Toronto Area Security Klatch - Events

TASK August - The Best of Blackhat, Defcon, and Vegas ... Baby!

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 14:16:00 GMT

Wednesday, 25 August - TASK presents its eyes-on, from-the-floor report from the Vegas security conferences, featuring cutting-edge attacks and defences, new data security research, and the traumatic effects of letting 5,000+ hackers loose on the city of Vegas!

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TASK July - Meeting is Cancelled

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 14:15:00 GMT

No TASK meeting in July

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TASK June – It’s Maker's Month!

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 15:38:00 GMT

Several TASK "regulars" are involved in what's informally known as the "Maker Community"; small, grass-roots groups that meet to push the limits of home-grown technology projects and artistic expression with a fierce DIY ethos. We invited a few groups to present their current projects and interests and we'll be receiving presentations from Seth Hardy (Site 3 coLaboratory) and James Arden (Think|Haus) - both leaders in the Canadian Maker's space.

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Payment Card Fraud - May 26, 2010

Wed, 26 May 2010 23:30:00 GMT

Payment Card Fraud (Sponsored by Giesecke & Devrient; www.gi-de.com)

Topic 1: EMV in Canada

The rollout of chip-enabled credit cards in Canada is nearing completion. This coordinated set of presentations will focus on the technology – how it works, which governing bodies and standards are involved, and what types of fraud risk are mitigated via the use of EMV (and which ones are not). Finally, the presentation will also cover some of the new technologies in EMV and mobile payments. The following is a detailed list of topics to be covered:

• Chip-based Payment Cards - Governing Bodies, EMVCo, Standards and Specifications

• Specifications of the Major Payment Associations (Visa, MC, Amex)

• Smart Card Chip Security - Hardware and Software Components

• EMV Payment Transactions – Online, Offline and Contactless

• Card Risk Management Parameters and CVM List

• New Technologies in EMV Payments (including Display Card Technology and Mobile Phone Payments)

• Payments Fraud - Trending and the Benefits of EMV

Speakers:

Matthew Tremmaglia, Giesecke and Devrient (G&D)
Matthew joined G&D in 2007 as part of the Strategic Account Management Team. During his career at G&D, he has worked closely with many Canadian financial institutions as they launch their EMV migrations to chip based payment cards. Currently, Matthew is working on initiatives in Canada that span EMV: Instant Issuance, Mobile payments, Transit solutions and a variety of other innovative concepts that leverage high-security products.

Nick Pisarev, Giesecke & Devrient
Nick has over 10 years of international experience in the payment industry. He joined G&D Canada in 2004 bringing with him a reputable knowledge in smart card and secure payment technologies from the European market. Managing the Emerging Technology team, Nick’s extensive experience has been instrumental in assisting Canadian Financial Institutions for the successful migration to EMV chip technology. In collaboration with G&D’s international Product and R&D teams and working closely with the Payment Associations, Nick is helping to pioneer new technologies in the Canadian payment market. This includes dual interface payment card products, mobile payment solutions and 2-factor authentication.

Fred Hopper, Giesecke & Devrient
Fred is G&D’s Director of Security and you may remember his Payment Card Technology presentation at TASK in June 2007. His background is originally in IT Infrastructure and during the past decade he has specialized in Information and Physical Security, working both as a consultant and as a security department head where he has developed an expertise in payment card security best practices and compliance. He is an active participant in the Canadian financial card security community and has assisted law enforcement investigations and prosecutions in payment card counterfeiting. Fred is also a CISSP and CISA and occasionally speaks at conferences on topics such as phone spoofing and targeted phishing.

Topic 2: A Law Enforcement Perspective on Payment Card Fraud

This presentation will provide a law enforcement perspective on the payment card fraud trends starting with appearance of card skimming in the late 1990’s up to Project Instrument, the largest payment card counterfeiting prosecution in Canadian history. Jacques will also discuss an interesting encryption issue in this case which may be of interest to TASK members. Can defendants be forced to provide the passwords necessary to decrypt encrypted media seized by police? Must the state release the same encrypted media without receiving the necessary passwords in order to know what they are releasing?

