On Hackers and Academia
Keynote by Felix 'FX' Lindner, Recurity Labs.
The talk covers a number of loosely coupled observations about the interactions and relations between hacker research and academic computer science research for computer security. Both sides have similar if not identical origins, but have developed in very different directions over time. The split had some pretty significant impact on the effectiveness and results of research on both sides, mostly not for the better. Nowadays, we see an increasing re-consolidation of the two approaches, which we should appreciate and support wherever possible. Attempts at the definition of hacking as a scientific discipline as well as collaboration between groups, regardless of their academic status or lack thereof, are key for the future development of the state of computer security. This talk will try to convince that this is the case.
| Felix 'FX' Lindner runs Recurity Labs, a security consulting and research company in Berlin, Germany. FX has over a decade experience in the computer industry, almost all of it in consulting for large enterprise and telecommunication customers. He possesses a vast knowledge of computer sciences, telecommunications and software development. His background includes managing and participating in a variety of projects with a special emphasis on security planning, implementation, operation and testing using advanced methods in diverse technical environments. FX is well known in the computer security community and has presented his and Phenoelit's security research on Black Hat Briefings, CanSecWest, PacSec, DEFCON, Chaos Communication Congress, MEITSEC and numerous other events. His research topics included Cisco IOS, HP printers, SAP, RIM BlackBerry and Adobe Flash. Felix holds a title as State-Certified Technical Assistant for Informatics and Information Technology as well as Certified Information Systems Security Professional. |