Tag Archives: security

Cryptoparty at Konrad (Luxembourg) this Thursday

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Having never been to one I am not sure exactly what it is and sadly I can’t go as I am out of the country. However, if you are interested in cryptography and digital privacy why not attend the party this week in Luxembourg. Some info from their email is below:

CryptoParty Lux 3, the third CryptoParty held in the Grand Duchy,will take place on Thursday, April 11th at 18:00 at Konrad Cafe, 7 Rue du Nord, Luxembourg.

“*CryptoParties* are a global movement in the interests of educating and
empowering people to protect their privacy in the digital domain.”

Link to website: Cryptoparty

Normally I go to Konrad for it’s rather nice atmosphere and cheesecake.

Twitt

Computer Insecurity

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I should qualify this post by saying that I am not a computer security researcher or expert but I do work in a research centre which works extensively in this area. Anyway it seems that over the last week or so we have had quite a few interesting stories, some more surprising than others.

The BBC reports that  researchers at Germany’s Erlangen’s Friedrich-Alexander University have managed to retrieve confidential information from an Android phone by placing it in the freezer. With some sense of irony the feature known as data scrambling was introduced in Android 4.O Ice Cream Sandwich. All it apparently took was placing the phone in the freezer for an hour.

According to The Register, Google also suffered a security fault which would in theory allow anyone to bypass the two-step authentication process. Apparently Google was made aware of the bug last year but only fixed it recently.

One of my favourite cloud tools Evernote experienced problems after hackers gained access to all user ID information prompting Evernote to put out a system wide password reset to all customers. In general this flags up (along with the Google problems) the problem of storing sensitive date in the cloud.

The David-Besse nuclear power plant in Ohio. Image: Creative Commons/Wikipedia/NCC

This time closer to home we recently had a distinguished lecture at SnT by Prof. Paulo Veríssimo of The University of Lisbon. As well as being an excellent speaker his talk was as interesting as it was frightening. He basically suggested that the IT security of power grid installations is far worse than the public perhaps believes. Indeed he said we should be prepared for a major disaster due to hackers making their way into power installations. If you think that is not possible don’t forget that “someone” managed to hack into Iranian Nuclear facilities using the Stuxnet worm but that also this worm had infected other installations. Also in 2003 the David-Besse nuclear plant in Ohio suffered a five hour outage of it’s safety systems due to the SQL Slammer Worm. One is rapidly coming round to the idea that wind power may be a better idea than first thought.

 

Twitt

3rd Int. Work. on Socio-Technical Aspects of Security and Trust (STAST2013)

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I’ve recently been getting more interested in HCI aspect of evoting platforms which is quite lucky as I am now working with some people here on such systems. As part of this new interest area I thought I’d also share some info on an up and coming workshop which is being organised by some colleagues of mine.

For more info check out the STAST 2013 Workshop:

http://www.stast2013.uni.lu

Twitt

HaxoGreen 2012 SummerCamp, Luxembourg

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Although I have never been to HaxoGreen it looks pretty interesting this year, if anyone is interested in going along please submit something!

It’s always good to support local events here in Luxembourg.

—————————–
This is a call for proposals for talks and workshops at the
HaxoGreen 2012 SummerCamp, from July 26-29 2012, in
Dudelange, Luxembourg, Europe
Deadline Abstracts: May 15th, 2012

http://www.haxogreen.lu

Please retweet ;)
—————————–

After more than 80 satisfied campers in 2010 [0], the long awaited
third iteration of HaxoGreen, in its 2012 edition is finally here! After
a very successful start into the forays of international hackcamps and
hackerfests, hackerspaces and hackerspace-folks from all over Europe and
beyond will meet for an informal exchange of knowledge on the this third
iteration of our 4-day outdoors summer-camp.

Still cosy at a maximum of 140 people, still at the same perfect setting
that offers commodities for shopping, outdoors for camping and areas
filled to the brink with adventure and history [1,2] at the same
time. The camp will take place from Thursday, July 26th till Sunday,
July 29th and be bristling with geeks and their innovative ideas.

Talks, workshops, live music in the evenings, geocaching, fresh food and
most of all very interesting people make this an event that is not to be
missed.

Whether you’re hacking on your project, looking for new and exciting
ideas or just craving to share 3 midsummer nights outdoors, socialising
with other hackers, artists and geeks, HaxoGreen is the place to be.
No need to be a 1337 H4X0r, we welcome all inquisitive people from
around the globe.

The camp is organized by syn2cat a.s.b.l. [3], the association that
brought you the Luxembourgian hackerspace. We appreciate your
participation, be it by holding a lecture, tutoring a workshop or
presenting your projects and ideas during a 10 min lightning talk.

LOCATION
The camp is located at the scouts’ grounds near the city of Dudelange in
the southern region of Luxembourg.
The camping ground features adequate restrooms and shower facilities.
Indoor rooms for lectures and workshops are also available.
The nearby town of Dudelange, near the borders to France and Germany,
offers access to shops and markets for all of your grocery needs.

SUGGESTED PRESENTATION AND WORKSHOP TOPICS
Participate with your lectures, panel discussions, workshops, or
lightning talks. (Though you can give a lightning talk without
submitting its topic.) Your lectures and workshops don’t have to be
centered on or limited to technology. Lectures with a background in
society, community, science and art are welcome as well.
Here are some examples of the inter-disciplinary fields that our
audience would be interested in, but feel free to suggest your own:

* Green IT and Green Hacks
* Virtualized Environments
* Mobile applications and malware
* Radio and Mobile Communications (GNURadio, etc.)
* QrCodes and other means of XSRF
* Cloud Computing
* Darknets and Hackerspaces
* Computer Security Incident Response and Mitigation
* Do-it-yourself Science
* Molecular Gastronomy
* Amateur Robotics
* Electronic Art (vj, dj, interactive installations etc.)
* Net politics, Net neutrality, Intellectual Property and Privacy
* Aspects (SOPA, PIPA, ACTA, you name it!)
* Active/Liquid Democracy and Political Activism
* Sustainable Housing and eco-friendly Living …and anything that is
* not on the list.

SUBMITTING
We invite you to make use of our pentabarf submission system at [4] in
order to submit your talk, workshop or other event.
Please don’t hesitate to ask questions via mail (see INQUIRIES) if
everything is not clear.

DEADLINES
Deadline Abstracts: May 15th, 2012
Acceptance Notification: May 22nd, 2012
Papers are welcomed, but not mandatory. Submitted papers can be
published on the camp website/schedule.
Please don’t forget to mention any hardware or software requirements
that your talk or workshop includes.
We would be happy for every distributed version of the CfP.

INQUIRIES
For any questions about this camp, send an email to camp@hackerspace.lu
or check out our website [5].

DISCLAIMER
HaxoGreen 2012 SummerCamp is a low-budget operation entirely run by
volunteers. (w00t, we went from zero to low ;) )
We therefore cannot help anyone but those who present or tutor workshops
with their food, travel and accommodation expenses.
Contact us for more information.

===

[0] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ty6O-vZmh8
[1] http://www.industrie.lu/arbeddudelange.html
[2] http://www.cdmh.lu/
[3] http://www.syn2cat.lu
[4] http://cfp.haxogreen.lu/submission/hg2012
[5] http://www.haxogreen.lu

–
HaxoGreen 2012 – the Hackers’ Summercamp in Luxembourg
July 26nd till July 29th 2012, in Dudelange, Luxembourg
Call for Proposals: http://www.haxogreen.lu
T: +352 691 44 23 24

Twitt