Illuminating the Black Art of Security

A while ago I had an opportunity to talk to Bruce Cowper, one of the organizers of an upcoming security conference happening in Toronto, called SecTor. If you're at all concerned or interested in security you should consider going, especially if you couldn't make it to this year's Black Hat or DEFCON events.

SecTor is a community led event, focused on deep technical security content. They've just announced their speakers and sessions, which includes the likes of Mark Fabro, an expert in cyber-terrorism, Joanna Rutkowska, who came up with the Blue Pill concept, Steve Riley, a well known Microsoft speaker on all things security related, and Ira Winkler, an author and expert on espionage simulations, among others. The topics range from phishing and organized crime to network fingerprinting and wireless security.

This is the "Black Toque" conference of the north. The organizers have modeled the event on the Black Hat conference but bring relevant Canadian content to the audience. It's not a hacker conference - the focus here is on what threats there are and how you can recognize and mitigate them.

It's all happening November 20-21, which may seem like a long way off, but if you register now you'll save $100 and you'll get your ticket before they're all sold out.

If you are unable to attend SecTor, but are nonetheless concerned about security and are in the Toronto area, I would recommend you look into the Toronto Area Security Klatch (TASK). Their events are free and take place once a month. The next event is taking place on August 29 where various speakers will be reviewing highlights from the recent DEFCON and Black Hat conferences.