Hackers Set To Hit Malaysia Again
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, (9th August 2005) – Kuala Lumpur will once again play host to the world’s renowned hackers at the annual HITBSecConf security conference, HITBSecConf2005 – Malaysia.
This Malaysian home-grown non-profit hacking and network security conference will feature over 30 of the world’s leading network security specialists down to present their latest research and breakthrough findings in a 4-day event at The Westin, Kuala Lumpur from 26th to 29th of September 2005.
This year, the organisers have not let up. HITBSecConf 2005 will kick off with six hands-on technical training sessions, followed by two days of deep knowledge network security presentations. All four days of the event will feature an industry exhibition and technology showcase, with renowned speakers from the worldwide network security industry.
The conference keynote speakers will be Tony Chor, Group Program Manager for Microsoft Internet Explorer Group and Mikko Hypponen, Chief Research Officer of F-Secure Corp.
Chor is responsible for leading the IE team’s security response as well as for driving the design, development, and release of new versions of IE including IE 6 in XP SP2 and IE 7 for XP and Windows Vista. A 15-year veteran in Microsoft, Chor has worked on a variety of projects including digital imaging in Windows Vista, MSN Explorer, Works, Encarta Online, Bookshelf, Picture It!, and Golf.
Mikko Hypponen has been analysing viruses since 1991. He has consulted several high-profile organisations on computer security issues, including IBM, Microsoft, FBI, US Secret Service, Interpol and the Scotland Yard.
The 35-year old Hypponen led the team that infiltrated the Slapper worm attack network in 2002. The team took down the world-wide network used by the Sobig.F worm in 2003 and was the first to warn the world about the Sasser outbreak in 2004. Hypponen and his team has been profiled by Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, New York Times and Newsweek, and has been an invited member of CARO (the Computer Anti-Virus Researchers Organization) since 1995.
Founded and organised by Hack In The Box (M) Sdn Bhd, HITBSecConf celebrates its fifth year this September. Over the years, HITBSecConf has brought to Malaysian shores numerous renowned speakers including The Last Stage of Delirium Group (also known as the hackers who broke windows) in 2003, Theo de Raadt and John Draper (better known as Captain Crunch) in 2004. It was in 2005 that the first ever HITBSecConf took place outside of Malaysia, in Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain last April. The keynote speakers for that event included Bruce Schenier, CTO of Counterpane Security and Paul Mcnabb CTO of Argus Group. HITBSecConf has become an annual gathering for the international network security community and has been described as ‘the most intimate of hacker conferences’.
“Seeing that this will be the fifth conference in our series, we are hoping to have an extra special conference this year. We have raised the bar on our team based Capture The Flag competition, where teams will need to actually write their own exploit code in addition to finding buffer and stack overflows in their respective platforms, “says Dhillon Andrew Kannabhiran, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Hack In The Box (M) Sdn. Bhd.
“Our partners, Zone-H will also be down to conduct a Web Hacking Challenge at the same time. We have gone to extra lengths to bring to Malaysia the best network security researchers in the world and we hope the Malaysian community will use this opportunity to come forth and learn from these experts. This will be the place to pick up the latest attack and defense methods, as well as gain an insight into the mind of a hacker.”
This year’s hands-on training classes include “War Driving Kuala Lumpur”, “Attacking and Defending Networks”, “Web Application Attack and Defense”, “Digital Forensic Analysis”, “Hacking By Numbers: Guerilla Edition”, and “Packetmastering the Monkey Way”, a class dedicated to teaching attendees on how to write and develop their own security tools using open source development libraries.
The conference itself will also feature a wide range of topics and papers announced include “Hacking Internet Banking Applications”, “Nematodes: Beneficial Worms”, “VOIPhreaking: How to Make Free Phone Calls and Influence People”, “Analyzing Code for Security Defects”, “Web Hacking Kung-Fu and Art of Defense” and “Mobile Malware”.
“One thing that sets our conferences apart from other events is our price point and the fact that the conference is organised by volunteers as a non-profit effort. The price for our two-day conference is only RM450 while students are charged RM250. We strongly believe that there shouldn’t be a premium on education and knowledge and as such our conference is our continued commitment to ‘keeping knowledge free’.” said Mr. Kannabhiran.
Malaysia Airlines has also come on board as the Official Airline Partner for HITBSecConf 2005 – Malaysia. Through this partnership International attendees to the conference will be able to enjoy a special rate on their flight tickets.
“We are honoured that Malaysia Airlines has come on board to support us. We hope that this partnership will encourage interest in more attendees from outside Malaysia,” said Mr. Kannabhiran.
About HITBSecConf2005 – Malaysia
HITBSecConf2005 Malaysia is supported and endorsed by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and Malaysia Administrative Modernisation & Management Planning Unit (MAMPU). For further details and to register http://conference.hackinthebox.org/ or call Hack In The Box (M) Sdn. Bhd. at +603-20394724.