Hacking the World: The struggle for security for all.

Presented at 33C3 (2016), Dec. 28, 2016, 1 p.m. (30 minutes)

In this lecture I wish to reflect on the maturation of the security and hacking communities and their role in larger societal and political participation. We'll reflect on the predominant role that technology has been growing into our lives, and the responsibilities we have in nurturing it. After having spent the last years in researching, exposing, and preventing the electronic targeting of dissidents and journalists, I hope to synthesize my experience and suggest how to reconsider our tactics, the successes, and the failures, and hopefully draw some inspiration for a brighter future. Computer systems were destined for a global cultural and economic revolution that the hacker community anticipated. We saw the potential, we saw it coming. And while we enjoyed the little time of reckless banditism, playing cowboys of the early interconnected age, we also soon welcomed the public realization that we were right all along, that information technology was going to change everything, and that information security was critical. Now, the Internet governs our lives. Success always comes with strings attached. The Internet morphed with us. Once an unexplored space we were wandering in solitude, now it has become a marketplace for goods, *the* vehicle for communication, as well as an instrument for control, and a field for battle. We learned the many ways it was abused and broken. We learned the stories of those who were victims of the shortcomings of computer and network systems, and we realized how often and brutally they were turned into means of persecution against those who struggle for free speech and democracy around the world. In this lecture I wish to reflect on the maturation of the security and hacking communities and their role in larger societal and political participation. We'll reflect on the predominant role that technology has been growing into our lives, and the responsibilities we have in nurturing it. After having spent the last years in researching, exposing, and preventing the electronic targeting of dissidents and journalists, I hope to synthesize my experience and suggest how to reconsider our tactics, the successes, and the failures, and hopefully draw some inspiration for a brighter future.

Presenters:

  • Claudio Guarnieri / nex as Claudio "nex" Guarnieri
    I'm a hacker, security researcher and civil rights advocate. I research and write on government surveillance and threats to journalists and dissidents worldwide and support human rights organisations with operational security and emergency response. I'm a security researcher mostly specialized in the analysis of malware, botnets and computer attacks in general. I work as a Technologist and Researcher at Amnesty International, and I'm a Senior Research Fellow at the Citizen Lab, University of Toronto, and a core member of The Honeynet Project. I created the open source malware analysis software Cuckoo Sandbox and Viper and I run the Malwr free service. I published abundant research on botnets and targeted attacks and presented at conferences such as Hack In The Box, BlackHat, Chaos Communication Congress and many more. In recent years I devoted my attention especially to issues of privacy and surveillance and I published numerous articles on surveillance vendors such as FinFisher and HackingTeam with the Citizen Lab as well as on NSA/GCHQ and Five Eyes surveillance capabilities with The Intercept and Der Spiegel. I also contribute to Global Voices Advocacy. I've been selected among the 50 persons of the year 2014 by Wired Italy, I received with the Citizen Lab the EFF Pioneer Award 2015, and I've been selected by Forbes among the 30 Under 30 honorees for 2016. I continuously research and write on government surveillance and threats to journalists and dissidents worldwide and support human rights organisations with operational security and emergency response.

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