Incite 10/13/2010: the Rise of the Cons
No we aren’t going to talk about jailbreaks or other penal system trials and tribulations. This one is about how the conference circuit is evolving in a really positive way. Most folks attend the big security shows – you know, RSA and BlackHat and maybe some others. Most folks also hate these shows. I hear a lot of complaints about weak content and vendor whoring putting a damper on the experience. Of course, since myself and my ilk tend to speak at most of these shows, we can only point the finger at ourselves. Personally, unless I’m speaking I tend to skip all but the biggest shows, which I attend for networking purposes. But that’s just me. But nature hates a vacuum, and the vacuum of user-oriented conferences is being filled by the BSides movement and a number of regional hacker cons. If the conference you are attending doesn’t do it for you, get some smart folks together (who are there anyway) and put on an unconference of your own. That’s the general concept for BSides. I attended BSides ATL last week, and it was a really great experience. First shout outs need to be sent to the driving forces bringing BSides to ATL, and they were Eric Smith (@infosecmafia), Nick Owen (@wikidsystems), Marisa Fagan (@dewzi) and MC Petermann (@petermannmc). I know there were tons of other folks who put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into making BSides ATL happen, and no offense to anyone I didn’t mention. I can’t thank them all enough. Why is this working? Because it’s about community. I’ve been in Atlanta for over 6 years now, and there isn’t really a cohesive security community. The ISSA meetings are a joke, unless you like vendors to hump your leg for 2 hours every month. We tried to get a CitySec group meeting going (and all three of us who attended enjoyed the beer that I bought), but that fizzled. A new Cloud Security Alliance chapter is forming in the ATL and we are seeing a lot of activity for the NAISG in town as well. Yes, there are other organizations, but it’s generally a small group of folks getting together in an ad hoc fashion. But what’s been missing has been a more technically oriented conference, where smart folks from the Southeast can get together and share what we are seeing. That happened in spades at BSides ATL. Whether talking Google and Bing hacking with Rob Ragan, exfiltration with Dave Shackleford and Rick Hayes, pen testing with Eric Smith and Dave Kennedy, or having Chris Nickerson show how to bring entire companies down (think attacking robots!) – it was just a flood of information. Good information. And those were just the sessions I attended. There were a bunch of others I had to miss. The conference organizers even let me play and talk about what I think will happen in 2011. The short answer is I have no idea. But you already knew that. Yet I did get to use a picture of a guinea pig BBQ, which has to set some low bar for depravity. I’m probably going to get in trouble by talking up BSides because we Securosis folks do a lot of work with the RSA Conference. Next year, we’ll be leading the E10 (CISO-focused) event on Monday at RSA, and Rich is in London and will be in China this month speaking at RSA’s global events. But the writing is on the wall. Content is king, and right now there is a lot of great content being driven through the regional BSides conferences and the other hacker cons. While I’m talking conferences, I also should mention what seemed to be a rousing success for Hoff and friends at the inaugural HacKid conference in Boston last weekend. It’s such a great concept, to teach kids about security, self-defense and other important topics. I can’t wait to get this going in ATL. And with that, just remember – if you don’t take care of your customers someone else will. Mr. Market told me. – Mike. Photo credits: “Pug Shot” originally uploaded by Jerry Reynolds Recent Securosis Posts IT Debt: Real or FUD? FireStarter: Consumer Internet Penalty Box Friday Summary: October 8, 2010 Monitoring up the Stack: User Activity Monitoring Identity Monitoring I should also highlight an article on Application Monitoring in Dark Reading that highlights the Monitoring up the Stack research Adrian and Gunnar are working on right now. I know lots of folks have a hard enough time monitoring their network and security devices, but the application is where the action is, so ignore it at your own peril. Incite 4 U Time for the heavy artillery. What heavy artillery? – Greg Shipley makes the point we’ve all come to grips with. We are outgunned. The bad guys have better tools and more motivation, and all we can do is watch it happen and clean up the mess afterwards. This statement kind of says it all: “Recent events suggest that we are at a tipping point, and the need to reassess and adapt has never been greater. That starts with facing some hard truths and a willingness to change the status quo.” Right. So all is not lost, but we need to start thinking differently. But what does that mean? According to Shipley, it’s focusing on the database and maybe things like application white listing. Best of all is the idea to “stop rewarding ineffectiveness and start rewarding innovation.” Bravo. But how do you do that when the checkbox says you need AV? So basically we are in a quandary, but you already knew that. What to do? Basically what we’ve been saying for years. React Faster (and Better), focus on the fundamentals, and if you are targeted, just understand you can’t stop them. And manage expectations accordingly. He closes the article with “If we remain bound to our relentless commitment to mediocrity, we will be worse off moving ahead. We can and must do better. It’s time to change our way of thinking.” Right. – MR Instructive memory – Ever had