Speaker:

Jacques Bois, Ontario Provincial Police (OPP)
Jacques is a 21 year veteran of the OPP. He spent the first eight years in uniform capacity before accepting a Detective position within the OPP's Behavioural Sciences Section. From there, he transferred to the Anti-Rackets Section where he investigated enterprise crimes, before joining the Payment Card and Identity Crime Unit - a Unit he eventually managed. Jacques returned to Field Crime Unit duties three years ago and currently holds the rank of Detective Staff Sergeant. He oversees four Detachment Crime Units, the Central Region Major Incident Support Unit, and is the program manager for the OPP Central Region Abuse Issues and DNA Program.

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TASK - MAY MEETING

Location: The Bahen Centre for Information Technology, U of T
                   40 St. George Street, M5S 2E4
                   NOTE:  This is NOT where we met last month, or even the month before ...
Time:         6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
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April TASK meeting & SecTor 2010 - April 28, 2010

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 23:30:00 GMT

Presentation 0.5 - Conference Overview

Robert Beggs, DigitalDefence

The Canadian Technical Security Conference (Cornwall) will be reviewed. This annual conference focused on technical security - "bugs", and "bug sweeping".

Presentation 1 - Covert Use of Data Resources Robert Beggs, DigitalDefence

A data system (laptop, iPhone) can not only be hacked, but it can be used to conduct covert surveillance on a target. Keyloggers and compromised cameras and microphones extend surveillance capabilities.

This talk will provide an overview and practical examples on how systems are compromised, as well as how to rapidly detect and respond to the compromise.

Presentation 2 - An Examination of Two Recent Attacks + "Hacking"

Certifications

Terry Cutler, Security Researcher

The Aurora breach that targeted Google and 34 other companies, and the kneber botnet variant that managed to infiltrate nearly 2,500 corporate networks, are targeted attacks. During the first half of

our talks, we will use cutting-edge tools such as CORE IMPACT to demonstrate how they worked (and why they were so effective), and how to detect and mitigate their effects. The attack will also demonstrate getting access to a corporate using a spear-phishing attack via Linkedin.

During the second half of the talk, we'll switch gears to talk about the practice of certifying ethical hackers/penetration testers. Which certification is "the best one", and how is the market accepting these certifications? Come prepared for a lively discussion!

LOCATION

Wednesday, 28 April 2010 - 6:00 to 9:00

Health Sciences Building, 155 College Street Toronto, M5T 3M7 - 6th Floor

Vulnerability Madness! - March 31, 2010

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 23:30:00 GMT

March Meeting - Vulnerability Madness! Speakers:

1. Roy Firestein, DigitalDefence
"Security Vulnerabilities in Cable Modems"
Roy has conducted research to identify vulnerabilities in the default installation of commercial cable modems (typical of the type installed in the Toronto area). He will outline his research, and let you know how you can prevent attacks against your home and small business networks.

2. Ted LeRay, Independent Researcher
"BRST - the Border Router Security Tool (a SourceForge Project")
Cisco border routers (routers between the firewall and the Internet) are ubiquitous and are often not as secure as they can be. Border routers are exposed to the Internet and should be thoroughly hardened. Learn how to disable unneed services, enable desireable services, handle spoofed traffic, secure remote access, and more. The goal of the BRST project is to make securing border routers easy for administrators and freely accessible to everyone.
See: http://sourceforge.net/projects/borderroutersec/

3. Tyler Reguly, Security Researcher
"Something about Web Vulnerabilities"
Tyler has been conducting research on some of the more esoteric and interesting aspects of website vulnerabilities - as per normal, he's holding off on the specific details at this time ... but we'll update the site when we can squeeze a bit more information from him!

