SAS 2012

Podcast and Downloads

chris_soghoian-_part2.mp3

Editor's Note: This is the second of a two-part podcast with independent security researcher Chris Soghoian. Chris Soghoian

In the first part of our podcast with independent security researcher Chris Soghoian, we talked about the way that the proliferation of "free" applications have forced consumers into the position of increasingly trading privacy for access to cool new Web sites and tools. The market, Soghoian argued, has failed to provide choice to consumers who may want to participate in social networks, but don't want their online activities passed along to advertisers.  

In the second half of his interview with Threatpost Editor Paul Roberts, Chris switched focus from consumer protections from advertisers, to the fast-growing market for surveillance products.

Podcast and Downloads

chris_soghoian-_part1.mp3

Soghoian: Consumers Can't Choose PrivacyEditor's Note: This is the first of a two-part podcast with security researcher Chris Soghoian.

It's a truism that the pace of technological change outstrips society's ability to grasp the impact of that change. For the most part, the consequences of this are benign and the remedies straight-forward --think: "mobile phones ringing in the movie theater." Not infrequently, however, our failure to grasp the true significance of technological innovation can have tragic consequences. There's the Gatling gun during the American Civil War, or the rapid increase in traffic fatalities that came with the adoption of the automobile.

Chris Soghoian, an independent security and privacy researcher, thinks that we're again in a period of extreme, technology-fueled dislocation. The rapid growth of online social networking Web sites and the proliferation of Internet connected, location-aware mobile devices have empowered for-profit firms like Google, Microsoft and Facebook to collect reams of private information and then hand it to advertisers - often just different divisions within the same company. Consumers, Soghoian argues, are stuck with a cornucopia of free applications, but ones that readily collect and then "spew" their personal information, or provide meager privacy features that are spotty and difficult to use.

VIEW SLIDESHOW Scenes from SAS 2012

At Kaspersky Lab’s Security Analyst Summit last week, over 100 researchers and law enforcement officials converged in Cancun, Mexico over the course of five days to network and discuss a veritable cornucopia of security topics. Topics such as privacy, SCADA and PLC security, tracking cybercriminals and the evolution of malware were discussed in depth.

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Threatpost editor Paul Roberts talks with Adobe's Senior Director of Product Security and Privacy, Brad Arkin on patch management, driving up the cost of exploits and the amount of manpower that goes into recovering from zero days. Read more »

Threatpost editor Dennis Fisher and Kaspersky Lab's Costin Raiu discuss the timing of the Duqu attacks, how that may hint at the identities of its creator and what other mysteries about the worm remain. Read more »

CANCUN, MEXICO - A prominent privacy activist says that leading software vendors, and the U.S. government are failing the public when it comes to Internet privacy, and that big changes are needed to prevent consumers from criminals, advertisers and government spies. Read more »

CANCUN--For people who follow the developments in the security and research communities, it's easy to get discouraged by the current state of affairs, given the rash of serious hacks on certificate authorities, military networks and companies such as RSA and VeriSign. But, if you think things are bad there, you may not want to look at what's happening in the ICS and SCADA communities. It's getting ugly early. Read more »

CANCUN, MEXICO -- A panel of top law enforcement officers in charge of cyber criminal investigations reveals that the guys with the white hats face an uphill climb if they want to take down cyber criminal kingpins, with outdated laws and processes on the one hand, and an increasingly skeptical and privacy-conscious public on the other. Read more »

CANCUN--Facebook is a lot of things, and one of the things that it's become of late is a fertile green field for attackers and scammers of all stripes. The Koobface worm is perhaps the most famous threat to hit the network, but the more mundane ones, such as scammers generating fake profiles automatically to spread spam and malicious URLs are becoming more and more prevalent, researchers say. Read more »

CANCUN--The skill of attackers, combined with the difficulty and cost of finding and fixing vulnerabilities in software--especially after deployment--has reached the point that it's now more effective and efficient for vendors to concentrate on making life more difficult for those attackers looking to exploit bugs.  Read more »