Topic: Information Security

  Presented by Chris Roberts • vCISO, Researcher, Hacker – HillBilly Hit Squad

The cybersecurity industry is not at a loss when it comes to cheesy castle analogies or quoting Sun Tzu whenever it gets the chance (keys to the kingdom, crown jewels, the art of war); you name it we’ve butchered it. But what if we took some time to look at the whole medieval warfare a little differently. ARE there actually lessons we CAN learn from all those who’ve gone before? Do we have something to use today that was true on the battlefield of yesteryear?

I’d argue that taking some time to study the techniques used by the Vikings, Mongols, Huns, and so on IS something we want to do. From an adversarial perspective, as well as those charged with defending the enterprise and those most prized digital assets, we CAN learn something from our hairy warmongering ancestors.

Throughout the ages we’ve spent time, effort and plenty of money defending our castles from all manner of intruders, and arguably with each passing year new tactics, weapons and techniques were (and continue to be) employed against our efforts…unfortunately, often to good effect despite our best efforts.

Join me for an unconventional workshop where we’ll chat about new and emerging cyberattacks without actually talking about “cyber” at all. We’ll be making parallels between the Medieval world and our own to learn something, hopefully. Or, at the very least we’ll end up working out how far we can throw a Cisco or Palo Alto firewall with a trebuchet.

Chris is currently serving as a vCISO or advisor for a number of entities and organizations around the globe. His most recent projects are focused within the deception, identity, cryptography, Artificial Intelligence, and services space. Over the years, he’s founded or worked with a number of folks specializing in OSINT/SIGING/HUMINT research, intelligence gathering, cryptography, and deception technologies. These days he’s working on spreading the risk, maturity, collaboration and communication word across the industry. (Likely while coding his EEG driven digital clone that’s monitoring his tea and biscuit consumption!)

Since the late 90’s Chris has been deeply involved with security R&D, consulting, and advisory services in his quest to protect and defend businesses and individuals against various types of attack. Prior to that he jumped out of planes for a living, visiting all sorts of interesting countries and cultures while doing his best to avoid getting shot at too often. (Before that, he managed to get various computers confiscated by a number of European entities.)

He’s considered one of the world’s foremost experts on counter threat intelligence and vulnerability research within the Information Security industry. He’s also getting a name for himself in the transportation arena, basically anything with wings, wheels, tracks, tyres, fins, props or paddles has been the target for research for the last 10-15 years…to interesting effect.

As one of the well-known hackers and researchers, Chris is routinely invited to speak at industry conferences. CNN, The Washington Post, WIRED, Business Insider, USA Today, Forbes, Newsweek, BBC News, Wall Street Journal, and numerous others have covered him in the media.

And worst case, to jog the memory, Chris was the researcher who gained global attention in 2015 for demonstrating the linkage between various aviation systems, both on the ground and while in the air that allowed the exploitation of attacks against flight control system.