Forensics Evening - February 22, 2010

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:40:00 GMT

Topic:"Building an Information Security Startup in Canada" - Richard Reiner, Enomaly
Richard, former Chief Security and Technology Officer at Telus Canada, is one of Canada's most seasoned entrepeneurs specializing in Information Security. A member of multiple advisory and venture capital groups, he has gained a unique perspective on the trials, tribulations, and successes of security startups in Canada. He will share his experiences during his talk, and also comment on security in the cloud...

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Direct Access - November 25, 2009

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:30:00 GMT

Topic: Lifting the Lid: DirectAccess in Windows 7
Speaker: Pat Telford
A new remote access strategy is taking form with the release of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. DirectAccess uses IPv6, IPsec, and some DNS frigonometry to allow clients roaming the internet to get secure access to internal resources without a VPN. It works from the moment you lift the lid on your laptop and allows IT administrators to manage those troublesome, never-at-home computers. But you need to understand how the underlying technologies work to be able to assess its security and suitability for your organization. This session will dig into some of the technical details and things to be aware of in this new technology. Presentation can be downloaded here.

Topic: RF Countersurveillance
Speaker: Byron Sonne
RF Countersurveillance is an entry level talk to the basics of trunk-tracking radio scanners and how to use them. Trunk-tracking radio systems are in use by almost all police forces and a large number of businesses. Everything from equipment to programming, as well as regulatory and legal ramifications will be covered.

SecTor Talks - October 28, 2009

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:28:00 GMT

Hacking the Privacy Legislation - Tracy Ann Kosa
In today’s environment of particularly scarce resources, privacy can be easily buried under its sexier older sister - security. But the need to balance the two is an ongoing concern when it comes to any system that collects, uses and discloses personal information. This session will focus on exploring the differences between the two, and identifying what areas of the privacy legislation are mainly unenforced or unenforceable. In addition, it will identify what people, processes and technical requirements overlap and give you better bang for your compliance dollar.

Portable Document Malware, the Office, and You - Get owned with it, can't do business without it - Seth Hardy
Many new types of malware, particularly targeted attacks against high-value targets, are using a very effective vector: common document formats such as Word, PowerPoint, and PDF. Unlike executables, businesses can't just block these ubiquitous file types. While there are ways to spot this kind of malware, many antivirus companies are lagging behind with generic detection, making AV evasion simpler than you'd be comfortable with.
We'll start with a high level overview of the file formats for Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and PDF, and see how they can be used to distribute malware. Then, we'll take a look at why these formats are difficult to scan using traditional (signature-based) antivirus techniques. Finally, we'll cover effective (heuristic-based, deep inspection) methods for spotting malware which attempts to hide in file formats which can't just be blocked.

Crimeware: Web Exploitation Kits Revealed - Roy Firestein
The session introduces the attendee to how crimeware has become increasingly popular in recent years, the indistinguishable similarities with legitimate business and the dangers the internet community is facing. There will also be a live demonstration of the infamous Mpack (or other similar kit), including a minor exercise encouraging one to identify methods to mitigate or detect such scenarios.

15min SpeedTalks - September 30, 2009

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:25:00 GMT

Topic: SpeedTalks.

Ms. Mary-Lynn Manton and several students will be presenting a brief overview of the information security program at Seneca College, and some of the research that they have been conducting.
Mr. Eldon Sprickerhoff, will be presenting: The Rumours of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated - Redeeming NIDS in the Corporate Environment
Mr. Serge Gorbunov, speaking on the Canadian Honeynet Project
Mr. Colin McGregor, speaking on Damn Vulnerable Linux
Mr. Byron Sonne and Jeremy Richards will talk on “Hacking Public Opinion”
Mr. Chris Kulbakas will be speaking on formal methods and PAM for Linux
Mr. Feroz Hyder will speak about academic security in a college environment

If you have an idea for a talk, please email us at info_at_task_dot_to