hosts. What is the agenda of the day? Journalist Erich Moechel has written an article about the arms race regarding malicious software. We have translated the original text from German to English. Expect the state of cyber in your network to rise in the course of the next years. Arms race with Malicious Software enters a dangerous Phase The enormous damage done by “Petya” and “WannaCry” can be traced back to a single, reworked tool from the leaked NSA pool of the “Shadow Brokers”. Experts

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