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Computer security wizards are gathering to share insights about
threats ranging from cyber warfare to hacking Apple iPhones or
MySpace website profile pages.
Briefings that begin Wednesday at the 11th annual Black Hat
conference in Las Vegas include the potential to crack into
Microsoft's new Vista operating system and the Apple Leopard
operating system due out in October.
Black Hat organizers promise 20 new vulnerabilities in popular
computer software will be unveiled along with an equal number of
"tools," ways to launch attacks that take advantage of
flaws in programs.
"If researchers are talking about something, that gives you a
glimpse into what the future holds," Black Hat founder Jeff
Moss told AFP on Monday.
"A lot of companies and governments want to know what direction
things are moving in and get ready for it."
While "Black Hat" in computer parlance refers to someone
who hacks into systems, the conferees largely wear the white hats of
security professionals and government officials.
US National Security Agency chief of vulnerability analysis Tony
Sager will give an opening speech and federal "cyber cops"
will led a forum on threats.
"A lot of things will be discussed at Black Hat," Moss
said, citing "the changing nature of botnets and spam armies
and how cyber warfare has been evolving during the past five
years."
"Botnets" are legions of computers controlled by hackers
that have infected them with malicious code, usually without owner
knowledge.
Infected computers become "zombies," which hackers enlist
in "spam armies" for online attacks.
Gadi Evron, a US "security evangelist," will discuss the
massive online attacks on Estonia earlier this year in what is
referred to at the gathering as "the first Internet war."
Evron was part of a team that helped in the aftermath of the
attacks.
"As we saw in Estonia, cyber warfare is more sophisticated and
coordinated," Moss said.
Black Hat seminars include a way to mine data and gain unrestricted
access to pages on social networking websites such as MySpace and
Flickr, according to organizers.
Researchers will detail vulnerabilities in Apple's iPhones,
including a flaw in Safari web browsing software that opens the door
to slipping malicious code into the devices.
"People will pay attention to iPhone for a while because it is
an interesting new platform," Moss said.
"It is such a small percentage of the market compared to
Windows that it seems people are doing it to make names for
themselves."
Hot topics include ways to "weaponize media files" by
embedding video or music downloads with software that lets hackers
spy on users or take over their machines.
Similar themes are expected at an infamous gathering of hackers
referred to as DefCon that starts in Las Vegas on Friday after Black
Hat ends.
DefCon draws renegade software geniuses. The annual gathering is
marking its 15th year and features hacking games, lock picking and
alcohol-infused socializing along with seminars.
"If Black Hat is the university then DefCon is the frat
party," said Moss, the founder of both events.
--AFP
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