Fakes Walk Among Us

Presented at DEF CON 7 (1999), July 11, 1999, 2 p.m. (50 minutes)

The recent explosion of the security industry has found itself littered with newcomers, all 'experts' in the field. Unfortunately, many of these 'experts' are nothing more than self proclaimed windbags that are no more qualified to help you with security than your local 6 year old. How do these charlatans manage to find work? Why are they accepted? More important, how do you distinguish legitimate security professionals from the fakes? These are valid concerns in today's security community. Answers to follow?

Presenters:

• Jericho
  Jericho is a security consultant (read: not an expert) working almost full time these days. His travel has taken him to standard corporate networks, to consulting for wacky spooks that everyone fears. On top of run-of-the-mill consulting, he has participated in network analysis via penetration testing, computer forensics and more. He hates crowds. :)