Presented at
DEF CON 31 (2023),
Aug. 11, 2023, 10 a.m.
(115 minutes).
Unguard is an intentionally insecure, cloud-native microservices demo application that serves as a playground for cybersecurity enthusiasts to sharpen their skills and for cybersecurity companies to test their software. Designed to mimic a web-based Twitter clone, the platform offers user registration, login, content posting, and social interactions, all with a wide variety of exploitable vulnerabilities. Featuring a wide range of security flaws, including SSRF, Command/SQL Injection, Log4Shell, and Spring4Shell, Unguard challenges security professionals, developers, and students to identify, exploit, and understand these weaknesses. Simultaneously, the platform showcases deceptive elements, such as phony ads and profile management options, which further enhance the real-world experience offered by the demo.
Presenters:
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Simon Ammer
Simon's interest in cybersecurity was sparked after listening to the Darknet Diaries podcast, which led him to pursue a career in this fascinating field. He studied Software Engineering and Mobile Computing in Austria, focusing on enhancing web vulnerability scanner reports for his Master's thesis. Driven by his passion for cybersecurity, Simon decided to further expand his knowledge by enrolling in another Master's program specializing in Artificial Intelligence. Currently, he holds the position of Research Software Engineer in the cloud-native security team at Dynatrace. There, he leverages his knowledge to employ AI to improve security measures and safeguard digital infrastructures.
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Christoph Wedenig
Christoph always loved to interact with software systems, even more so in unintended ways. He studied Applied Computer Science in the south of Austria, focusing on the detection of server-side request forgery in his Master’s thesis. As a demo environment for this thesis, he created a small distributed application called “Vogelgrippe” which was then later extended for various other use cases until being renamed to Unguard and finally gifted to the community as an Open-Source playground. Currently, he is working in the Application security team at Dynatrace, where he helps build a wide suite of security-related software.