AusCERT Sydney deconstructs fraud, hacking and ethical disclosure

A hundred Australian information security professionals arrived in Sydney to network and listen to thought leaders at the first SC-AusCERT Security on the Move conference.

The conference brought together leaders in the industry to discuss local security issues and discuss pressing questions from the industry.

Graham Ingram, general manager of AusCERT kicked of the conference in a speech in which he flagged concern with Australia's Personally Controlled Electronic Health Care Record.

Trend Micro global CTO Raimund Genes followed and canvassed mobile malware threats, the need for app stores to lock down, and widespread failures in user security education.

Later, NSW Police detective inspector Bruce van der Graaf described the organised underground carding marketplace, and noted police had trained using instructional manuals found there.

Continuing the theme of fraud, eBay's Asia Pacific chief David Napper listed four methods used to scam Australian customers of the auction site.

Taking a turn in topics, UNSW researcher and security legal eagle Alana Maurushat delved into the dangers of security vulnerability disclosure recently demonstrated in threats made against penetration tester Patrick Webster who appeared in the audience.

She chastised what she said was the Federal Government's refusal to consider introducing safeguards to protect information security research, before examining the need for direct intervention in botnet re-mediation.

AusCERT tech boffin Marco Ostini end the talks with a deconstruction of the weakness in the 2G protocol flagged at Defcon this year. He spoke of ways Australian professionals could protect themselves against possible interception and data injection over the network.

Wrapping up the conference, SC hosted a panel to expand on some of the most interesting themes of the day. The panel also revealed that a local space flight program topped Ostini's Christmas wish list and AusCERT probably won't buy prime time TV advertising slots.