USENIX Follow-Up

Given that USENIX finished today, I figured I'd say a few words beyond those already uttered this week. I found two of the "ask-the-experts" sessions to be very informative. Steve Bellovin of AT&T Research Labs and Bill Cheswick of Lumeta gave great talks. Yes, I gave the second edition of their book a three star review. Regardless, their USENIX talks were very helpful. After explaining how Lumeta's IPSonar works, Ches told us of a project called RocketFuel which is mapping the Internet, as Lumeta's most current maps aren't shared anymore due to post-9/11 security concerns. I found Cheswick's patent on "Method and apparatus for tracing packets in a communications network".


Mark Seiden gave a great talk on physical security. He believes digital security is superior to physical security, as physical security is dominated by people who believe obscurity is a legitimate way to achieve security. As a result, only criminals and locksmiths know which systems work, and the public is left vulnerable. Several years a group called Anti Security tried promoting a "closed source" movement. Their web site was down today but you can see an archive. (Incidentally, Matt Blaze's research created a firestorm in the physical security community.) Five years ago, Mark discovered a vulnerability in security systems used in airports, which "could enable terrorists to gain control of the electronic
badges that allow employees with security clearance to enter and
leave restricted areas."

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Zeek in Action Videos

New Book! The Best of TaoSecurity Blog, Volume 4

MITRE ATT&CK Tactics Are Not Tactics