Of Bytes and Bullets

Presented at DEF CON 18 (2010), July 30, 2010, 4 p.m. (50 minutes)

This authors' panel has all the makings of a page-turning bestseller: crime lords, heroes, spies, global cartels, corporate scandals, hi-tech gizmos, betrayal, revolution, political intrigue, and midnight assassination attempts. As with all good books, it's the characters - the researchers, the criminals, and the victims - and their unique stories that will keep you riveted to your seat.


Presenters:

  • Robert Vamosi - Author, When Gadgets Betray Us: What We Don't Understand about the Everyday Gadgets We Use and How That Puts Us at Risk
    Robert Vamosi has been writing about the security community, most recently for Forbes.com, PCWorld, Threatpost and Windows Secrets. While at CNET/CBSNews.com, he wrote an award-winning weekly security column, hosted a popular security podcast, and edited a weekly security newsletter. Robert is currently an analyst at Javelin Strategy & Research specializing in security, risk and fraud for the financial services industry. His first book on security of everyday gadgets is due out from Basic Books next year.
  • Joseph Menn - Author, Fatal System Error: The Hunt for the New Crime Lords Who are Bringing Down the Internet
    Joseph Menn covers cyber-security and other technology issues for the Financial Times, after a decade on the same beat for the Los Angeles Times. He is the author of 2003's All the Rave: The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning's Napster and a two-time finalist for the Gerald Loeb Award, the top prize in business reporting.
  • Robert Knake
    Robert K. Knakeis an international affairs fellow in residence at the Council on Foreign Relations studying cyber war. He is currently working on a Council Special Report on internet governance and security. Prior to his fellowship, he was a principal at Good Harbor Consulting, a security strategy consulting firm with offices in Washington, DC; Boston, MA; and Abu Dhabi, UAE, where he served domestic and foreign clients on cybersecurity and homeland security projects. During the 2008 presidential campaign, Rob coordinated the Counter-Terrorism Task Force for the Obama campaign and served on the Homeland Security Task Force. Following the election of President Obama, he served on the presidential transition team at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and authored the agency review team's final report. Rob joined Good Harbor after earning his MA from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. He has written extensively on cybersecurity, counterterrorism and homeland security issues. In 2006, he directed, with Steven Simon, the Century Foundation Task Force report "The Forgotten Homeland." He is co-author (with Richard Clarke) of Cyber War: The Next Threat to National Security and What To Do About It (HarperCollins, April 2010). Joseph Menn covers cyber-security and other technology issues for the Financial Times, after a decade on the same beat for the Los Angeles Times. He is the author of 2003's All the Rave: The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning's Napster and a two-time finalist for the Gerald Loeb Award, the top prize in business reporting.
  • Jeffrey Carr - Author, Inside Cyber Warfare: Mapping the Cyber Underworld
    Jeffrey Carr, (Principal, GreyLogic) is a cyber intelligence expert, columnist for Forbes Firewall blog, and cyber warfare author who specializes in the investigation of cyber attacks against governments and infrastructures by State and Non-State hackers. Mr. Carr regularly consults with agencies of the U.S. and allied governments on Russian and Chinese cyber warfare strategy and tactics as well as new and emerging threats to Critical Infrastructure. His book "Inside Cyber Warfare" has been endorsed by General Chilton, Commander USSTRATCOM and his Chief of Staff MG Abraham Turner, among others, and he has been asked to speak on these issues at numerous venues including the Defense Intelligence Agency, US Army War College, Air Force Institute of Technology, NATO's CCDCOE Conference on Cyber Conflict, and DEFCON.
  • Panel

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