1905, 2023

DeepSec Twitter Account is scheduled for Deletion

René Pfeiffer/ May 19, 2023/ Administrivia, Conference

A passive stance to IT security doesn’t always work. The same is true for “social” media. The DeepSec Twitter account is scheduled for deletion. We have saved all tweets and will publish them as an archive. Meanwhile you can follow updates from DeepSec and DeepINTEL on Mastodon, our blog, or our LinkedIn company site. No, we won’t join BlueSky until it is out of its pre-gamma prototype phase. So, please join us or subscribe to our mailing list(s).

0510, 2022

DeepSec Talk 2022: Anticipating Damage Control: Communicating About Cybersecurity Within And Outside Organizations – Prof. Matthieu J. Guitton

Sanna/ October 5, 2022/ Conference

Although cybersecurity aims at protecting individuals and organizations from the threats emerging from the massive use of and dependency upon digitalized spaces, the efforts of cybersecurity experts unfortunately do not always succeed in doing so. Therefore, integrated cybersecurity strategies of large organizations should minimally include a plan for damage control. Damage control strategies are typically handled by public relations experts and tend to follow a classical narrative, combining a mix of both apologizing and reassuring discourses. However, in an age of communication technologies, efficient narrative strategies have to be multi-layered. Indeed, while damage control is typically conceptualized as taking place after the occurrence of a damage causing event, it should also include an anticipatory component, both dealing with communication planning and pre-event communication. Furthermore, a damage control narrative can not exclusively focus on a

Read More

1103, 2020

War Dialing Video Conference Systems

René Pfeiffer/ March 11, 2020/ Security

Do you remember the Golden Age of Wardialing? The idea back then was to try calling phone numbers and to see if a computer systems answers. This methods still works, because you can wardial any system with a suitable addressing scheme. VoIP wardialing is a lot easier since you do not need a modem. You just need to send signalling messages. Video conferencing systems are no exception. They have to do signalling, too. Furthermore, participants of a meeting need to join and leave. For joining there must be a process that authenticates participants. Usually you get a conference identification number and maybe a PIN code. Other systems require an account, so that you have to log in first. Finding conference rooms gets real easy if you just need an URL. The Bavarian Ministry of

Read More

0801, 2019

Translated Article: Campaign of the Spy Alliance “Five Eyes” against WhatsApp and Co

Sanna/ January 8, 2019/ Discussion, High Entropy, Security

Feldzug der Spionageallianz „Five Eyes“ gegen WhatsApp und Co for fm4 by Erich Moechel The current scattered news and reports on “encryption” belong together. The military secret services of the “Five Eyes” conduct a global campaign; in Australia they’ve already reached their first milestone. Every two years, around the same time, a campaign of the espionage alliance “Five Eyes” against encryption programs takes place. Unlike in 2016, the new campaign has reached its first goal in a flash. In early December, a bill was passed in the Australian Parliament obliging Internet companies to break up encrypted communications. The providers of Whatsapp, Snapchat, and Co are hereby required to build surveillance interfaces into their apps to give hidden access to the Australian law enforcement. In a parliamentary coup – without discussion or amendments – the “Assistance

Read More

2911, 2018

Opening & Keynote – DeepSec 2018 has started

René Pfeiffer/ November 29, 2018/ Administrivia, Conference

So, now is the opening and the keynote presentation by the magnificent Peter Zinn. This means that DeepSec 2018 has officially started. Since we do not live stream the talks, we will be away from the blog and mostly from Twitter until the end of the conference. Communication in meatspace has full priority. In case of urgent messages, use the contact information on our web site. We still use telephones, you know. In case you are at DeepSec and wish to comment on content, discussions, or summarise a presentation, please do. Post it on Twitter and mention us (or use a meaningful hashtag), we will retweet and pick up your thoughts later on the blog. Enjoy the conference!

3007, 2016

OpenPGP.conf is calling for Content

René Pfeiffer/ July 30, 2016/ Call for Papers, Conference, Security

If you don’t know what PGP means (or GPG), you should consult your favourite search engine. While it has a bad reputation for its usability, it is a lot more useful than the rumours might suggest (please attend your local CryptoParty chapter for more details). This is why the German Unix Users Group organises an OpenPGP.conf event. It takes place on 8/9 September 2016 in Cologne, Germany. The Call for Papers is still running, so  be quick and submit. The international conference, initiated by Werner Koch, maintainer of the free OpenPGP implementation Gnu Privacy Guard (GnuPG), and organized by the German Unix Users Group Association introduces the subject of confidential and untampered with communication including, but not limited to security aware users, IT managers and architects responsible for security objectives, software developers who plan to

Read More

0906, 2013

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

Read More

1410, 2011

Talk: Design and Implementation of a Secure Encryption-Layer for Skype Voice-Calls

René Pfeiffer/ October 14, 2011/ Conference

You probably use communication tools that transport the voice/messaging data over the Internet. We’re not speaking about e-mail, but about recent software of the information age – Skype. Skype is widely used for audio/video chats around the world. Its security is shrouded in proprietary mystery and many urban legends exist. In 2006 Philippe Biondi and Fabrice Desclaux analysed the Skype network and its security in their talk „Silver Needle in the Skype“. Since end users can neither create their own cryptographic keys nor see the ones that are actually used, the network has always the capability of eavesdropping on calls. It is not clear if this capability is used or abused at all, but the risk is present. As with eavesdropping in mobile phone networks the communication partners will be totally oblivious, and neither

Read More

0409, 2011

Encrypted Communication with DeepSec

René Pfeiffer/ September 4, 2011/ Administrivia

For all of you who do not pay close attention to our contact section on our web site, we offer various way to communicate via encrypted messages. We have published two GPG keys, one for our role account (key 0x22860969)  and one for a person from our organisation team (key 0x6E4037AF). Use PGP/MIME format if possible (ASCII armour is so old school ☺). We have set up an e-mail forwarding service via privacybox.de. You can use a standard web form, a form suited for mobile clients and a form reachable via a TOR hidden service. While we have no idea how privacybox.de handle their own security, it’s a nice service. You can always double- or triple-encrypt if in doubt. When on IRC (channel #deepsec on irc.freenode.net, usually most active prior to and shortly after

Read More