Eve, Mallory, Ocean's 11, and Jack Bauer: Adversaries Real and Imagined

Presented at Kiwicon 8: It's always 1989 in Computer Security (2014), Dec. 11, 2014, 9:15 a.m. (45 minutes).

In a post-Snowden world, it seems everywhere you turn you are faced with nation-state hacking, global network adversaries, hardware interdiction, baseband exploits, firmware backdoors, network injection, cyborg aliens, and a plethora of other threats. Once the realm of the underground, the black market, and intelligence agencies, intrusion and implant capabilities are now sold at trade shows for dictator pocket change. This talk will discuss the nature of targeted and untargeted surveillance, exploitation and intelligence gathering contrasted with the dangers faced by high risk users. We'll examine the commercialization of offensive technologies and the targeting of journalists, human rights workers, and activists. Drawing on original research and first hand case studies, this talk will discuss attacks on real people by real adversaries while attempting to provide a useful framework to enable sane operational security planning.


Presenters:

  • Morgan Marquis-Boire
    Morgan Marquis-Boire is a researcher and raconteur. From the dark underground of Auckland's goth scene, he now acts as the director of security for First Look Media. He still wears mirrorshades after dark. He is also a senior researcher and technical advisor at a couple of places like the EFF that are way more important than Kiwicon. His research on surveillance, censorship, and the targeting of activists and journalists, often documented side by side with his massive physique, has been featured in numerous print and online publications. Although the founder of First Look Media, Glen Greenwald, was described by our head of state as being a henchman, Morgan is gracious enough to bring a certain taut pertness to his henchman's henchman's jumpsuit.

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