Blocking the Covert Channels Used for Malicious Data Theft (Louisville Infosec)

This is the video of the talk "Blocking the Covert Channels Used for Malicious Data Theft" given at Louisville Infosec by Alex Lanstein.

Abstract: Browser-based computing, mobility and social networking are giving rise to a new breed of threat: stealthy Web-borne malware. Cyber criminals are using the Web as Alex Lansteintheir prime infection vector to take over enterprise and consumer PCs, and embedding malicious code within user-generated content websites, third party ads, and high-traffic web applications. The fact is today’s threats exploit the inability of “traditional” network protection to provide a unified defense against a cyber criminal who attacks on multiple fronts, from OS exploits, browser attacks, and increasingly, plug-in/widget vulnerabilities. Companies need “modern” tools that offer both accuracy and advanced detection techniques to prevent the calculated, surgical access and theft of their critical information. Tool Talk attendees will learn:

- The extent of today’s sophisticated Web malware and how it works.
- Key differentiators between data leakage and malicious data theft
- Why traditional solutions are powerless to stop today's insidious threats
- How a new network security tool can foil break-ins and detect future infections
- Real-world results from an organization that is using this new solution.

Speaker Bio: Alex Lanstein, Senior Researcher, FireEye - At FireEye, Alex handles a broad set of responsibilities including product engineering, sales engineering, and security research. Most recently, his security research was published by The Washington Post, PC World, The Register, and Cisco Systems, where he uncovered botnet and Web malware sites associated with McColo Corp. His work was key in taking McColo off the Internet as well as significantly reducing worldwide spam. Prior to FireEye, Alex was founder, owner, and network administrator of an Internet hosting company. His areas of expertise include botnets, malware, network security, and functional binary analysis. Alex has a B.S. in Computer Science from Connecticut College.

Vivek Ramachandran is a security evangelist and has been working in computer security related fields for the past 7 years. In 2007, Vivek spoke at world renowned conferences Defcon (WEP Cloaking Exposed) and Toorcon (The Caffe Latte Attack). The discovery of the Caffe Latte Attack was covered by CBS5 news, BBC online, Network World etc news agencies.In 2006, Vivek was announced as one of winners of the Microsoft Security Shootout contest held in India among 65,000 participants. He has also been a recipient of a Team Achievement at Cisco Systems for his work on 802.1x and Port Security modules on the Catalyst 6500 switches. Currently he spends all of his time maintaining Security- Freak.Net , SecurityTube.Net and is the co-founder of Axonize. Vivek, is a Bachelor in Electronics and Communications Engineering from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati.You can contact him at vivek[at]securitytube.net